1. Tell us what, in your opinion, is the most important quality in a Facilities Manager?
Candidates should list good organizational skills and attention to detail as key characteristics in a Facilities Manager.
2. Tell us how do you feel about doing some manual labor when necessary?
Your answer to this question will ultimately show what kind of a worker you are. If you say that you are open to doing manual labor when necessary it shows that you are a fair leader that does whatever it takes to get the job done. Just be sure to answer honestly.
3. Tell us as a facilities manager, what is your management style?
In my experience delegating responsibility and authority is crucial. A team needs to be able to develop and grow as individuals and a whole, not be held back by low expectations or ego.
An innocent question. But a question that if answered improperly, can be a deal breaker. While many individuals will be looking to a new job as a means of increasing their salary, “not being paid well enough at your last job” is not something you want to mention to your interviewer. After all, are you not likely to leave this particular job if you found you could make more down the street?
If you're currently employed and leaving of your own accord, craft your response around enhancing your career development and a seeking out of new challenges.
5. What are your salary expectations as Facilities Manager?
Many consider this question to be a loaded gun – dangerous in the hands of the inexperienced. Often times, an interviewee will start talking salary before they've had an opportunity to illustrate their skill set and value making any sort of leverage valueless. Here, knowledge is power, as salary often comes down to negotiation. Do some research into your industry to establish base rates of pay based on seniority and demand but keep in mind – your employer is hiring you for what they believe you are worth, and how much benefit they feel you will provide.
6. Tell us how do you feel about working in a challenging environment?
I like working in an environment that offers much in terms of challenges. Without them, work can become mundane, and I cannot work in a stagnant environment.
7. Can you explain me what's your ideal company to work for?
The interviewer would like to know what your ideal employer looks like. Share with the interviewer the type of company that you are ideally looking to work for. Support your answer by including the reasons why you want to work for this particular company.
8. Tell us an experience where you made a mistake in your duties. How did you rectify your error?
Candidates should acknowledge the importance of diligence in their duties and how oversight can lead to operational difficulties for the housed business. Look for stories where candidates erred, rectified their error and learned a valuable lesson from the experience.
Ever since my first paper route at age 10 I've been doing something to keep myself busy and earn money. Back then, it was obviously about earning some spending money. What I didn't realize was that I was actually starting the journey of establishing what I liked to do and how I fit in to the grand scheme of things. I then worked as a junior computer tech in my last 2 summers of high school. It was here that I discovered what I was passionate about and what I wanted to do. I enrolled in college to get my degree in computer sciences, and I have been working around technology ever since.
10. Tell us what are your weaknesses as Facilities Manager?
Another tricky one. The purpose of this question is to see how you view and evaluate yourself.
One the one hand, if you suggest you don't have any weaknesses, your interviewer will almost certainly see you as a lair, egotistical, or both.
Don't fall into the trap of trying to present a positive skill in disguise as a weakness, like “I work too hard” or “I am a perfectionist”. Any experienced interviewer will see through this in a heartbeat.
Additionally, revealing that “I'm not really a morning person and have been known to come in late” raises immediate and obvious red flags.
Reveal possible strengths/weaknesses.
12. Please explain a time when you accomplished something in the role of a facilities manager?
I managed to reduce the cost of maintenance work by hiring and training a maintenance team from within the custodial staff. This resulted in the company saving $8000 annually – money that they spent in outsourcing maintenance work.
13. As you know managing facilities comes with a lot of pressure. How do you perform under pressure?
Candidates should describe past experiences where they successfully managed high-pressure situations and the skills they've developed working in those situations.
When an interviewer asks this question, they are looking at your leadership and communication skills. Take this opportunity to show that you are a problem solver and have the ability to lead and communicate with a group. It is best to have a specific example story prepared about your experience that highlights the problem and the steps it took to resolve it. For example, if there was a large change in your previous facility for equipment, what steps did you take to make sure the change occurred smoothly with minimal impact on patients and caregiving staff?
This can be a great way to stand out from other applicants and demonstrate initiative. Almost every company will have a website, Facebook page, Instagram account, or some sort of digital footprint. Spend a bit of time doing some online research:
☛ If they have a website, check out their “About us” or “Culture/Mission/Vision” pages.
☛ Who are some of the principal people who work there? Who are the founders?
☛ What sorts of things does this company care about? Do they donate to a particular cause or charity? Which one(s)?
☛ What are their core values? Which of their core values resonate with you?
☛ Has the company been in the news recently or have they won any awards (Social Media can be a great place to find this information).
16. Role-specific Facilities Manager Job Interview Questions:
☛ How often did you inspect premises at your previous job?
☛ Name some areas where a facilities manager is responsible for legal compliance
☛ What's your experience with Business Continuity Planning?
☛ What records is a facilities manager obliged to keep?
☛ How do you think COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) regulations affect our business?
☛ What criteria/process do you use to choose service providers for [cleaning/landscaping/catering/etc.]?
☛ How do you feel about taking up some manual labor when necessary?
☛ What software have you used as a facilities manager?
17. Writing Skills Based Facilities Manager Job Interview Questions:
☛ When you have to write letters, how do you usually get started?
☛ How do you keep track of incoming and outgoing correspondence?
☛ What do you see as the difference in writing strategy for a report vs. memo vs. a letter?
18. Behavioral Facilities Manager Job Interview Questions:
☛ Tell me about a time you found it hard to coordinate everyone for a maintenance project. How did you resolve this?
☛ Describe the biggest challenge you have faced when trying to reduce operational costs
☛ Recall a time your department's budget was almost exceeded. What did you do?
☛ Was there a time you found diversity among your subordinates a problem? How did you turn it around?
☛ Recall a time you spotted a potential hazard on the premises. What measures did you take to correct it?
19. Leadership Based Facilities Manager Job Interview Questions:
☛ How do you get your employees (or others) to follow you?
☛ How do you use power or authority to get what you want done?
☛ How do you delegate responsibility for an assignment? Who do you choose? What and how do you delegate, and what do you monitor and follow up?
☛ How do you describe your management style?
☛ Please share with me an example of how you helped coach or mentor someone. What improvements did you see in the person's knowledge or skills?
☛ Provide an example of a time when you successfully organized a diverse group of people to accomplish a task.
☛ Provide an example of a time when you were able to demonstrate excellent listening skills. What was the situation and outcome?
☛ In your experience, what is the key to developing a good team? (Look for how they build mutual trust, respect, and cooperation.)
20. Operational and Situational Facilities Manager Job Interview Questions:
☛ How can you save energy in a building by the use of Facility Management?
☛ What will you do if a contractor hired for the renovation of facilities is not using proper protection equipment?
☛ How would you make the necessary preparations (with reference to facilities) in case of an upcoming event to be held in your building?
21. Decision Making Based Facilities Manager Job Interview Questions:
☛ At which point do you find it necessary to bring others into your decision-making process? Why?
☛ Describe your approach to making decisions and solving problems. Why do you do it this way?
☛ When you recommend something to management, what approach do you usually use?
☛ How do you assemble relevant data to make your decisions? How do you know you have enough data?
☛ How much leeway do you give your employees to make decisions? How do you still maintain control?
22. Evaluating Performance Based Facilities Manager Job Interview Questions:
☛ What do you do to ensure objectivity when you evaluate the work of others?
☛ What sort of performance standards have you held Employees to? Were they written?
☛ How often do you evaluate your employees?
☛ How do you get your employees involved in their own evaluation?
☛ How do you evaluate your department's overall performance?
☛ When you evaluate someone's performance verbally, what approach do you take?
☛ How do you plan for performance improvements?
☛ How do you measure performance in your area?
☛ What have you found to be the best way to monitor the performance of your work and/or the work of others? Share a time when you had to take corrective action.
23. Employee Relations Based Facilities Manager Job Interview Questions:
☛ How do you go about developing the people you manage?
☛ How do you help your employees become committed to a job or to the organization?
☛ How do you deal with an “attitude” problem?
☛ How often do you think it is necessary to meet with your employees?
☛ How have you handled “complainers?”
☛ How do you deal with an employee who needs to be disciplined? Explain your strategy.
☛ What sort of employee training do you think is necessary to offer?
☛ How do you handle a, personnel situation, which might have a, potential legal impact?
☛ How do you develop trust and loyalty in your employee?
24. Administration Based Facilities Manager Job Interview Questions:
☛ What areas are within your sphere of responsibility in your current position? How do, you make sure that you know what is happening (problems, changes, etc.)?
☛ How do make sure that your employees are accountable?
☛ What operating systems do you use to monitor and maintain control of your area of accountability?
☛ What do you typically do when you hear of a problem in your area? Explain?
☛ How useful have you found written procedures and guidelines in helping you manage your area?
☛ Do you feel that the chain of command is important? Why? When do you feel it might inhibit organizational effectiveness?
☛ Share an effective method you have used to enforce rules and regulations.
On the surface, it may seem that an organization is doing well without the contribution of a facilities manager. In actuality, a facilities manager can streamline a lot of systems within the organization, making business processes smoother and easier to handle.
