FMX Article

Alison Halfpenny, director of recruitment at Humanics, talks to Sara Bean about the skills mix required for ambitious facilities managers

Many facilities managers fall into FM, but it's not often you meet a former facilities manager who has fallen into recruitment. Alison Halfpenny, a director at recruitment, HR, training and development consultancy Humanics, is responsible for its executive resourcing business. She has worked for more than ten years within the FM recruitment market, following several years spent in operational FM, which gives her a unique insight into the way the FM sector has developed over the past decade.

And yes, she did indeed enter facilities management by chance, when, after graduating from university with a BSc, she took a temporary job with the customer services team at Hays DX private postal service. She went on to join the operations team, managing the company's document exchanges where customers go to collect or drop mail. And because Hays could not always rely on using its customers' buildings for these exchanges, it began to set up drop-off points inside commercial buildings, which meant finding spaces for lease within the property market.

Says Halfpenny: 'I was managing the finding and acquisition of sites, ensuring access and parking, checking how the building could be secured, then having it fitted out and cleaned to ensure it looked professional. Although I didn't have responsibility for running accommodation for the company's staff, it really was FM in its most basic nature.'

After seven years working at Hays, she left July/August 2006 fmx 23 to join Williams Lea in a client services support role. The company supplies specialist services, particularly reprographics and printing services to a large corporate clientele, including many of the major banks, insurance companies and law firms in London.

'I spent a lot of time in the City, which was a real eye-opener,' says Halfpenny. 'When teams on site were short of a support manager I would come in to help manage, as well as check, that the service was what we had said we'd deliver.'

Although she enjoyed the role, she found the travelling hard-going and decided to leave of her own volition without a job to go to, 'which as a recruitment consultant I wouldn't advise anyone to do unless they really have to,' she says. A move into a consultancy position with the Chartered Institute of Marketing led to a position in its recruitment wing.

When it was decided to close that part of the business, she was made redundant and contacted recruitment specialist Metzger to ask about operational FM vacancies. To her surprise Metzger asked if she would be interested in coming to work for them, and after being interviewed by what seemed to be 'everyone in the business', she joined the company to help grow, and eventually lead, the facilities management recruitment.

Her position required her to fill roles such as facilities manager, commercial manager, facilities consultant and bid manager, with typical salaries ranging from £25k to £50k. She had a busy time getting to know the trade, meeting clients and understanding their businesses. The job entailed finding candidates for outsourcing service companies for both single and multiple vacancies at middle, senior and executive levels, within operational, business development, bid management, commercial management and consultancy roles.

'Like me, most of the candidates had fallen into FM,' she says. 'Some of the clients would ask for BIFM qualifications, but 10 years ago, these were a rarity. Bid managers, for example, might come out of an operational role, which meant they had hands-on experience understanding how a contract should be delivered. Many of the clients understood that to have a FM on a bid team, who was experienced in putting together the specifications and tender response, was always going to be an advantage.

'With client end-users it was sometimes more of a question of helping to educate them in the ways of facilities management. Because many FMs don't have formal qualifications it was up to us, as the recruitment experts, to give them a steer on what you would expect someone earning this much money, and with this much experience, to be able to do. So this might mean checking the candidates had experience of contract negotiation, formulating service level agreements and putting key performance indicators together.'

At the end of 2003, after nearly seven years with Metzger, Halfpenny left to set up Humanics with her business partner Beverley Thompson, who has a human resources and training and development background.

'The company philosophy is about the successful management of people within a business,' explains Halfpenny, 'and that has a lifecycle, which starts with getting an individual into an organisation and then helping to develop them within the organisation, because the retention of such individuals is an important piece of the jigsaw.

'It's all about how an organisation manages its people. Humanics is able to cover all those stops, with resourcing and recruitment through myself and then through training and development and good HR practice and policies.'

So what can recruitment professionals offer their clients when simply advertising a FM vacancy may suffice? Halfpenny argues it's about understanding a client's business, what the organisation is trying to achieve and knowing its culture. To do this, she will meet 26 fmx July/August 2006 line managers, see the buildings where the successful candidates would work (which with an outsourcing provider means their client's building) and advise the client on what type of candidate is best for a particular role in terms of qualifications, experience and level of salary. Candidates are, of course, interviewed, not only to get an idea of their level of skills and experience, but also their character.

Says Halfpenny: 'You can understand someone's level of skill and competence through careful questioning but it's their personality and how they'd fit into an organisation that's the key element.

'I might be working on two projects, both to find operational FMs for different organisations. The client will often say to me, "I know you're finding an FM for them, how do I know the people you're interviewing for me aren't going to that company?"'

Explains Halfpenny: 'I'll say, "It's simple really. You are two different companies with very different requirements and people suitable for your job are not suitable for the other one" Ð it's all down to cultural fit.'

The role of the recruitment side of Humanics supplies the outsourcing (or TFM) market, but it will also find staff for end-user clients. Services are designed for a senior level, encompassing operations directors, FM strategists, and middle to senior FMs worth £50K plus. And although the company does not work directly with public sector organisations, it does supply FMs into outsourcing specialists with contracts in the public sector.

'You get to know pretty quickly what sort of person is going to fit a PFI contract and who is going to fit into the corporate side,' says Halfpenny.

'Someone who hasn't had public sector experience can make the change, and some do it very competently, but for others there is just too much red tape in the way. They may find the slower processes painful and could consider it difficult working with an organisation where all the funding isn't necessarily there. Whatever the position, you will sometimes talk to a candidate and decide with them that a particular position would not suit their needs.'

Halfpenny has seen the FM sector become steadily more sophisticated over the past ten years. She is increasingly seeing younger managers who view FM as a deliberate career choice. Some have completed an MSc in FM or a related topic, while others have gained BIFM qualifications. There are, however, still many FMs who have fallen into the profession and have forged a successful career by moving around businesses gaining useful experience.

'The training dearth for FMs is still a big issue,' says Halfpenny. 'Employers often have a lack of desire to ensure the training and development of their people. With too many of them the thinking is, "If I train them they will leave". Yet I have seen some really good people who would benefit greatly from training, people with the technical skills but who don't have enough management training. Organisations need to put their money where their mouth is and encourage better training and routes to qualification.'

Halfpenny believes it is for this reason that there are not enough exceptionally good FMs around. She feels the BIFM's much-reported desire to see FMs in the boardroom is just not going to happen until more recognition is given to facilities management as a services-led discipline. 'Because FM is not a part of the core business, most organisations, especially those at the client-facing end, have to work hard to promote the work of the team to the rest of the business,' says Halfpenny.

'My clients are far more informed now than five years ago about what they are looking for. They want business managers, not just operational FMs. They want them to have excellent client-facing skills and this means not hiding away in their offices but being recognised throughout their business.'

For the future, Humanics will continue to be run as what Halfpenny calls a 'lean and mean' organisation, with a virtual office in central London, and a network of associates to help deliver on specific projects.

As for her own career choices, she does not regret moving into the recruitment profession. 'To do this job you have to be fundamentally and genuinely interested in helping people have an enjoyable career and a relatively stress-free route up the career ladder. My job is about people and business and hopefully making work a better experience for everyone involved.' Further Information www.humanics.co.uk 'My clients are far more informed than five years ago about what they are looking for. They want business managers, not just operational FMs'.