if you were incharge of organising the covenant mission

The Covenant has been described as a colony ship so id make sure its hospitable.Im not sure if id bring people with kids though.Safety reasons.

Indeed good point... maybe they could be in Cryo-sleep until they reach a World that is suitable and then Tera-formed or is verified as being habitable and safe.

As far as Crew... you would need a nice match of skills, that are required to the Task.

Need a Good Pilot, a few Security Personel...

But mainly you would need standard workers who can use the equipment required to Terra-form and even people skilled at building outposts, construction, Engineers and ICT Techs, so basically people who are in the Construction Industry as far as building Outposts.

You will need some experts on Biology, Geology (where is Milburn and Fifield) but also Medical Staff and Bio-Chemists.. and also people with a great understanding of Agriculture.

Also experts on Plant Life especially as far as Food Source.

First of all it depends whether I'm an evil executive for WY or work for a completely different, less evil organization. This could be a huge difference in how I'd set up the recruiting process and what my plans would be other than colonising a planet. 

I would fire the specific guys who directly interviewed and recruited the Prometheus crew. I wouldn't want religious lunatics, mental drug addicts, a bored captain and a just generally low iq levels as this set-up could theoretically jeopardise the whole mission (as expertly showcased in Prometheus)

Then I'd choose the most promising prospects out of hundreds or thousands of ambitious applicants throughout a 2 year period, preferably people with a lot of experience in their field.

Apart from the standard set-up aboard every ship (technicians, engineers- no not the NBA albinos) I'd recruit several junior, senior-level and chief terraformists, brave scientists and geologists, a sharp captain (not like Janek, and Franco in AC is a concern there btw) and 1 assistant android per 30 crewmembers who could be remotely shutdown immediately if deemed a risk. 

A large group (100-200) of military personel armed with the most advanced weaponry. I'm not sure if the Colonial Marines are conceived yet but they would be ideal. 

I'd brief the crew of their mission (it's beyond me how the Prometheus crew accepted a mission without being properly briefed before embarking on the journey. Wow...)

A self-destruct mechanism for the covenant ship (just in case) 

Couples obviously but no kids, it's out of the question. Way too risky. 

Before dispatching the dropship, thoroughly scan the atmosphere (drop a a probe on the targeted landing site if applicable)

Send a dropship with a crew of 20 androids with live feed cameras (monitored by crew working in shifts aboard the Covenant) and advanced scanning equipment and drones, and let them examine and analyze a perimeter of approx 10 km for a period of a 3-6 days, working around the clock.

If there is no sign of "danger" send down scientists and military personal to set up a camp/outpost/base.

If I was working for WY, I'd probably manufacture a convincing lie to the crew about fresh air, all-inclusive hotels, beautiful beaches and so on. Not unlike travel agencies in other words! 

Joke aside, but I prefer to see this from a perspective of a more humane organization.

never thought of it from the corrupt, weyland company perspective lol that would be fun to organise an expedition with hidden agendas lol

let the androids scout new territory. done....

Well, unless I wanted the mission to become a complete disaster, regardless of skills, I wouldn't hire a bunch of people with borderline personality disorders!

The Prometheus mission was deliberately set up to fail, its crew were for the most part egotistical, irrational or totally unhinged. 

Oh, and never leave the ship without weapons...in case of close encounters ;) 

Level two of the ship would be a vast storehouse of Birthmachinebabies and lap dances from Vickers 2.0 in the Covenant champagne room.

It might not be a bad idea to have a set up to make test tube babies once a hospitable planet is found. This could save on space and physical safety/logistical issues with the crew during a typical pregnancy. A potential colony might fit in a small refrigerator/freezer unit as opposed to a lot of individual life support units during travel.

@BigDave

If Milburn and Fifield are on that ship, count me out of that expedition haha.