Why Hiring a Young, Underqualified FM is Your Next Step to a Perfectly Run Office.
A highly skilled workforce leads to better productivity, collaboration, and ultimately, results. Yet, FM as a sector is struggling. Struggling to find suitable candidates for evolving roles and struggling to retain those that have the capability to fulfil their responsibilities.
A large part of this shortage is that FM has a notorious lack of training courses and internship schemes, which could guarantee skilled candidates. As a whole, less than 65% of employers offer these schemes, but in the world of Facilities Management that number falls much lower. What this leads to is a constant push from employers to recruit mature, skilled FMs; perfect in theory, but evidently harder in practice.
Harder because technology is changing faster than ever before, and current FMs can’t adapt as quickly as younger generations can instinctively learn. Technological leaps around areas like the Internet of Things (IoT) work hand in hand with a generation that have been using the internet for most of their lives, and the uncomfortable truth is that a young, tech savvy graduate will likely be more able to handle a smart meeting system than an aged FM expert who has spent years sorting out a long-hand cleaning schedule.
The natural solution to FM’s skill shortage woes? Graduates. Apprenticeships. Training. Specifically, millennials who can be upskilled and trained to fit perfectly into a company’s culture and requirements.
Of course, this means taking on candidates who aren’t as experienced as clients may be used to – not the most appealing idea. Training costs money, and that’s money which, theoretically, wouldn’t have to be spent on upskilling an experienced hire.
But the key word here? Retention. An overwhelming majority of millennials want clear career progression, and yet almost half of all young working professionals have been dissuaded by their current offerings. If an FM company promises a fresh graduate a clear training scheme, modern technology, and return on loyalty – they’ve already ticked the major job seeking boxes for what is proven as a forward-thinking, upcoming workforce. And these promises mean a younger candidate will be likely to stay and train more employees down the line. From an initial investment of time and money can come huge returns of both talent and efficiency.
And the reality is that if a company chooses not to train their new hires, they’re taking advantage of previous employers who have. The struggles of a skill shortage across FM is an issue for everybody in the industry, which means that only a collaborative effort will begin solving the drought.
If the rate of employers who offer Facilities training programmes can increase, then as an industry, we can attract the key talent that will facilitate growth.
Coleen Cloherty, Director, Build Recruitment
www.buildrec.com
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