Turbulent Times - FM's Best Upskilling Opportunity? Facilities Show Panel Write Up - 300 North
300 North was invited to the Facilities Show to discuss how recruiters could tackle skill gaps and shortages across the Facilities Management sector, how that would impact the industry going forward and what can be done to solve it. The panel, titled “Turbulent Times: FM’s Best Upskilling Opportunity?”, was chaired by Mark Whittaker (Chair, IWFM and General Manager, Thomson FM), and had Conrad Dinsmore (Head of Projects, CBRE), Sofie Hooper (Head of Policy, IWFM), Andrew Hulbert (Managing Director, Pareto FM) and Theresa Lamarque (Director of Strategic Partnerships, 300 North), as speakers.
This Learning at Work Week we spoke to our 3 Kickstart trainees about how they have found working alongside external study. Josh and Kieran are our most recent recruits from the Kickstart programme and each have a couple of months left to complete their courses. Joe on the other hand recently finished his 6 months of Kickstart learning with us and decided to stay on with 300 North and take on further learning to attain a Foundation Certificate in Accounting.
300 North, experts in Facilities Management recruitment, is proud to be partnered with Uptree, a careers education and work experience platform championing diversity, inclusion and equality for all. The partnership emphasises an alignment of values between the two companies, and a wish to advance equitable, diverse and inclusive hiring practices.
For National Careers Week, we interviewed Mark Whittaker to spotlight FM careers and discuss how people are moving into and within the sector. The FM workforce comes from a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences, with many falling into the sector or not having clarity over the breadth of the opportunities available in it. In this interview we asked Mark about the jobs he’s had, his entry into the FM sector, his work with IWFM over the last 14 years, and how he thinks the sector has changed.
300 North are delighted to have a guest blog from Joanne Turrell at Uptree for National Apprenticeship Week to share how they are helping to bring young people into the workplace skilled and confident to start work.
This National Apprenticeship Week, Uptree, the professional network championing diversity, inclusion and equality for all, discusses the benefits of entry-level apprenticeships for employers and the importance of widening participation.
2022 is shaping up to be another interesting year in recruitment for the FM sector. After the uncertainty of the last two years, many are hoping that 2022 will hold more stability for the market and that markets will move back into the growth phase after a period of re-stabilisation. At 300 North we have seen a general upturn in applications and expressions of interest in roles, as well as market data showing an increase in registrations to job boards in the last few months. This increase from people wishing to change roles will need to continue for some time before the candidate deficit is resolved and there are as many people looking for jobs as there are vacant positions, but it shows a move towards more normal levels.
It is clear for all to see that the recruitment market has been turned upside down over the past 2 years and candidate experience has changed significantly. The pandemic has caused people’s priorities to change sometimes drastically with individuals wanting to move roles but unsure of the current market. The recruitment market within FM has also gone through several changes. From locking down almost completely and only taking on critical staff in early 2020, to a more “buyer” led market where clients had their pick of candidates quickly looking for work, to now, where for the last several months job vacancies have been soaring and finding the right candidates has become much more challenging.
