by Kim Evans

Maintenance technicians perform installation, repair and upkeep services in a variety of workplace settings, from schools and hospitals to factories and power plants. These handy workers must possess certain skills and knowledge for each given setting and, while many skills are transferable from job to job, technicians typically need to learn a few new skills and tricks of the trade before they’re up to speed in a new setting.

One common workplace setting for maintenance technicians is an apartment community, where part of the rent residents pay goes toward maintenance and repair services for the unit they occupy. With as many as 4-6 service requests per day, workers must be prepared to respond to any of a variety of maintenance needs, often with very little advance notice and a selective degree of urgency expressed by the renter. Property managers, therefore, prefer to hire maintenance workers with the training and experience needed to perform the maintenance duties most commonly requested in apartment communities. In other words, technicians afford very little time to learn new skills and acclimate to this particular workplace setting.

Below are 10 skills property managers seek most in a maintenance technician. Though not a definitive list, it should help maintenance technicians identify the skills they need to further develop in order to land a job working in an apartment community setting, and hit the ground running from day one.

1.      Plumbing: includes the repair, replacement or installation of faucets, pipes, hot water tanks, toilets, garbage disposals, dishwashers, water-dispensing refrigerators, and washing machines.

2.      Electrical: includes the repair, replacement or installation of power switches, fuses, wall sockets, ceiling lights, ceiling fans, climate control systems, and garage doors openers.

3.      Drywall repair: includes filling in small holes caused by nails and minor dings from normal wear and tear?most commonly performed between the time a tenant vacates a unit and a new renter assumes occupancy.

4.      Painting: includes minor touch-ups following damage repair and new coats of paint applied to unit walls between the time a tenant vacates a unit and a new renter assumes occupancy.

5.      Appliance repair: includes the repair, replacement or installation of major household appliances, such as refrigerators, dishwashers, range ovens, washers and dryers, hot water tanks, and air conditioners.

6.      Grounds keeping: includes mowing grass, pulling weeds, trimming and pruning trees and shrubs, watering lawns and plants, replacing light bulbs along pathways and parking areas, sweeping or raking leaves, and tidying up bark or other ground covering.

7.      Cleaning/housekeeping: includes maintaining a tidy appearance in shared community locations, such as the leasing office lobby, clubhouses, and fitness or recreational areas?also includes cleaning fixtures, floors and other surfaces in vacated units before new renters assume occupancy.

8.      Snow removal: includes shoveling, blowing or plowing snow away from covered walkways and driveways, and laying down rock salt atop icy surfaces to prevent slipping.

9.      Customer service: includes professional, prompt and courteous correspondence with renters when scheduling and providing maintenance services, and with contracted vendors that provide additional facility services.

10.  Time management: includes maintaining an organized scheduling and tracking system, usually on a computer, to effectively complete all maintenance requests in a timely manner and in the order by which they were received or by level of urgency.

Obviously, some of these required skills vary or do not apply, such as grounds keeping and snow removal, depending on the location or grounds features of an apartment community. The rest of the skills, however, are fairly standard requirements across the country?in fact, most property management agencies require maintenance technicians to be HVAC and EPA Universal certified. Job candidates who are licensed and/or certified to perform any of these maintenance duties also receive favorable consideration.

From: http://www.jobs.net