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I am interviewing for a position with a medium sized holding firm that specializes in cold storage. In my first interview with this company, the question was asked, “How would you handle your first week here?” I was somewhat at a loss for words. How would you answer this question, having had years of experience in this field?
Brian Harrier
Claybridge Farm
bharrier@gmail.com

James Elledge replies ...

If the position has little direct supervision, your first week would be spent on learning as much as possible about the property. You’d want to schedule a complete walk through (or several, if there are multiple properties) as well as visits with maintenance staff and/or vendors to get a snapshot of the properties’ condition and maintenance history. You’ll need to demonstrate you are quite capable of managing properties and want to understand what it is you are going to manage.

After the walk through is complete, you’ll want to review the current and past budgets as well as capital improvement plans. This will give you an assessment of how well the properties have been maintained (or neglected) in the past.

By suggesting these steps, you would assure the interviewer that you would not require a lot of hand holding if you were selected for the position.

Thanks for your question

Jim Elledge

Elledge, facility/office services manager for Dallas, TX-based Summit Alliance Companies, is the recipient of the Distinguished Author Award from the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), is an IFMA Fellow, and is a member of TFM's Editorial Advisory Board. All questions have been submitted via the “Ask The Expert” portion of the magazine’s Web site. To pose a question, visit www.todaysfacilitymanager.com/fm_viewexpert.php.

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