A FIRST FOR EVERYTHING

Let’s face it, facilities management is quite the niche career. There’s no typical path into FM, just as there’s no typical facility manager and no typical role within the industry itself. Each job is as different, as varied and as unique as the individual who embodies that role. It’s what makes the industry and its participants’ foray into the world of FM so interesting and unconventional. There is no stock standard journey, no set of requirements, no beaten track into the FM universe – each member very much blazes their own trail.

This is evident in the many diverse stories we tell within our FM profile feature, and perhaps none more so than our latest. Paul Schmeja may not be the most obvious choice when we think of facility management, but he’s a prominent and an important figure within the industry.

Schmeja is the chief executive officer of First Contact, the leading provider of corporate reception and workplace concierge services in Australia. Much like the industry of FM itself, First Contact is very much a behind-the-scenes operation, merging into the background while working hard to ensure a building’s front of house service operates as smoothly and seamlessly as possible to the benefit of all – facility users, visitors and employees.

But long before First Contact and facility management, Schmeja got his start in the hotel industry – and this was something that he’s had a deep fascination with since his youth. It all began with an early trip to Disneyland – the home of so many childhood dreams, and for Schmeja it was the dream of a hotel running like an exciting and tightly-run ship. It was witnessing the wonder and magic of the Disneyland Hotel that sparked his interest in and love for the hotel industry. More explicitly, he was intrigued by