In the first place, it is important for you to think about where you are going to be working. You will be an employee within the operations department of a company, and you will be the individual who is responsible for overseeing all of the maintenance for the property. In some cases, you will also be looking at the grounds as well as the building and you are also in charge of managing all of the maintenance and janitorial staff. In some cases, you will need to handle the constructions projects and you will also likely be the person who is change of OSHA compliance. As you can see, this is a position that requires a lot out of an individual!
More specifically, you will also be in charge of safety. When it comes to things like emergency training and fire safety, you need to figure out what is going to be best for your staff and you are going to make sure that they know what to do in case of an emergency, no matter what it is. You will be called upon to deal with senior management with regards to the safety of your workplace and you will often need to make sure that your company can meet the safety needs that are posed by the employees themselves. In some cases, you will also be called upon to act as the company liaison to the local law enforcement authorities.
If this is the kind of job that you find yourself interested in, consider taking a junior facilities job for a start. There are many postings for jobs like this online and in the case of many major companies, you will discover that they hold job fairs with these openings in mind. Remember that any experience in the field at all is going to help you get a foot in the door, and starting out as a janitor can help you learn the business from the ground up.
Another thing that you need to keep in mind when you are thinking about becoming a director of facilities is that you need to have management skills. You need to be able to work with people and to direct them towards their duties. Consider how you feel about your ability to manage others and how you feel about being a supervisor.
Consider whether the position of a director of facilities is for you. If you are an organized and responsible person, this might be just the career that you have been looking for