Hiring an effective Facilities Management professional requires more than checking qualifications, discussing previous roles and working through a CV. FM is an operational leadership discipline in which judgement, communication, resilience and stakeholder management can be just as important as technical experience.
How to Interview Facilities Management Candidates Properly provides a practical framework for assessing the qualities that determine whether someone can succeed in a demanding FM environment. The guide explains why traditional interviews often fail and shows how competency-based questions can reveal how candidates think, lead, communicate and respond under pressure.
Readers will learn how to ask for specific, real-world examples and assess important capabilities including operational leadership, contractor management, financial awareness, crisis response, prioritisation and strategic thinking. Dedicated sections explore leadership maturity, decision-making during incidents, communication quality, stakeholder management and alignment with the organisation’s working environment and values.
The guide also identifies interview warning signs such as vague answers, a lack of personal accountability, poor prioritisation, reactive behaviour and disorganised communication. It explains how realistic operational scenarios can be used to assess judgement without attempting to trick candidates.
Further guidance covers panel alignment, clear decision criteria and the importance of balancing rigour with efficiency. Overly complex or slow processes can reduce candidate engagement and result in lost hires, while strong FM interviews should be calm, structured, professional and operationally clear.
What the data says
The evidence behind proper FM interviewing: how structured interviews predict performance, how often hiring goes wrong and how quickly new starters leave.
- 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% of UK organisations use some form of selection interview; 52% use competency-based interviews. Source: CIPD, Resourcing and talent planning report 2024
- 85% of UK HR decision-makers admit their organisation has made a bad hire; a third believe these mistakes cost nothing. Source: Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), Hiring mistakes are costing UK businesses billions each year, 2017
- 41% of UK organisations that selected candidates in the past year said new recruits always, mostly or sometimes resigned within their first 12 weeks. Source: CIPD, Resourcing and talent planning report 2024
- 95% of candidates placed by Maxwell Stephens remain in role one year after appointment. Source: Maxwell Stephens, 2026
See it in practice
CVC Capital Partners Facilities Manager Recruitment
CVC Capital Partners appointed Maxwell Stephens to recruit a Facilities Manager for its London office, combining operations with procurement, contract management, health and safety, security and business continuity. Our assessment focused on candidates with five to ten years' relevant experience, business continuity awareness and strong stakeholder skills. The appointee, with more than eight years' experience, improved operational efficiency and strengthened procurement and contract management. It shows the value of assessing candidates against clearly defined competencies rather than a general impression.
Read the full case study or browse all case studies.
Related reading
- How to Conduct an Effective Facilities Management Interview
- Competency-Based Questions Explained
- Facilities Management Interview Questions for Employers
Practical guides
Free Maxwell Stephens guides on the same subject:
Who this resource is for
Facilities and Workplace leaders, hiring managers, HR professionals, talent acquisition teams, business leaders and anyone responsible for assessing and appointing Facilities Management professionals.
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.