Open-access content
Friday 3rd May 2013
3 May 2013
A quarter of respondents to FM World's 2013 salary survey expect to leave their employer in the next 12 months, compared to just 14 per cent who said the same last year - a clear sign that things are looking up.
At Hays, we feel very positive about the market. It's been a busy six months, and we expect to be even busier over the next year. There are many new roles following restructuring across the industry, particularly in customer service. This has been a major focus over the last five years, but more recently companies are creating specific roles, from entry-level duty FMs to more senior customer service managers. These aren't always a "must-have" and tend to come up when the market is buoyant.
Candidates should bear in mind that as employers focus on providing five-star customer service, they increasingly demand hard evidence of ability to deliver. The other hot topic is innovation. Clients are constantly asking FM providers to come up with innovative ways of improving services while becoming more cost-efficient, and jobseekers are therefore being challenged on this far more frequently as part of the recruitment process.
The less good news is that pay rises reported by respondents to the FM World survey haven't translated into increases across the market. There are, however, niche areas where shortages of candidates with the right experience have pushed up the going rate - in banking, healthcare or datacentres, for example. But we find that salary only gets people interested in a job. When it comes to deciding which role to take, it's about challenges and interesting opportunities - and there are plenty of those around at the moment.
Ian Higgins is director at Hays FM & Maintenance
It's great to see confidence returning to the jobs market, as FM professionals take advantage of renewed stability to look for a fresh challenge.
A quarter of respondents to FM World's 2013 salary survey expect to leave their employer in the next 12 months, compared to just 14 per cent who said the same last year - a clear sign that things are looking up.
At Hays, we feel very positive about the market. It's been a busy six months, and we expect to be even busier over the next year. There are many new roles following restructuring across the industry, particularly in customer service. This has been a major focus over the last five years, but more recently companies are creating specific roles, from entry-level duty FMs to more senior customer service managers. These aren't always a "must-have" and tend to come up when the market is buoyant.
Candidates should bear in mind that as employers focus on providing five-star customer service, they increasingly demand hard evidence of ability to deliver. The other hot topic is innovation. Clients are constantly asking FM providers to come up with innovative ways of improving services while becoming more cost-efficient, and jobseekers are therefore being challenged on this far more frequently as part of the recruitment process.
The less good news is that pay rises reported by respondents to the FM World survey haven't translated into increases across the market. There are, however, niche areas where shortages of candidates with the right experience have pushed up the going rate - in banking, healthcare or datacentres, for example. But we find that salary only gets people interested in a job. When it comes to deciding which role to take, it's about challenges and interesting opportunities - and there are plenty of those around at the moment.
Ian Higgins is director at Hays FM & Maintenance