A CV tells you where a facilities management candidate has been. It does not tell you how they think, prioritise or decide when your buildings, people and budgets are on the line. That is what the interview is for, and the quality of your questions decides how much you learn.
101 Questions to Ask in a Facilities Management Interview gives you all 101 questions in one structured bank, grouped into five themes: general facilities management, leadership and management, operations and maintenance, health and safety, and budgeting and financial management. It is written for employers hiring at every level, from coordinators to Heads of Facilities and Directors.
No interview needs all 101. The guide shows you how to build a shortlist weighted to the risks of the role, ask every candidate the same core questions, probe for evidence and score answers consistently, so your final decision is easier to defend.
What's inside
The guide moves from planning your interview, through five themed question sets, to turning the answers into a decision.
- How to Use This Guide: How to build a shortlist from the bank, match questions to the level of the role, keep core questions consistent, probe for evidence and score as you go.
- General Facilities Management: Questions 1 to 20 on the wider profession: competing priorities, the value FM brings, sustainability, technology, compliance, KPIs and hard versus soft services.
- Leadership & Management: Questions 21 to 40 on team motivation, conflict, delegation, stakeholder relationships, difficult conversations, accountability and the move from a technical role into leadership.
- Operations & Maintenance: Questions 41 to 60 on maintenance strategy, reactive versus planned work, contractors and vendors, asset management, helpdesks, HVAC, listed buildings and reducing downtime.
- Health & Safety: Questions 61 to 80 on risk assessment, fire safety, emergency preparedness, incident reporting, lone working and COSHH, with a note on what a credible compliance answer includes.
- Budgeting & Financial Management: Questions 81 to 101 on building budgets, cost control, business cases, total cost of ownership, CAPEX and OPEX, lifecycle costs, insurance and long-term forecasting.
- Turning Answers Into a Decision and Making the Right Appointment: A five-point checklist for reviewing notes and scores while interviews are fresh, and how to weigh operational, leadership, safety and commercial judgement against what the role demands.
What the data says
Five figures from the guide on interviewing and the quality of hiring decisions, each linked to its source.
- 0.42: Structured interviews have the highest mean validity of common selection methods (.42) in the Sackett et al. meta-analytic update. Source: Sackett et al., Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 2023
- 0.19: Unstructured interviews predict job performance far less well: a mean operational validity of .19, versus .42 for structured interviews. Source: Sackett et al., Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 2023
- 90%: 90% of UK organisations use some form of selection interview; 52% use competency-based interviews. Source: CIPD, Resourcing and talent planning report 2024
- 39%: Four in ten UK employers (39%) admit their staff's interviewing and assessment skills should be improved. Source: Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), Hiring mistakes are costing UK businesses billions each year, 2017
- 95%: 95% of candidates placed by Maxwell Stephens remain in role one year after appointment. Source: Maxwell Stephens, 2026
Sources checked in September 2026. Maxwell Stephens figures are drawn from our own published vacancies and placement records.
See it in practice
Recruiting an Interim Head of Facilities for the Premier League
The Premier League appointed Maxwell Stephens on an exclusive basis to recruit an Interim Head of Facilities for a 12-month maternity cover, leading its Reception, Front of House, Post Room and Catering teams. The high-profile role attracted strong market interest, so we held initial screening interviews with more than 70 applicants, followed by detailed competency-based interviews assessing leadership capability, stakeholder management and cultural fit alongside technical FM expertise. We presented three candidates, all three were interviewed and two reached the final stage. The appointee integrated quickly and maintained continuity across all workplace services.
It shows how structured, competency-based questioning on leadership, stakeholders and operations narrows a large field to the candidates who can do the job.
Read the full case study or browse all case studies.
Related reading
- How to Conduct an Effective Facilities Management Interview
- Competency-Based Questions Explained
- How to Hire a Facilities Manager: A Complete Employer Guide
More from Maxwell Stephens Insights
Our Insights library covers FM hiring, leadership and careers in more depth. Continue with:
- Facilities Manager Interview Questions Guide
- How to Interview Facilities Management Candidates Properly
- The Psychology of Great Hiring Decisions
Browse the full Insights library.
Who this guide is for
Hiring managers, HR and talent acquisition teams, Heads of Facilities and FM Directors building their teams, and interview panel members recruiting anyone from facilities coordinators and assistant FMs to senior FM leaders.
Talk to Maxwell Stephens
Maxwell Stephens is a specialist Facilities Management recruitment consultancy. If you are planning an FM, estates or workplace appointment, contact us for a confidential conversation, or read our case studies to see how comparable searches were run.