FACILITIES MANAGEMENT JOURNAL JOBS
FM CAREERS - RECRUITMENT
BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS Louie-Mae Gibson, Estate Director and Operations Board Member for Business balance at Knight
Frank Promise (KFP) focusing on Women in Business, is using her considerable experience to
fulfi l a commitment to advancing the opportunities for women in property and FM
It’s been estimated that men outnumber
women by nine to one in facilities management
leadership roles. Louie-Mae Gibson, Estate
Director and an Operations Board Member for
Business balance at Knight Frank Promise (KFP)
which specialises in the property and facilities
management of residential properties, believes that
the way to combat this shortfall is to take a complete
lifecycle approach, from recruitment to training and
mentoring, through to encouraging women who
succeed in FM to put something back by mentoring
others.
Gibson began her career in the army, moved into
management consultancy a er leaving the services
and subsequently took on HR, operational and
project management roles before moving to KFP
in 2019. She advocates that the way to break the
barriers to recruiting women into property roles
begins at the application stage. In KFP they are
breaking the trend and taking a refreshing and fully
supportive approach to initiatives that bring about
gender balance.
She says: “I strongly believe that people follow
their natural behaviours and they tend to employ
people that are like them, so if you've got heads of
department who are all men, they will follow their
behavioural traits. This is why e ecting change from
the top is crucial and it’s important to get men on
board with this process. It is not ‘man bashing’ but
rather acknowledging that you’re never going to get
anything done if you don’t address the structural set
up from the top down.
“We are the only all-female team in my area and
when we recruit for roles it is a case of looking at skills
and advising that your core skills may be considered
more ‘female’, such as admin or supportive roles.
But don't just think that you are confined to those
positions, you can aim for fee generating roles.
“Being in FM is not about going on a building site
with digger boots, it’s been estimated that 87 per
cent of the role is desk-based so you're not going
to be digging up a field. Unfortunately, if you go to
recruitment fairs and you look at the stands, they’re
o en heavily represented by males so the sector
needs to begin by getting recruiters on board that
aim to get women to turn up at fairs as a school
leaver, graduate or someone who is transferring
from another industry who is interested in moving
into FM.”
When it comes to the actual recruitment process
she says: “Eradicating tick box qualifications is
key – you don’t need to scroll through and look for
engineering degrees, because in the main, you don’t
need one for an FM role. Instead ask, what is critical
for that role? Once you look at the so skills and ask
questions like, ‘have you taken a leadership role?’
that flips it to a heavier pool of candidate and opens
up a wider influx of female applicants that could do
the job.
“The KFP operations board is currently 70 per
cent female, and we’ve rolled out a blind CV process
where you take o the candidate’s name and any
pronouns to nullify any unconscious bias. This way
you know the people you interview are the best
people going forward and it helps to flip recruitment
on its head.”
MENTORING MIX
Mentoring is another important part of the mix.
Gibson mentors in a variety of ways, both across
di erent sectors via Women in Business, and on the
property side with Agents Together which o ers
the sector resources and tools to support their
professional growth.
She explains: “With mentoring I might give a
woman help with the technical side of the role or
a steer to a particular legal requirement. I don’t
know her boss, her business or her client but my
help should take away the fear factor for her as I’m
completely removed and have no impact on her job.
I am just there to give help and advice. In this way
those being mentored can present themselves
more confidently.
“I’ve also been asked within the FM sector to
mentor other people. What is so rewarding is when
you have people you’ve mentored over the last
decade and they message you to say they’re head of
accounts, head of a property team or a development
manager. They say ‘how can I thank you? and you
say ‘you can be a mentor now too.’ It’s infectious and
people are so appreciative that they are more than
happy and keen to pay it forward.”
Mother’s o en get a raw deal in terms of the career
prospects so for the future Gibson believes that
organisations need to think more creatively so that
when people with experience and knowledge come
back from maternity they’re o ered even senior roles
as job share posts.
She says: “In helping to create these roles within
business we’re going to have to proactively create
these roles. Flexible working because of COVID
means that more than ever, you have positions in
the business that are attractive to those looking
for shared roles and this flexibility will encourage a
return to work and says that women’s careers can
flourish whatever their circumstances.”
INSPIRATIONS
Gibson herself has been inspired by a number of
powerful women ranging from: “Eleanor Roosevelt,
who is easily forgotten in modern day times, for the
trailblazing achievements, human rights activism,
and the embryonic systems that we take as a given
today. I also admire, respect and am in awe of ladies
like the NASA mathematicians; Kathrine Johnson,
Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan. For equality,
Women in Business and educator, it has to be
Jacqueline Abbott-Deane, Director and founder of
Tactix Consultancy and One Loud Voice which aims
to mobilise and bring together the many groups
tackling the continuing barriers for women in the
UK workforce.
“Overall all though, it would always be my mum,
who, was ahead of her time, bright intelligent and
hilariously funny, who set a very high bar, and always
empowered me to do whatever I wanted to no matter
if ‘only boys do that’, or if ‘that’s a man’s job’; she was
the one that lightly said over co ee one morning,
‘why don’t you join the Army?’”
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