Facility Managers wear a lot of hats and are responsible for everything from maintaining and optimizing physical infrastructures, like HVAC systems, to ensuring compliance with relevant safety regulations. Technological advances are also giving facilities options for increased efficiency, which means that as a Facility Manager, you are starting to take on additional activities that involve the use of those emerging technologies.
All of this means that in order to land a job as a Facility Manager, you have to show a diverse set of skills to underscore your capabilities to future employers. The best way, and in some cases, the only way to do that is with a compelling resume. Your Facility Manager resume has to effectively convey your qualifications, skills, and career achievements in a way that wows a hiring manager. To help you along, we’ve put together a Facility Manager resume example and a score of tips and tricks to guide you in winning a coveted interview.
How to write a resume
At some point during your childhood, someone probably asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up. Chances are strong that “Facility Manager” was never your answer, but because of the rapid changes in this field, it’s becoming more of an in-demand profession. When it’s time for you to answer the call to a role as a Facility Manager, you’ll have to write a resume, and it needs to be something that goes beyond simply listing all the jobs you’ve held and projects you’ve worked on.
Pick your format
How you write your resume begins with the format. The Facility Manager resume example that you see below is written using the reverse-chronological format. While there are a couple of other formats you can choose from, the reverse-chronological is best for the skills and achievements you need to let future employers know about. In fact, most employers expect to see this format because, well, it’s the easiest one for them to skim through to gain pertinent information about your past as it aligns with the role they need to fill.
Proper layout
The ease with which hiring managers can ascertain details about what you’ll bring to the table for their team is in the layout. A well-organized reverse-chronological resume has approximately seven sections that are clearly defined and separate details about your qualifications in an easy-to-digest way.
Contact information: You need them to know who you are and to be able to reach you to offer an interview opportunity.
Title: The title or headline of your resume should appear just below your contact information; it should stay on one line and be future-facing. Meaning it tells the hiring manager what you want to do rather than representing what you’ve already done.
Profile summary: This is a paragraph containing three to five sentences that immediately answers the hiring manager’s “So what?” question by filling them in on your qualifications, skills, and goals.
Skills: After your summary paragraph, there should be a list of 9-12 applicant tracking system-friendly keywords and phrases that match what you find in the job description.
Work history: Now you’re getting into the main part of your resume – what you’ve done at other companies. Mention the company you worked at, how long you were there, what your title was, and around five bullet points that call attention to achievements your past employers enjoyed because of the work you performed.
Education: Many Facility Manager positions don’t require degrees, but perhaps you completed an OSHA certification course or are licensed to operate a forklift. You can put any degree you may have, along with those certifications and licenses, in this section.
Notable projects: This section is optional but can really help your resume stand out from the crowd if you’ve worked on some major project that everyone would recognize. It could also be used for things like converting spaces to be EV-friendly, as an example.
Quantify your achievements
Many Facility Manager resumes are written in a way that focuses on duties rather than achievements. By not quantifying achievements, you’re missing a huge opportunity to demonstrate your effectiveness as a Facility Manager. Here’s an example of a Facility Manager resume achievement that misses the mark:
Lacking detail:
ABC CORP | 2015-Present
Managed commercial facility and accompanying systems
Responsible for preventive and regular maintenance
Handled budget for buying supplies
You could expand on this by talking about the size of the facilities, the scope of the maintenance work, and how much the budget was. It would be even better if you could mention any processes you put into place to save money on the budget. It’s a good idea to use the STAR method to talk about achievements on your resume.
STAR method on your resume
You’ve likely heard about using the STAR method to answer behavioral interview questions, but you can use it on your resume, too. Ultimately, the goal with STAR is to discuss the Situation, talk about the Tasks that were being affected, what Action you took to remedy the problem, and the Result of your action. Here’s what that would look like using the previous example:
ABC CORP | 2015-Present
Directed a 4-unit commercial facility spread across a 10-acre site
Defined preventive maintenance schedule that involved every system being touched at least once per month to ensure optimum uptime
Partnered with as many as 10 vendors to keep up with regular maintenance on hundreds of systems
Reduced the $50M annual budget by 10% by renegotiating contracts and finding problems before they occurred through the preventive maintenance schedule
Put yourself in the hiring manager’s shoes. If you had two resumes in front of you where one used language like the first example and the other used language like the second example, which candidate would you call for an interview?
Facility Manager Resume example
If you’re a proof-is-in-the-pudding type of person, we’ve got your back, too. Not everyone can picture something just from a set of instructions. So, we’d like to present you with a Facility Manager resume example that you can use as inspiration in crafting your own interview-winning resume.
Name
Title
City, State or Country if international
Phone | Email
LinkedIn URL
FACILITY MANAGER PROFESSIONAL
A dedicated, detail-oriented Facility Manager highly regarded for providing excellent leadership, problem-solving and multitasking skills. Out-of-the-box thinker who diligently addresses operational issues and ensure continued productivity. Known for superb work ethic, strong attention to detail, and knowledgeable of most building and facility repairs coupled with an understanding of all current codes and safety procedures. A service-oriented individual offering skill in project management and conflict resolution. Recognized as well organized, demonstrating self-motivation, perseverance, and flexibility to ensure professional results exceed all expectations.
CORE COMPETENCIES
Compliance
Safety Management
Conflict Resolution
Operations
Code Compliance
Inventory Management
Scheduling
Building Security
Quality Control
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Facility Manager
ZipJob, New York NY | Year to Year
Responsibilities
Responded to building emergencies and managed repairs.
Created sustainable improvement initiatives to ensure the efficient use of energy.
Drove continuous improvement of processes and systems operation.
Investigated problems and determined appropriate remedies.
Accounted for building usage and organizational needs when planning maintenance activities.
Led corporate initiatives such as developing and implementing a Sales and Marketing Training program.
Controlled expenses to meet budget requirements.
Performed start-up functions on systems based on project plans, specifications and contract documents.
Interviewed, hired and trained qualified maintenance employees.
Coached and mentored associate installation specialists in system installation.
Maintained HVAC, temperature control, electrical and building automation systems.
Facility Manager
ZipJob, New York NY | Year to Year
Responsibilities
Created [Timeframe] management reports outlining important facility statistics.
Directed tenant improvements to meet contractual demands and update building areas.
Documented records on pricing, energy consumption and activity reports.
Managed projects totaling $[Number] in [Year].
Analyzed building control and HVAC system performance and recommended improvements.
Calibrated control systems to ensure that sequence of operations met commissioning obligations.
Directed successful turnaround, eliminating over $[Number] in debt within [Timeframe].
Provided staff members with the support and training to achieve top client satisfaction.
Streamlined office operations through [Task] and [Task].
EDUCATION
Complete School Name, City, St/Country: List Graduation Years If Within the Last Ten Years
Complete Degree Name (Candidate) – Major (GPA: List if over 3.3)
Relevant Coursework: List coursework taken (even include those you are planning on taking)
Awards/Honors: List any awards, honors or big achievements
Clubs/Activities: List clubs and activities in which you participated
Relevant Projects: List 2-3 projects you have worked on
Key hard & soft skills for Facility Manager
You’ll notice that this example resume doesn’t focus only on the skills you need to perform the job of Facility Manager. It also contains interpersonal skills. That’s because future employers want to know that you can execute the job of Facility Manager, but they also need to know that you are capable of solving problems, working with others, and creating a safe and collaborative work environment.
Welcome to the world of hard and soft skills. If you learned how to do a thing through some coursework or hands-on experience, then it’s a hard skill. The traits that allow you to be a good leader and multitask are called soft skills. In some instances, soft skills will win the day over hard skills, so don’t neglect to include them in your resume.
Hard skills for Facility Manager include:
Energy management
Space planning
Project management
Emergency response
Safety
Environmental sustainability
Soft skills for Facility Manager include:
Communication
Adaptability
Conflict resolution
Negotiation
Emotional intelligence
Autonomous decision-making
Summary & Last Words
While you may feel it’s good enough just to let employers know what you’ve done because they already know what certain responsibilities entail, it’s critical that you write your resume in a way that showcases not just the “what” but also the “how” and the “why.” By providing concrete examples of your career achievements, you’ll be able to demonstrate the value you’ll add to a future employer’s business, facility, and team.
Introduction to ZipJob: Professional Resume Writers
If you get stuck, you have access to a team of professional resume writers who know their way around the world of facilities management and are dedicated to giving you valuable insights and guidance on taking the next steps on your career journey. When you work with a ZipJob resume writer, you can be sure that the resume you get will meet industry standards and stand out in a highly competitive market.
Why You Should Make Use of Our Resume Writing Services to Land Your Next Job as Facility Manager
A professionally written resume catapults your chances of getting interviews by about 200% because you end up with a document that sings your praises in a way that gets past the ATS and impresses human hiring managers. That’s because a professional resume is perfectly tailored to the job you want, using relevant keywords in ways that highlight your strengths.
Resume Writing Service for Facility Manager: Let us write your resume
ZipJob has worked with tens of thousands of clients to advance careers in more than 65 industries and is known for using the same technology that companies use to make sure that your resume is correctly optimized. The resume-writing strategies the ZipJob team of writers uses ensure that you’ll land more interviews within 60 days.