03/16/2010
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Professional Development
Through its Professional Development program, IFMA exhibits its commitment to leading and sustaining the facility management profession. The Association offers educational seminars, research reports, networking opportunities and recognizes quality FM first-professional degree programs at colleges and universities. Certified Facility Managers receive maintenance points for successful completion of IFMA Competency-based Courses, hot topic courses and World Workplace educational sessions. Click here to learn more.New CFM Shares Experience
This week, I passed the CFM certification (unless Houston checks it and finds otherwise!)
Now I have worked in the area of Facilities and Real Estate for 16 years, but came from the design side of it rather than building operations. I wasn't sure I had enough in-depth experience to pass all parts of the exam. I made high-level decisions about budget, direction, and real estate strategy, but I could not stand before you and explain exactly how a chiller works and how to fix it if it's not.
So, with the advice of Teena Shouse, I took the preliminary test on the website. While my results were less than fantastic, it made me feel that with a little prep, I might be able to pass. Then I took Teena's "most excellent adventure" CFM study session. It helped me feel much more comfortable by identifying strategies, providing some specific information that I had not been exposed to, and giving us a chance to talk to each other about situations that might be presented on the test. It helped me realize I needed to focus on what the questions were really asking of me. I also had to forget some things from the world I came from. For instance, where a correct answer on the exam might be "send an e-mail to all employees to inform them of an upcoming event", that would have been unacceptable protocol at my previous employer.
As I was going through additional prep questions and the actual test, I found it helped me to think of what category/competency the question was about (are they talking about communication or life safety?)--it framed it for me and often helped me eliminate one or more of the answers because they weren't the best answer for what the question's category was. The study session's strategies were right on--focus on the big picture, eliminate the "most wrong" answers, think of what is best for the business not just what your are being asked to do, and think of what your boss would be looking for or how s/he would address it.
And just do it!
Anna Graether, CFM