Benefits of Becoming a Certified Facilities Manager

• Gain credibility in your professional network
• Showcase your knowledge of core competencies
• Grow as a leader in facility management
• Proudly join a distinguished group of FM professionals
• Advance your career or pivot to other areas of interest
• Grow in confidence in your role

Becoming a facilities manager can provide a unique opportunity to have diverse responsibilities. Facilities managers support multiple departments and services in an organisation, helping with planning, development and property upkeep. 

While it is not always necessary for a facilities management career, there are several benefits to earning a certification related to the role.

Benefits of becoming a certified facilities manager

As a facilities manager, you may work in many departments and business environments, including government and real estate, with diverse ranges of people.  

So, learning more about your career through certifications provides you with an expanded knowledge base that can aid your success.  

It also helps you stay current with an industry's trends, tendencies and requirements.  

Having a certification may help you during the job search process, as some employers may prefer having certified facilities managers. 

Before you can pursue a facilities manager certification, it's often necessary to earn a bachelor's degree in a field related to your specialisation.  

Though facilities managers have diverse job responsibilities, there are focus areas that encompass most of their work.  

Some facilities managers work more on management-related tasks, while others work closely with sales departments or safety standards.

Consider a degree that can help prepare you for your chosen focus like Portobello Institute’s BSc (Hons) in Workplace and Facilities Management. 

While it’s clear that the “certified” part of a facility manager’s job title is a distinguishing feature, what, exactly, does it mean? Used correctly, it’s meant to signify a professional who has earned a certificate relevant to facility management. Some of the most common certificates include: 

• Facility Management Professional™ (FMP®) 
• Certified Facility Manager® (CFM®) 
• Sustainability Facility Professional® (SFP®) 
• RICS Chartered Qualification (MRICS) 
• RICS Associate Qualification (AssocRICS) 

Any of these certifications showcase a facility professional as someone with formal training and education in the field.  

They’ve taken courses, passed exams, and met the standards of organizations like IFMA and the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management (IWFM).  

More important, certified professionals maintain membership to these organizations, which puts them on the leading edge of new insights, technologies, and practices. 

In a nutshell, a certified facility manager has gone above and beyond to pursue formal accreditation of their skills and knowledge and continues to advance these traits throughout their tenure in a position.

Certified professionals have committed themselves to the discipline of facilities management. 

How to get certified as a facilities manager 

The path to becoming a certified facilities manager goes through industry associations such as IFMA (US) and IWFM (UK & Ireland).  

These organisations are the gatekeepers of everything from resources to educational materials, and they’re responsible for upholding the standards companies come to expect when they hire a certified facility manager. 

Professionals first need to obtain membership with these organisations and then enrol in the organisation’s professional development programs. Depending on the certification you are pursuing, the program may include different time commitments and cover different materials. 

After enrolling in a certificate course, professionals will educate themselves on industry standards and materials, complete modules, and pass exams to prove their knowledge.  

Most certificate programs end with a final exam as proof of competency. After passing it, a facility manager officially becomes a certified facility manager.  

Certified facility managers need to maintain their accreditation by completing ongoing educational modules and continuing education credit hours each year. This keeps them up to date on new developments in their field and ensures their certification is still relevant in an ever-evolving industry. 

Portobello Institute runs a host of IWFM diplomas as well as a BSc (Hons) in Facilities and Workplace Management and an MSc in Facilities and Workplace Management to support your continued learning and pathway to certified excellence.  

Get in Contact 

If you are interested in any of our Facilities Management degrees or courses, you can check out our department page here. 

If you are interested in choosing the course for the career you want, you can book a consultation call with our expert Facilities Management advisor Brandon McLean here, email brandon.mclean@portobelloinstitute.com or call 01 892 0035.