As the market has become more competitive, Planning Engineers who have average skills struggle to improve their careers. You have to find ways to add significant value and stand out from the competition.
There are many ways to add value in the project control profession. However, I would recommend that you start improving yourself in the below areas where most planning engineers really struggle.
- Progress reporting and presentation.
- Progress analysis.
- Project control systems and automation.
Power BI is free software for the most part and a powerful data analytics processor. It helps you overcome the above-mentioned challenges. You have to learn Power BI and its applications in project control if you want to stand out from the competition and improve your career. In this article, I will share how planning engineers can develop a very powerful CV by presenting their Power BI skills.
Your work speaks for itself
You can follow the traditional way of listing your experience and duties but you have just become one of the so many planning engineers who continuously compete with you in the market. In addition to listing your duties, you can also share a link to your Power BI interactive reports in your CV.
Many CVs are sent and reviewed in a digital format. As a result, there is a very high chance that the hiring managers will review your CV on a computer where they can access your dashboard link. The reviewer doesn’t have to install Power BI to see your work which is super convenient because 99% of planning engineers don’t know about Power BI or how to use it. That’s why you shouldn’t expect hiring managers to have Power BI installed on their computers.
Here is an example of a Power BI dashboard shared via a link. That’s how the reviewer will see your work. You can check it and perform interactive analysis even though you don’t have Power BI software installed.
Click here to view my comprehensive interactive report with Power BI
Magical Duties
I have read many CVs for planning engineers and I observed patterns in those CVs. They are all similar. The only difference is the Employer and the number of years of experience. Some of the duties that planning engineers mention in their CVs include:
- Prepare Baseline Program.
- Prepare progress reports.
- Prepare Extension of Time Claims.
- The list goes on but you got the idea.
Remember, you are not alone and tens of thousands are competing with you for a better life and career. I am not saying that you should do something different; rather it should be valuable. Companies shortlist candidates based on the expected potential value that they will bring to the workplace. Therefore, the higher value you can bring to your potential employer and improve its existing conditions, the better career opportunities you will have. As a Power BI user, you can add a significant value and list the below duties in your CV to get shortlisted.
- Prepare progress reports in seconds.
- Analyze any area in the project with a click of a button.
- Develop powerful systems and automation.
How often do you see these duties listed among planning engineers? I am sure you can guess the answer. If I were the hiring manager and read these duties, I will immediately pause, ignore the other “typical” CVs and become interested to know more about this planning engineer. That’s how you add value, become different, get shortlisted and stand out from the competition.
Colours matter
I will always recommend that you present accurate information in your reporting. However, it is extremely important to prepare professional and eye-catching reports too. Humans love colours!
We love rainbows. They are formed through a process called refraction but nothing is really magical about rainbows. It is pure physics. Yet, we don’t care about how they are formed; we just love them. Moreover, between 80 and 90 percent of the information that our brain processes are visual (Source: Udomon, Iboro, Xiong, Chuyee, et al. Visual, Audio, and Kinesthetic Effects on Memory Retention and Recall). In addition, Two-thirds of the brain’s electrical activity is dedicated to vision. In my experience, if you can attach eye-catching, colourful and professional reports with your CV, it can make a huge difference. Refer to the below snapshots as an example of how this works in practice. You can attach similar snapshots with your CV to grab the hiring managers’ attention and impress them.
I am not trying to explain shortcuts here. You have to put in the work and be a planning engineer who can add significant value. I am just trying to help you utilize powerful tools such as Power BI that very few planning engineers have and also help you explore effective ways to improve your career and life.
Regards,
Osama Saad, MBA, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP
