Building Manager CV Example
If you're considering applying for building manager positions, you'll want to draft a CV that gives your skills and career achievements a chance to shine. You'll want to showcase strong skills that are relevant to the role and reflect your experience, including ensuring HSE compliance and coordinating maintenance schedules. In this comprehensive guide, you'll learn the steps to producing a building manager CV that puts you in pole position to progress to the interview stage.
If you write a building manager CV that's more professional and engaging, it will help you progress through the ATS screening stage. Ultimately, it will also give you the best chance to impress the hiring manager, which will boost your prospects of reaching the interview stage. Let’s break down the core components of a CV and examine how to build them effectively.
Key sections of a building manager CV
How you approach writing your building manager CV will vary according to your experience, your level and the details outlined in the job description.
For an entry-level CV, you might wish to choose a format that doesn't place too much emphasis on your prior work experience. If you don't have too much relevant experience in the workplace, you can focus more on your skills and qualifications instead. As a junior candidate, therefore, you might prefer to use a functional, or skills-based, CV format. This layout brings your skills and education sections to the fore, de-prioritising your work experience section. Use optional sections such as hobbies and interests, volunteering and certifications and training to help you prove you have the necessary skills for the job.
If you're a bit further down the road with your career journey, you'll want your CV to be focused mainly on your experience. Hiring managers will be keen to see examples and evidence of how you've used relevant skills to create positive results and outcomes for previous employers, as an indication of your likely future performance. In this case, a reverse-chronological CV format is the most likely to make a positive impact. List the most recent and relevant work experience from your career and provide evidence to support your claims in the form of data, figures or other quantifiable results.
As an executive or senior-level candidate, it's critical to focus primarily on work experience in your CV. This is because employers will be expecting candidates to have a wealth of relevant experience, and to have reached a prominent position within the industry. Therefore, you'll want to create a detailed CV that follows the traditional, reverse-chronological format and showcase the depth of your experience and your career progression. You could also include professional memberships, publications, awards and key achievements to show your expertise.
However, regardless of your seniority, a building manager CV needs to tell a cohesive story of your professional growth. In the following sections, we’ll dive into each part of the CV step-by-step, starting with your header and moving through to your professional achievements.
CV Header
Kick off your building manager CV with a header listing the essential contact information such as your name, email address, phone number and location. You don't typically need to include your full address. Incorporate design elements that set the tone and design language of your document. If you have a LinkedIn profile, consider adding a URL to this in your header, to help the reader easily find more information on your career and credentials.
For UK applications, it's not usually advisable to include a personal photo or any other personal details, such as your age, gender, nationality or ethnicity. These can risk introducing bias to the decision-making process and are discouraged under the terms of the Equality Act 2010.
Aaron Patel
aaron-patel@example.com
(111) 222 33 444 55
Birmingham
linkedin․com/in/aaron–patel–123
CV Summary or Objective
The first section below your CV header is typically your CV summary. This short paragraph outlines some of your key skills, achievements and experience, so employers can quickly get an impression of whether you have the right credentials for the building manager job. While a CV summary showcases your key skills and achievements in the context of your career to date, a CV objective provides an alternative approach. It focuses instead on your ambitions for the future, making it ideal for junior candidates without much work experience.
In your summary or objective, write two or three sentences introducing your key skills, unique qualities and career achievements, making sure they match the key requirements listed in the job description.
A good CV summary would typically focus on a couple of key skills that match the job description, demonstrating how you've used them to good effect in previous roles. It's important to focus on your unique qualities and provide a preview of how they've made an impact in your career to date, which you'll unpack later in the document. Below you'll find an example of a strong building manager CV summary.
Engaging example:
Experienced building manager with 5 years’ expertise overseeing maintenance, compliance and renovations for 150-unit sites. Successfully reduced energy costs by 12% through proactive systems upgrades. Holds BSc in Facilities Management.
Weak example:
Enthusiastic building manager with a solid background in overseeing site operations, maintenance and health and safety processes, eager to contribute reliable skills and adaptable experience to a progressive property team.
Above is an example of CV summary that doesn't follow best practice, with some subtle shortcomings and failings. Your summary could miss the mark if it's too generic and doesn't describe unique personal qualities and strengths. It might also be vague, use long, unstructured sentences, lack quantifiable evidence of your impact, or not be tailored to the job description.
Work History
As with most CVs, your building manager CV work experience section tends to be the most vital part of your application. Employers tend to look to this section for evidence of how you've developed useful and relevant skills, and used them to add value for previous employers. Always tailor this section of your CV, focusing on keywords and phrases that match the job description, so employers can assess how you might put the same skills and qualities to good use in the future.
List only your most relevant jobs, and go back up to 10 or 15 years, depending on your experience levels. List your job title, the name of the employer, its location and the dates you worked there. Also include bullet points for each entry, highlighting how you used your skills to add value for the employer.
What differentiates an excellent work experience section from an average one is the use of action verbs and quantifiable evidence, showing how your actions led directly to positive results in previous roles. You'll also want to show how you've added relevant skills and increased your impact throughout your career progression. See below for an example of a strong work experience section for a building manager CV.
Engaging example:
Building Manager, January 2023 - Present
Greenfield Facilities Management Ltd, Manchester
- Reduced annual operating expenditure by 15% by negotiating supplier contracts and introducing preventive maintenance schedules.
- Managed refurbishment of multi tenanted office block, completing within six weeks and under budget by 8%.
- Implemented digital building management system, improving response times to maintenance requests by 40% and tenant satisfaction.
Weak example:
Building Manager, January 2023 - Present
Greenfield Facilities Management Ltd, Manchester
- Oversaw building maintenance and repair activities to support operational efficiency and address tenant concerns.
- Coordinated service providers and vendors to deliver routine inspections and improvements across the property portfolio.
- Ensured compliance with health and safety policies while managing daily operational requests and stakeholder communications.
Above is an example of what not to do with your building manager CV. An unengaging work experience section could be too generic, focusing too much on day-to-day duties rather than skills and achievements. It could also fail to address the job description or lack evidence to show the impact you've made in your career to date.
Education and Qualifications
In your education section, list any formal qualifications you've gained, particularly those that are most recent or required for the role.
A degree is typically a strict requirement for building manager jobs, and as such, you'll want to showcase yours in your CV. If you have a Bachelor of Science in Facilities Management or another similar, relevant degree that confirms your eligibility for the position, include it in your CV. You might also wish to add other degrees or qualifications that highlight your strongest skills, such as health and safety compliance or contract negotiation and administration.
When adding your qualifications to your education section, choose the highest relevant qualifications, and list them in reverse-chronological order, starting with your most recent. Add the name and level of the award, the institution, its location and your dates of study or graduation. If you have space or if you particularly want to emphasise your qualifications, you could add one or two bullet points under each entry, highlighting specialist areas of study, projects you worked on, awards you won or societies you were a member of.
It may also be useful for you to add any specialist industry qualifications, certifications or licences that you might require for the role. If you choose to add these, remember also to add an expiration date, if the licence requires renewal in the future.
Bachelor of Science in Facilities Management, 2018 - 2021
University of Salford, Salford
Key Skills
A CV's skills section is the place to show the reader, in an easily accessible format, that you have the necessary skills for the job. Read the job description to understand the most essential skills, and create a list of both hard and soft skills, ensuring you include some of your strongest, most unique characteristics and qualities to set you apart from the competition. For a building manager CV, you'll want to focus on the most relevant skills for the role that match your skill set, including problem-solving and contract negotiation and administration, to catch the reader's attention and show you're qualified for the building manager position.
Hard Skills
Hard skills refer to the technical and specialist skills required for the everyday duties of the job. They might include specialist knowledge, or the use of certain software and equipment. You can gain these skills through study, training or industry experience, and they might require a licence or certification. For building manager jobs, critical hard skills you've gained in your career can include health and safety compliance, and facility maintenance scheduling. Firstly, check the job description, then add four or five key hard skills in your CV that help the employer to decide if you're a good fit for the role.
The best hard skills section would be based around skills listed as 'essential' or 'required' in the job description. To give yourself the best chance of success, you'll want your strongest skills to match closely with those most desired by the employer, and your hard skills list should reflect this.
Take a look below to see the type of skills that are commonly listed in a building manager CV hard skills section:
- Budget forecasting and analysis
- Facility maintenance scheduling
- Contract negotiation and administration
Soft Skills
Soft skills are distinct from hard skills and tend to reflect your inherent personal qualities and strengths. These are often more transferable to different roles, and help the reader understand your working style, and your likely fit to the team and the organisational culture. Transferable skills are among the most in-demand skills for employers, with rapidly changing and evolving ways of working requiring ever-more flexible and adaptable employees. Soft skills are also highly valuable for junior and entry-level positions, where candidates aren't expected to have a wealth of relevant work experience and career achievements.
As with your building manager CV hard skills list, review the job description to learn the key soft skills for the role. Include the best soft skills that you can provide evidence for throughout your CV. Aim to add up to five soft and transferable skills, including a mix of the most essential skills from the job description, together with some skills that make you stand out as a unique and compelling candidate.
Below is a selection of soft skills regularly featured in a building manager CV.
- Communication
- Leadership
- Problem-solving
Language Skills
If you speak any languages in addition to your mother tongue, you might want to include them in your building manager CV as a languages section. These can be valuable for your application, whether languages are specified as a requirement in the job description or not. Under this section, list any foreign languages you speak to a professional standard, with an indicator of your competency level for each.
The methods for indicating your foreign language skills on your CV include assigning a basic descriptive word, such as:
- English: Fluent
- Spanish: Intermediate
You might choose to adopt an international standard framework for languages, such as the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). This assigns a standardised level to your language skills, for example:
- A1: Beginner
- A2: Elementary
- B1: Intermediate
- B2: Upper intermediate
- C1: Advanced
- C2: Proficiency
Certifications and Training
Depending on the role you're applying for, and the type of qualifications you have, you might want to include a separate section for certifications, in addition to the education section. It can enhance your chances of success to show specific training and certifications. Not only do these prove you're qualified for the role, but they also indicate proactivity and a dedication to professional development. Furthermore, the CV certifications and training section is a great showcase for official licences and certifications when applying for roles where these are a key requirement listed in the job description. These could include positions where the use of specialist software and equipment is a routine part of your everyday responsibilities.
Here is a list of some key certifications and licences that can be particularly useful for building manager applications:
- NEBOSH Health and Safety Certificate, 2023
- IOSH Managing Safely Certificate, 2023
- IWFM Diploma in Facilities Management, 2023
Expert Insight:
Since recruiters give under ten seconds to each CV, Barnet Council advises starting with a clear summary that grabs attention quickly. (1)
Additional Information
Including optional sections in addition to the core sections of your building manager CV can help you to show employers you're a strong candidate for the job. Consider adding optional sections if you're unable to show all the necessary skills for the job through work experience, but could show them through extracurricular activities and other areas of life. This could be especially relevant if you're a junior candidate, or if you're changing careers.
If you're curious about other ways to make your CV more effective, our career resources will help you strengthen your application.
Hobbies and Interests
If you have any hobbies and interests that can showcase skills relevant to the job description, it might be worth including them. Additionally, this section gives you the chance to show employers different facets of your personality and interests beyond work, which can help them to differentiate you from other applicants. However, only mention hobbies and interests that are relevant to the role, and that help you prove skills that you haven't been able to show in your work experience or other CV sections.
Key Achievements
Listing your key career achievements in a distinct section can be an effective way of drawing attention to them. If you've been awarded any prizes or accolades, or reached any key career milestones, these can all help to show you have the required status and experience for the role.
Volunteering
Listing any previous voluntary work is another useful way of showing you have the necessary skills and experience for the job. If you don't have much relevant work experience, either because you're a junior candidate or you're changing jobs from an unrelated field, volunteering can provide valuable examples of your skills in action. Structure your volunteering section the same as your work experience section.
Add your job title or the name of the volunteer role, the organisation, its location and the dates you volunteered. Also add some bullet points outlining your skills and experience in the role, as well as any key achievements.
Data-Driven Finding:
When reading a CV, more than 4 in 5 hiring managers go straight to the work experience section. (2)
Best action words for a building manager CV
Using strong action verbs in your work experience bullet points gives you the opportunity to show how you've applied skills to good effect in previous roles. Starting each bullet point with an action verb, such as 'delivered', 'collaborated' or 'developed' also allows you to show your key skills and qualities in a way that's easily identifiable for the reader. Always remember to back up any action verbs you use with evidence that shows the impact it made and the achievements that it led to. Use past tense for action verbs that describe previous roles, and present tense for your current position.
- Coordinate
- Oversee
- Maintain
- Inspect
- Negotiate
- Implement
- Supervise
- Schedule
- Monitor
- Liaise
Building manager CV example
Now we've shown you everything that needs to go into your building manager CV, we can take a look at how it comes together in its final form in the following example:
Birmingham
•
aaron-patel@example.com
•
(111) 222 33 444 55
•
linkedin․com/in/aaron–patel–123
Proactive building manager with five years’ experience in commercial property maintenance. Leveraged Bachelor of Science in Facilities Management to optimise operational workflows. Achieved 20% reduction in annual energy expenditure.
Facilities supervisor
2023
-2026
British Airways (London)
- Implemented a preventive maintenance programme that improved equipment uptime by 25% within six months.
- Negotiated new vendor contracts that cut annual facilities costs by 15% while maintaining service standards.
- Oversaw office refurbishment project delivered two weeks ahead of schedule and 10% under budget.
Bachelor of Science in Facilities Management
2018
-2021
Sheffield Hallam University (Sheffield)
Budget forecasting and analysis
Facility maintenance scheduling
Contract negotiation and administration
Communication
Leadership
Problem-solving
NEBOSH Health and Safety Certificate
IOSH Managing Safely Certificate
English - Native
French - Advanced
If you want a sneak preview of what your one-page, fully designed and finalised CV might look like, see our completed examples.
Best practice and common mistakes for your building manager CV
Tips to follow
- List your qualifications in a standalone education section, adding grades and awards where these can help you stand apart from other candidates, such as for junior positions.
- Open your CV with an engaging CV summary or objective that concisely summarises your key skills and career achievements to date.
- Use a clear, professional CV format, choosing a readable font, consistent line spacing and clear headings, to make your CV as accessible as possible.
- Proofread your CV thoroughly before sending, helping you avoid any errors in spelling and grammar that could harm your chances of success.
- Keep your CV concise and to-the-point, with an optimum length of one side of A4 for junior positions, two sides once you become more experienced and more than two sides only for executive-level or academic applications.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Don't design your CV with overly complex or elaborate formatting that can make it difficult to read or less likely to pass the ATS stage.
- Don't include a section for hobbies and interests unless they're clearly relevant to the role and help you show skills you can't prove through other core CV sections.
- Don't overload your CV with industry jargon and acronyms that may alienate or confuse the reader, instead opt for simple, clear language whenever possible.
- Don't lie or exaggerate to make your application look stronger – misleading claims about jobs or qualifications can be considered fraud.
- Don't use passive voice, such as 'positive feedback was received', but instead fill your CV with action verbs that clearly show the impact you made.
A courteous, professional cover letter can make all the difference to your job applications. Our cover letter templates have been designed by experts to help you make the best impression with hiring managers.
How to make your CV ATS compatible
Applicant tracking systems (ATS) are now commonly used by employers, to help them manage the recruitment process. One of the main functions of ATS software is the scanning and ranking of CVs according to their likely suitability for the role. By taking on this task, the hiring manager can reduce the time and resources they spend on the initial selection process, making recruitment more efficient and cost-effective.
The growing prevalence of ATS apps requires a shift in approach by jobseekers, to prepare a CV with the best chance of passing the ATS screening stage. That's why we've put together a list of key ATS CV tips, to maximise your chances of success:
- Include keywords and phrases that match the job description, making it easy for ATS apps to identify a strong fit for the role.
- Use clear, standard CV headings that are easily recognisable, such as 'work experience', 'education' and 'skills'.
- Choose a standard CV layout that avoids the use of any special design elements that might make your CV less compatible with ATS scanning software.
- Select a font that's widely used and maximises readability, including popular serif and sans serif fonts between size 10 and 12 for body text, and 14 and 16 for headings.
- Use bullet points in place of full sentences and paragraphs. This can reduce the overall length of the document, make the keywords stand out and make it easier for ATS apps to scan.
It's easy to get overwhelmed by the steps to creating an ATS-compatible building manager CV, but a few small changes can make a big difference. To smooth the process, use one of our expert-designed, ATS-optimised CV templates to increase your chances of success at this stage of the screening process.
If you want to impress recruiters with your CV, use Jobseeker's ready-made CV templates, which are HR-approved for maximum chances of success.
Building manager CV FAQs
How do I write a building manager cover letter to accompany my CV?
An engaging and gently persuasive cover letter can enhance your chances of success with your job applications. Opt for a formal, professional letter format and choose a cover letter template with a design consistent with your CV.
The standard cover letter format includes three main paragraphs of content. The first paragraph includes a brief introduction to yourself and the role you're applying for, and references your motivation for applying for the job. In the second paragraph, list some key skills and achievements, taking care to differentiate from the content in your CV. The closing paragraph typically contains a recap of your enthusiasm for the role, and adds a call to action that establishes dialogue with the employer.
As an alternative, if you're applying via email, you may wish to write a shorter, more informal cover note. Follow standard email conventions for this, which are more informal than traditional letter-writing norms. Introduce yourself and confirm the role you're applying for, and direct the reader to the attached documents. Add your contact details in your email sign-off or footer.
Jobseeker's cover letter examples for building manager and real estate industry roles provide useful tips and guidance from HR experts on how to write a compelling cover letter.
How do I write a persuasive building manager CV without experience?
Even without work experience that fits the job description, there are ways to write a building manager CV that leaves a strong impression on employers.
Choose a CV format that places greater emphasis on your skills over your work experience, such as the functional format. In this CV layout, your skills section and education typically come before your work experience.
For junior positions, it's important to emphasise your soft and transferable skills. Employers will be looking less for building manager candidates with a depth of experience, and more for candidates who can show they have the soft skills, such as ability to adapt and learn, to thrive in a new role and environment.
How do I write a building manager CV headline for maximum impact?
A CV headline can help you add relevant keywords into your CV, aiding ATS compatibility while catching the attention of the reader from the outset.
Look to write a short, engaging sentence that encompasses your best qualities, including the job title to indicate your relevance and suitability for the role.
To give your CV the best shot at success, write a CV headline that focuses on the most essential keywords and phrases from the job description. This will strike a chord with the hiring manager and help your CV to pass the ATS screening stage.
Below you can find some examples of best practice for CV headlines at different levels of experience:
- Committed Junior Building Management Professional
- Building Manager Ensuring Operational Excellence
- Senior Building Manager Championing Safety
What's the most effective CV format for a building manager CV in 2026?
The best CV format for a building manager CV in 2026 depends on both your experience levels, and the role you're applying for, including its level, the company and industry norms.
Typically, the most effective CV format for most candidates is a standard reverse-chronological structure that prioritises your work experience section as a showcase of your skills and career achievements.
Alternatively, for less-experienced candidates who might not want to emphasise previous employment (such as recent graduates or career changers), a functional format is more suitable. This layout prioritises your skills and qualifications.
Key takeaways for a successful building manager CV
To give you the best chance of success with your CV, tailor it for every specific application, including keywords that reflect the job description. Choose the most fitting CV format for your experience level, and focus on showcasing how you've developed the necessary skills for the role, and used them to positive effect in previous roles.
Finally, creating your CV using one of Jobseeker's expert-designed CV templates can give your application the edge, placing you among the leading candidates and positioning you for success with your job applications.
Sources:
- Barnet Council (UK local government), Recruitment tips: How to write a supporting statement
- Jobseeker, Hiring Trends
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