During a career in Facilities Management spanning 40 years plus, I have developed and maintained a long-standing appreciation, passion and respect for teams made up of highly skilled trades as well as talented facilities managers, project engineers, architects, construction managers and operations teams domestically and internationally, all of which make up the vast world of the “Built Environment” globally.

This is an industry that historically, (although I have been lucky to be a part of FM teams that were celebrated) has not gotten the respect it deserves for its commitment to accepting the responsibility of making sure that buildings are safe, clean, and welcoming to all the people that work in them and visit them.

More importantly there is a tendency to overlook the talented skilled individual trades people who provide the services specific to maintaining these spaces.  Many of these devoted individuals are never acknowledged or rewarded for their herculean efforts to keep buildings operating in spite of acts of god or challenges brought on by human conflict or human error.

Having worked in diverse industries as an FM, a supplier and in a trade association I have honed my skills in strategic planning and execution, always looking for ways to innovate, grow or transform while driving positive results whether financial in the form of cost avoidance – isn’t that what we are always ask for from the C-suite –  or procedural.

So what do I want to do now?  I want to take my enthusiasm, experience, and belief in the people of the built environment to the next level.

How?  By providing companies the opportunity to carefully source, vet and hire individuals for a profession that is finally growing in respect.

This can be next-gen talent from trade schools, colleges or universities, persons reinventing themselves into a new career or individuals deserving of a second chance.

Let’s start early and explain that this is an industry that bears considering when you as a young person thinking about what you want to be when you grow up!

Let’s create a talent pipeline in the built environment that empowers everyone to join it through diversity, fairness, impartiality and inclusion.

Let’s have a conversation…better yet, let’s make this happen.

Anne Aleman is the co-founder and Chief Purpose Officer who works with leaders to build and manage internship opportunities with trade school, college and graduate level students.

Anne knows building trans-formative project-based experiential hiring programs will improve efficiency and reduce recruitment costs.

Anne has worked within the multi-site facilities management industry and knows how important a high-quality talent pipeline, with real-life experiences, is to reducing recruitment costs and that having an adaptable internship opportunity would make this achievable.

Anne is a certified RFMP who is an experienced and action-oriented leader with over two decades of experience in the multi-site facilities management industry.