Facilities Manager Recruitment for South Thames Colleges Group

Background

South Thames Colleges Group is a college group. For its Kingston centre it needed a Facilities Manager to take day-to-day charge of estates and services, and it asked Maxwell Stephens to recruit one.

The post reports to the Head of Facilities (Estates). The security manager, senior facilities officers and site support officers report to the Facilities Manager.

The Facilities Manager also works closely with the Head of Facilities on projects and initiatives across the college, so the role needed someone who could both run a site and contribute to wider planning.

Customer service to staff and students sits at the heart of the post, and the client wanted evidence of high satisfaction in previous roles.

The Challenge

A college site never really stops. The role covers manned security and security systems, catering, cleaning, waste, post, porterage, car parking and college vehicles, plus maintenance by direct staff and contractors. The post holder is the focal point for helpdesk requests, setting priorities and allocating resources, and reports monthly on quality audits against KPIs.

The post also leads on health and safety at the centre, supervises outsourced contractors, drives preventative maintenance, and contributes to business continuity planning. Occasional evening and weekend work around open days and enrolment is expected. The client looked for a proven team manager with helpdesk experience, building services knowledge and a record of high customer satisfaction.

A further difficulty was the range of knowledge needed. The client wanted thorough knowledge of building construction, services and plant, working knowledge of sustainability principles, procurement and AutoCAD, and the ability to write reports and analyse data. Most candidates are strong in some of these areas and weaker in others, so the hiring decision turned on which gaps could be coached and which could not.

Our Approach

• We went through the brief with the college group, including which services were in-house, which were contracted and how large the team was.
• We searched in education, healthcare and multi-service estates for managers who had led mixed hard and soft services with security and catering oversight.
• We screened for team leadership, helpdesk discipline and practical health and safety knowledge in an educational setting.
• We set up the interviews, gave the client our assessment of each candidate and handled negotiations through to acceptance.

The Outcome

Maxwell Stephens made the appointment.

If you are weighing up a similar appointment, talk to Maxwell Stephens about how we would approach the search.