G’Day Mohsen,
I’ve just received a copy of Paul’s version 5 book. As did some of my planning friends.

I’ve only been using P3e for 6 weeks now, having never used it before, and with only 5 years experience with other tools (Micro planner X-Pert and OPP), I’ve found the book to be a very quick reference guide and it has gotten me out of a few sticky "What The’s".

I went on a training course the other week (Primavera run, and although it confirmed everything I wanted to know, Paul’s book is definitely never far away from me at work.


Have a good one.
Andy

Moshen

Most likely they are looking for a operator (P3) instead of a planner.

It is easier to train a good planner to become a good P3 planner than train a good P3 operator to become a good P3 planner.

Since you discribe yourself as the first category of planner, then its not hard to train yourself to become a good P3 planner and look for another P3 planner job.

There are many opp here in Australia so prepare yourself to become a good P3 planner is an advantage.

Good Luck

Alex

Moshen,

You have to be at your best shots.

You got to be the best in P3.

You got to be the best in field experience.

You got to be the best in theory.

You got to best in practical application.

You got to best in claims.

etc, etc, etc,

If i got the opportunity, i can talk that project control manager, theory and practice, P3 MS project, test etc.
At the end of the interview the guy will tell me " YOU ARE THE MAN, I WANT YOU HERE IN MY TEAM "

Moshen, that is the way to end a job interview, less than that, forget any job offer.

HOW TO DO IT???? Just read a lot of inteivew tips in the internet.

Cheers,

Charlie

Clive,
it was awekward, the person was the "projet controls manager", and I had been introduced by a friend who is a senior planner in another company and neither of us expected that.
I can see alot of planner job opportunities at the moment, but I think it s whether the companies do not have the resources for training or just need some one who s no hassel, and on the other hand they are happy to pay the big money

HI everyone,
Just new to this forum, and was looking at different topics.
Recently, I had a very intense job interview for a scheduling job for a respective international company, and guess what?.. the discussion session was set only around the software (P3) and how I would do this and that. I was So frustrated becasue although I have the qualifications that you expect from a planner but still not quite experienced in P3. It only gave me a headache ( at the end of the day, they filed my application for future reference ;) )

That what experience do....

joseph

Vinod
I think it may be better to respond to the question more pragmatically ie
"Why did you become a planner"
Answer
I have spent some time in the industry and have worked in a number of fields such as site engineering, production supepervision etc and have noted that planning is an essential part of the construction process. My experience is that often this requirement is overlooked but if undertaken correctly can provide huge benefits to the company and its projects. I have therefore developed my carreer such that I believe I can now provide credible advice to the site team with regards to time management and methodology. When preparing my advice I glean the requirements of the site team and their experience and use this as a basis of my logic development. I feel that if I can discuss the plan with those who will ultimately be responsible for undertaking the works the plan is more likely to credible and to be adopted by the site team. I find the process of planning exilerating and the benefits highly rewarding on a personal level. The challenges presented in the planning field are enormous and constantly changing which requires me to constantly improve my skills. As to why I became a planner I feel that it is a rewarding career that constantly stretches my abilities and provides me with a real sense of contributing to the success of a project.

In the answer the interviewee has answered a number of questions aprt from the one specifically requested and has developed a reasoned answer which demonstrates his approach to planning and the benefits he believes it brings to the Company. He has identified a purpose for employing him and identified that he is aware that the Company could benefit by employing him. He has demonstrated that he is not polsarised in his career but realises that construction requires teamwork and that he enjoys being a team player. He has also identified a commitment to developing his career and is enthusiastic about what he does. He has also identified that he has not just drifted into planning but has realised during his involvement with the industry that planning is essential. Always remember that the Company has identified the need and you are aligning with this need and reinforcing their need to employ an planner.


If as an interviewer I received this answer I would certainly look at employing the candidate.


I have interviwed a considerable number of candidates and many have not thought about what they are doing or why they are doing it. This to me raises the question as to their commitment to their career. Not a good sign.

Well thats how I see it anyway.


Clive

Ok hands up
it should hve been good
which i attempted to change but couldnt is this a sign
Clive

Skills required 1. Effective communicator 2. Logical mind 3. Ability to effectively present his ideas and defend them similar to 1 4. Wide exposure to industry 5. Godd training and carreer progress 6. Why does he want to join you 7. Family commitments (if he is married with young children a desert posting with a 10 and 1 cycle will be a disaster 8. Exposure to culture 9. How he would approach a task and his understanding of outputs 10. Political awareness Somewhere at about 50 I would place his understanding of software, training can provide this, if he has programmed effectively a switch from one to another wont come as a big shock, but if he hasent a clue about real planning he will be worthless how ever well he can drive the software. For instance if you dont know what the end user wants the coding structure will not be correct and nobody will be able to get the best from the programme. Clive

Hi

When recruiting I always like to know a bit about the planning job in question and recruit accordingly, and hopefully avoide the square pegs in round holes problem.

I find you are often better bringing someone in bellow the level that you would like and then spend a bit of time and energy training them up. These people seem to respond a lot better than buying in the "finished" planning product.

Thinking about the Pipe Test, I know a lot of very good planners in the IT industry that would look at you and say "what is a pipe".

Regards

John

90% of the work comes down to planning experience. I’ve worked in this industry for quite a while now & have noticed that there’s a lot of bullsh1tters out there...

A while ago I was asked to draw up an interview for planners for one of the companies that I worked at. My two main questions were as follows;

Q1. What is the main differences between MS Project and Primavera and Suretrak ?

A1. There’s various answers to this, but what this tells you is that the planner has experience working with all the software packages. If a planner can’t give you at least 8 differences between the packages, he’s/she’s inexperienced


Q2. How long does it take to fit a pipe ?

A2. There isn’t an answer to this, in fact the planner should be asking questions like "what size?, what schedule?, what country etc...". This will give you some idea on the candidate’s technical ability (make sure that you have a technical person present)

I’d give these 2 questions a 50/50 weighting. I always use these and so far they’re fool-proof (touch wood)

Hope this helps

Hi

I always consider a planning engineer that knows his subject and has the basic skills will soon "pick up" a planning software package and quickly have a reasonable plan knocked together.

However if a Planning Engineer don’t have these basic skills they will struggle to produce meaningful sort plan, however well they thinks they know the software.

The one thing a planner should never suffer from is stress, however we may be accused of creating stress it at times. All good planners know stress is not "deemed to be part of the rate", i.e. we don’t get paid for stress.

Very Relaxed
Wallsend

I am totally agreed with Nigel.
The software is only a tool which helps us (more or less) in our job, but what it is really important is the “forma mentis” of the planner. I mean the vocation to break down a big problem in several small problems and after that break down the small problems in nothing.

Ciao

James
Maybe I should have said "software use is not as important" as understanding the fundamentals. I, probably like yourself, started using an Elephant drawing board and manually drawing lines, boxes, links. I would not want to go back to that!
Yes, we all use software, some use more of the features than others. But in reality, is there any difference between one package and another? If you can understand one planning software package and use it, then another version will not be too difficult to get to grips with.
If on the other hand you do not understand the basic principles of planning, logic, resources, whatever, then no software will help you.
Maybe should have made that a little clearer in the original post.
And by the way, i still scribble quick plans on a fag packet! ;-)
Cheers
Nige

Nigel,

Sorry, but I totally disagree with your statement that software use is not important. Obviously if your company doesn’t use software, then you aren’t going to need it; but how many companies DON’T use some form of software? All things being equal, you would choose the candidate that has the better software skills.

Ok, most people can learn the software, but how many of us can truly say that we use any form of software to it’s full-potential, know all its quirks, flaws and limitations. It takes years of button-pressing to discover them. It is these "operational characteristics" that need to be learned in order to ensure integrity of the data output. Moreover, the amount of data that needs to be handled and presented, in very short cycles, is so large that it is extremely unlikely that a manual system could be used. Paraphrasing my lecturer, of twenty years ago: the number of activities that could be handled manually is limited to about 250.

It’d be interesting to hear from other PP members of their experiences of manual planning.

James.

Hi,

Try having a look at:

http://www.planningengineers.org/

An interesting site with plenty of links:

Regards

John L.

ideally, you must possess unlimited skills, in others words, flexible, that means you can do a plan even without computers..