Managing colonists is a disaster

[Xavori]

Protip: build specialized domes.

Then you can use the Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down on the colonists filters for that dome and greatly improve the odds that you can get the right people working in the right buildings quickly. It also helps with setting up things like kiddie domes and university domes so that you can get all the kids into school and then into universities so that you get specialists instead of unskilled McColonists everywhere.

And then you get really advanced and always land your passenger rockets next to the university dome which has a shuttle hub right outside...

 

[Napean]

At first I had the same complaint as others concerning worker assignment not matching a worker's specialization. Annoyed me, but kept playing. Later (not sure how much later, but suspecting 5 Sols based on help text about manual assignments clearing after 5 sols), I found the farm properly staffed by botanists, rare earth extractor staffed w/ geologists, and infirmary staffed w/ medics.
Also helped once I shuttled in another 24 colonists w/ specializations to properly match the work.

 

[MishaTX]

It also helps, apart from giving it a few minutes to re-shuffle as mentioned above, to not ever have open job slots because you don't have enough colonists, since this makes the AI spread out what it has in sometimes retarded ways as it desperately tries to fill all of your slots equally.

What I usually do is to initially block off everything except for what I really, really need. Then once those positions are filled (which the AI seems to be very good at doing according to specialization, perhaps because it now has more colonists to choose from than it has available job slots, I look at how many unemployed peeps I have in my dome and open up slots for them where I want them.

Works like a charm, it seems. Don't be afraid to shut down a shift or block a few slots, you can always open them up later.

Now, if only somebody could convince the daft little freaks to NOT try to trek across Mars on foot because they'd like to move but can't wait for a shuttle...