Read Online Smoking Gun (Adam Cartwright Trilogy Book 1) by Dennis Debney - Free Book Online
Authors: Dennis Debney
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younger candidate. Absurd as it would seem perhaps it was something as trivial as sour grapes by a disappointed rival.
I had been pleasantly surprised when I had been offered the position as Construction Manager at Red Rock five months ago. It had been a plum job and there had been a number of strong candidates for Gibson Construction to make their selection from.
Even though I had not applied for the position I’d been invited to attend a meeting of Gibson’s senior management committee that was interviewing candidates. I supposed that my name had been included in the short-list after the success of the just completed Mount Godwin mine expansion project.
A short list of four applicants, plus me, had been invited to the interview at Gibson Construction’s head office in Brisbane. Sitting in the anteroom waiting to be called in we introduced ourselves and quietly assessed each other. They seemed to be at least ten years older than me and appeared to discount me as a competitor. Listening to them chatting it seemed that they were all well experienced and could do the job in their sleep. So much so that I wondered why I had been invited. On the other hand there must have been a level of dissatisfaction with the initial applicants otherwise I would not have been asked to apply. So the fact that I was there must mean that I had a chance regardless of what the others thought.
We had all been provided with an information package covering the Red Rock Project. It included all that was needed to assess the scope and challenges of the position of Construction Manager; site plans, construction schedule, project milestones, contract completion date and budget.
I was the last one called in to the interview. Gibson Construction’s CEO, Ewan Ryan, stood and greeted me as I entered the Board Room and directed me to a seat at the long table. There were five others there with him seated along the other side of the table. They all smiled and nodded as I sat down opposite them as directed. After a polite exchange of pleasantries Ryan said, “Adam, we have your CV and work history. You have done an excellent job at Mount Godwin. Red Rock would be a step up in responsibility for you but we believe that you could handle it. If we didn’t then we wouldn’t have invited you here today. So, you have seen the information package, now we’d like you to tell us how you’d tackle the project if you were appointed Construction Manager.”
I had been studying the information package since I had received it three days earlier. The internet had been a valuable source of further information regarding rainfall records, long term weather forecasts, local contractors and availability of building materials. I had even used Google Earth to check out the proposed mine site and surrounding countryside. I was ready to answer the CEO’s question. “First, I’d like to say that the project budget and target completion date are achievable. But, having said that, some changes need to be made to the construction schedule. The main issue being that all site works, roads, drains and building foundations must be completed before the end of October. If we fail to do that then we will risk significant delays due to the seasonal heavy rain that could arrive as early as late November and continue until April. I noticed that the building foundations have been scheduled for completion by the end of January. That is far too late.”
The CEO glanced sideways at a fair haired man in his fifties seated on his far left as though waiting for him to say something. When the other man remained silent Ryan looked back at me and said, “But we would need a much larger onsite workforce to expedite the site works and foundations to that extent. If we extend the time to carry out the site works and foundations we will reduce our peak manpower requirement. We would make a considerable saving by requiring fewer accommodation units to be constructed.”
The lack of conviction in
I had been pleasantly surprised when I had been offered the position as Construction Manager at Red Rock five months ago. It had been a plum job and there had been a number of strong candidates for Gibson Construction to make their selection from.
Even though I had not applied for the position I’d been invited to attend a meeting of Gibson’s senior management committee that was interviewing candidates. I supposed that my name had been included in the short-list after the success of the just completed Mount Godwin mine expansion project.
A short list of four applicants, plus me, had been invited to the interview at Gibson Construction’s head office in Brisbane. Sitting in the anteroom waiting to be called in we introduced ourselves and quietly assessed each other. They seemed to be at least ten years older than me and appeared to discount me as a competitor. Listening to them chatting it seemed that they were all well experienced and could do the job in their sleep. So much so that I wondered why I had been invited. On the other hand there must have been a level of dissatisfaction with the initial applicants otherwise I would not have been asked to apply. So the fact that I was there must mean that I had a chance regardless of what the others thought.
We had all been provided with an information package covering the Red Rock Project. It included all that was needed to assess the scope and challenges of the position of Construction Manager; site plans, construction schedule, project milestones, contract completion date and budget.
I was the last one called in to the interview. Gibson Construction’s CEO, Ewan Ryan, stood and greeted me as I entered the Board Room and directed me to a seat at the long table. There were five others there with him seated along the other side of the table. They all smiled and nodded as I sat down opposite them as directed. After a polite exchange of pleasantries Ryan said, “Adam, we have your CV and work history. You have done an excellent job at Mount Godwin. Red Rock would be a step up in responsibility for you but we believe that you could handle it. If we didn’t then we wouldn’t have invited you here today. So, you have seen the information package, now we’d like you to tell us how you’d tackle the project if you were appointed Construction Manager.”
I had been studying the information package since I had received it three days earlier. The internet had been a valuable source of further information regarding rainfall records, long term weather forecasts, local contractors and availability of building materials. I had even used Google Earth to check out the proposed mine site and surrounding countryside. I was ready to answer the CEO’s question. “First, I’d like to say that the project budget and target completion date are achievable. But, having said that, some changes need to be made to the construction schedule. The main issue being that all site works, roads, drains and building foundations must be completed before the end of October. If we fail to do that then we will risk significant delays due to the seasonal heavy rain that could arrive as early as late November and continue until April. I noticed that the building foundations have been scheduled for completion by the end of January. That is far too late.”
The CEO glanced sideways at a fair haired man in his fifties seated on his far left as though waiting for him to say something. When the other man remained silent Ryan looked back at me and said, “But we would need a much larger onsite workforce to expedite the site works and foundations to that extent. If we extend the time to carry out the site works and foundations we will reduce our peak manpower requirement. We would make a considerable saving by requiring fewer accommodation units to be constructed.”
The lack of conviction in
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