How To Build An Outstanding Facility Manager Resume

Whether you’re new to the FM world or a longtime veteran trying to land an exciting new opportunity, it all starts with an attention-grabbing facility manager resume. 

In this growing field, it’s becoming harder to stand out — but don’t be discouraged!

By following these few simple tips, you can write a resume that rises to the top of the stack and opens doors.  

6 Tips To Build Your Best Facility Manager Resume

1. Customize Your Resume

The facility management industry has come a long way in the past decade and continues to evolve. 

You’re likely to encounter a wide variety of job titles ranging from the traditional “maintenance and service manager” to the more strategic “workplace experience manager.”

That’s why it’s so important to read each job description carefully and customize your resume for that specific role. Researching the organization to get a better idea of their vision, mission and values will also give you a better idea of what to emphasize. For instance, if the organization prides itself on using innovative technology in the workplace, talk about your experience using different tools and platforms. 

2. Grab Attention With Your Objective

The objective section of your workplace management resume is your first opportunity to catch the hiring manager’s attention. With so many resumes to sift through, it is critical that you make the most of every word. Since the facilities management field spans virtually every industry, tailor your objective toward the specific industry and position you are seeking, utilizing words that both highlight your skills and match what the company is seeking.

While it is necessary to use descriptive words in this section, avoid words that are overused or “fluffy” to ensure you don’t lose the reader’s attention. Grab your thesaurus and find ways to get your point across, but in a more creative and specific manner.

A few words/terms to avoid are:

• highly qualified
• results-focused
• effectual leader
• has talent for
• energetic
• confident
• professional
• successfully
• able
• capable
• suitable
• competent

When using subjective words such as “excellent,” “motivated” and “seasoned,” provide real-world examples to back up these statements. This sets you apart from the rest, ensuring you will get noticed by the hiring professional.

Let’s take a look at a few examples from real facility manager resumes:

• “Combine astute strategic, business, and project management skills with an 11-year track record of business consultancy and analysis that enables revenue and profit growth. Excellent analytical, organizational, and leadership skills. Seasoned, collaborative leader skilled in motivating staff to achieve aggressive goals and objectives. Global business operational perspective through exposure to diverse business protocols, particularly in North America and Europe. Led more than 800 pre-sales technical support staff organization that supported $7B to $8B in revenue. Skilled in product development with solid background in IT systems and HR.”
• “Versatile, accomplished engineering manager with proven expertise managing maintenance operations in a wide range of industrial settings. Background includes over 20 years of international experience at maritime, manufacturing and chemical facilities. Exhibits a strong and firm approach to sustaining and encouraging safe work environments and demonstrated capacity to streamline operations. Applies continuous improvement principles to increase process and maintenance efficiency and company profits. Proven ability to draw, read and interpret blueprints and schematics. Strong skills in directing and motivating staffs with up to 200 members.”

If you have worked with an executive or department head that is willing to provide a quote regarding your work (or already have endorsements on LinkedIn) that’s a creative way to add value to your resume. A well thought-out quote supplies that added punch that sets you apart from the rest of the candidates. For example:

“Steve excels at making the impossible possible. He has an innate ability to manage complex situations with ease and grace.” VP of Real Estate, ABC company

3. Quantify Your Accomplishments

In customizing your resume, tailoring your list of accomplishments and facility management expertise should be your next focus. While a long list of accomplishments may seem great on the surface, the reader may lose interest before they reach the most relevant points. Should you decide to leave all accomplishments on your resume, consider the order so as to ensure your most valuable assets get the spotlight right away. Using the term “facilities manager” is a broad term; get creative and use your prior experience to create titles that highlight your areas of expertise. For example:

• As an FM you likely managed the company’s the maintenance of all tangible assets. There are many responsibilities involved in this aspect of your position, so you want to choose the most relevant to both prior history and the specific position you are currently seeking. For example: Facilities Operation and Maintenance Management, Facilities Engineering, Chief Engineer, Director of Facilities, Maintenance Engineer.
• Another facet of your FM position is analyzing budgetary data. This includes maximizing returns on investments, reducing costs and increasing productivity. You must be astute at identifying what programs are currently working and which are not and developing a plan of action accordingly. Your skills must include: Asset Management, Budget Control and Implementation, Root Cause Analysis and/or Purchasing Management. Identify the term(s) that best highlight your skills and where they are needed for the job you are applying.
• Your budgetary analysis will lead you to implementation of new solutions as well as dissolving ineffective programs. While you do not have to be an expert in everything, your knowledge must include every aspect of the organization, including IT, HR, finances and law. Therefore, highlighting your project management skills is a must. Determine the best terminology that encompasses skills/duties, such as: Project Management and Planning, Planning and Scheduling, Program Management Professional, Project Manager, Portfolio Management, Project Engineer.
• Critical to the facility manager’s skill set is the ability to relate and communicate with individuals at every level of the company. FMs must have an open, communicative relationship with HR and IT to determine what needs are currently being met and what needs need to be addressed. A leader in Facilities Management must have a hand in ensuring training needs are met, not only for their employees, but also for themselves. A few terms to help get this skill set across are: Human Resource Development, Training and Development, Communication, Risk Management.
• You also need to be able to track key facility management metrics to demonstrate you are meeting key objectives like improving space utilization and employee productivity while reducing costs. 

4. Highlight Your Career Accomplishments

Once you have tailored your skills toward the position you are seeking, it’s time to turn your attention to your career accomplishments. Apply the same rule for this section as you did for your areas of expertise by highlighting your past experiences that most closely match what the hiring company is looking for. Unless specified, list only prior experience that would be of importance to the employer and choose your words carefully. For instance:

“Managed a $21 million annual budget, including maintenance, new projects and operation consumables.” – The hiring manager is given insight into the size budget in which you are experienced, as well as what projects/tasks were associated with said budget.

Provide specifics regarding projects you developed and oversaw. For example: 

“Served as team leader in $155,000 project to replace outdated and inefficient software programs, facilitating a more streamlined and productive approach in handling maintenance agreements, servicing tickets and communication across organization.” Or perhaps you: “Reduced contractor staff by 75% and annual costs by $250,000 by implementing an in-house training program for complex repairs and higher quality and safety standards.”

Take a close look at the projects you developed and oversaw to completion and provide specifics regarding how the company was impacted by your ingenuity and expertise. By providing statistics, you avoid redundancy from one job to the next, while reiterating to hiring management why you would be best suited for the job.

5. Highlight Your Leadership Skills

Your role as a facility manager requires you to possess a wide variety of skills and leadership traits.

When it comes to showcasing these skills, it’s more important to show than tell. It’s one thing to say you have great organizational skills, but it’s more telling to describe how you managed a complex project under a tight deadline. 

Other important facility management skills to emphasize include: 

• Critical thinking
• Project management 
• Experience using workplace data
• Technology expertise
• Ability to work well with cross-functional teams

You must show the reader you can make tough decisions, particularly when under pressure, supervise and motivate individuals, and communicate well with both executives and the broader workforce. Choose your words carefully, inferring you are a strong motivator and relationship builder. 

6. Emphasize Professional Development and Recognition

As we mentioned earlier, the facility management industry is constantly changing. New technologies and workplace trends are emerging so fast, it can be difficult to keep up.

While you’ll never have all the answers, you need to demonstrate you know where to look to find them — and you’re always learning. If you have professional certifications, make sure to include them on your facility management resume.

Here are a few worth considering:

• Qualified Professional of Corporate Real Estate (QPCR)
• Master of Corporate Real Estate (MCR)
• Senior Leader of Corporate Real Estate (SLCR)

• Energy efficiency and sustainability (BEEP)

• Real Property Administrator (RPA)
• Facilities Management Administrator (FMA)
• System Maintenance Administrator (SMA)
• Property Administrator (PAC)
• Property Management Financial Proficiency (PMFP)

Professional associations like CoreNet, IFMA and BOMA all have local chapters, regular conferences and webinars where you can learn more about the latest trends in corporate real estate. There are plenty of great workplace blogs you can follow and podcasts you can listen to.

With all these great resources, there’s no excuse not to be in the loop.

Want great insights from global workplace leaders as you build your facility manager resume? Subscribe to the Workplace Innovator Podcast!