When your property management firm is looking to hire its next maintenance manager, experience is essential. Basic repair knowledge, tool and equipment expertise and an understanding of preventative measures needed to avoid emergencies are just a few of the many hard skills a potential maintenance manager must meet in order to qualify for consideration.
Although these skills are vital, they are not the only skills that prospective employers like you should consider when searching for your next maintenance manager candidate. You should also take a close look at the candidate’s soft skills, too.
Why are soft skills important when considering new candidates? While hard skills demonstrate a candidate’s success at performing the more physical and technical responsibilities of the maintenance manager role, the common, non job-specific skills establish success at functioning in a collaborative and customer-facing work environment.
In the following article, we’ll discuss the top four soft skills to consider when seeking new maintenance managers for your organization.
Communication Skills
To truly flourish in a property management organization, a maintenance manager must possess excellent communication skills. With strong communication skills, an effective manager can avoid confusion, improve day-to-day productivity and strengthen customer relationships by clearly and concisely disseminating important information or instructions to coworkers and residents/tenants.
Signs of strong communication skills can be confirmed by carefully reviewing the candidate’s resume or application. If the candidate created a clear, concise and informative resume, it demonstrates strong written communication skills. Whereas a lengthy, poorly focused or incoherent resume submission establishes a candidate’s inability to clearly express themselves and successfully convey important information.
In addition to written communication skills, maintenance managers should also possess strong verbal communication skills. If candidates fail to express themselves clearly, concisely and confidently during the interview process, then they may have trouble effectively communicating with coworkers, residents and vendors on a daily basis.
Problem Solving Skills
A maintenance manager’s typical work schedule is often filled with repairs and preventative measures both planned and unplanned. That being said, your ideal candidates should possess sharp problem-solving skills.
When interviewing candidates, present them with a scenario that will require them to demonstrate problem-solving abilities. It can be something fairly routine such as a faulty appliance or something more serious like a broken pipe. A candidate with acute problem-solving skills will carefully assess the situation, consider all viable options, and take swift action to successfully correct the problem.
If the candidate seems anxious, hesitant or unsure of their answers during the interview, then it’s a sign that their problem-solving skills are not ideal for such an important role in your organization.
Time Management Skills
Repairs. Staff meeting. Vetting vendors. Travelling between properties. Creating schedules. These are just a few of the many responsibilities that make up a maintenance manager’s day. Without acute time management skills, there’s a risk that the maintenance manager will not be able to meet their daily demands and overcome their professional challenges.
To help effectively manage their time, many maintenance managers use computer software and/or mobile applications to help them schedule and prioritize their responsibilities. Applicants who list proficiency with these tools on their resume most likely have better time-management skills than those who do not.
Teamwork Skills
Your organization wants to hire a maintenance manager who is experienced and proficient in their field. However, you also want a candidate who enjoys collaborating with others.
To determine if your candidates possess strong teamwork skills, ask them to tell you about a time in their professional life when they worked with others to achieve a goal or successfully overcome an obstacle. Candidates who can demonstrate their ability to be an active collaborator are traditionally those who are also effective communicators and problem solvers.
By focusing on professional experience and these soft skills, you’ll find more success in hiring the maintenance managers who are a great fit for your organization.
Hiring new maintenance managers can be an arduous process for many property owners. Partnering with an experienced recruitment firm like MSB Resources can help take some of the pressure off of your organization. We understand the current market and can offer insight as to what it will take to successfully hire the talent you need. Our team is adept at identifying maintenance manager candidates who meet the experience and qualifications for the position.
If you would like to learn more about the many ways we can help you find the best candidate for your current vacancies, please contact us today!