Hive Introduction To FacilityManager

Hello Hive. This is my first post as @FacilityManager. This is a channel that, in case you haven't guessed, will be focused on Facility Management. This is a job that I fell into in 2017 from an IT background. Most people don't know that there is such a job and what the job would entail. A running joke at FM (we tend to refer to the job as FM) conferences is to ask the audience how many people studied to become a Facility Manager. You'll see a hand or two. Then they ask how many people had perfectly good careers before becoming Facility Managers. Almost everybody raises their hand. Usually, it's somebody who is stuck with the job and discovers that they love it.

With that in mind, when I first started working as a Facility Manager, I knew there just had to be an organization dedicated to the role. Sure enough, I discovered the International Facility Management Association (https://www.ifma.org). There is also National Facilities Management & Training (https://nfmt.com). There is also the Building Owners and Managers Association International (https://boma.org). These were a great resource for getting up to speed with my newfound career. To be honest, I only expected to try the job for a while before going back into IT. However, I learned to love the job and don't expect to do anything different until retirement.

You might be surprised that FM could be considered a career. The reason FM is a full career is that it takes many years of experience to become a good Facility Manager. In fact, the CFM (Certified Facility Manager) recognition cannot be earned from IFMA until after at least five years on the job. The designation requires knowledge and master of many core competencies such as Operations & Maintenance, Project Management, Finance & Business, Leadership & Strategy, Occupancy & Human Factors, Sustainability, Real Estate, Communication, Performance & Quality, Risk Management, and Facility Information/IT Management.

All of this would be quite a lot to add to a personal blog. Therefore, it made sense to create a separate Hive account dedicated to Facility Management. You can expect blog posts about challenges of the job, best practices, conferences, debates, and the occasional FM project. This is a very niche subject. But, I hope to interest others in the job I have grown to love.