How do I get a job in mining?

This is the question we get asked the most. Eight simple words with one very complex answer.

Simply, there is no ‘one size fits all’ response. When callers to The Resource Channel ask this question, we could be forgiven for responding with “we’ll tell you how, if you can tell us how to achieve world peace”. Okay, might sound a tad melodramatic, but you’ll get the idea that it’s somewhat of a tough question to answer.

Why? Because there are so many factors at play. It depends on where you live, what your previous experience is, whether you are open to FIFO or residential, what role you have pinpointed that best suits your skills and likes, how much you already know about the industry etc.

Here are a couple of examples from recent enquiries:

Question One: is there an industry course you can do that assists individuals with professional qualifications to be better positioned to enter the industry?

This particular gentleman has an electrical engineering qualification with solid experience in SCADA electronics and power stations. For personal reasons, he has not worked as an engineer for nine years and is facing challenges in entering the mining sector as an engineer. He also lives in New South Wales, where the opportunities are not as great as in Queensland or Western Australia.

Our advice: Trying to enter the industry as an electrical engineer after a nine year absence from the field will be tough. There is also no ‘one magic course’ you can do to bridge that gap and bring a person up to speed on industry technology etc.

Instead, we recommended that he focus on entering the oil and gas industry as an operator. ConocoPhillips, for example, has an outstanding training program for their Darwin LNG operation where individuals with the right cultural fit and attitude are trained over an eight or so month period to become operators. Having a background in electrical engineering and power stations will be a major advantage for securing a trainee position. It is sometimes difficult for organisations like ConocoPhillips to attract people to Darwin, where it is a requirement of the operation to live locally.

Furthermore, courses can be undertaken either at ACEPT (http://www.challenger.wa.edu.au/Workingwithindustry/AustralianCentreforEnergyandProcessTraining/Pages/ACEPT.aspx) or through Subiaco TAFE in Western Australia by distance learning (http://www.central.wa.edu.au/courses_careers/Pages/Course.aspx?tpId=255739). This latter course is designed more for mining, but many of the skills will be highly applicable.

In addition, organisations like Santos and ConocoPhillips will need to hire Operators for their respective projects in Queensland. Whilst these jobs may be at least 12 months away, now is the time for individuals to prepare, or to at least demonstrate knowledge of the industry and job requirements to better their chances.

Question 2: I live in South Australia, have a HR license and a range of other industry specific tickets and I’m wondering what my chances are of entering the industry? Do I need to move to Western Australia or do more training?

Our advice: The answer to the final question is NO and NO. We see too many spend more money than necessary on more and more training when the issue is a lack of experience. With South Australia also ramping up its number of projects, there is no need to move interstate.

Instead, we recommend that you contact the organisations we’ve most recently blogged about on construction of the WPG Resources project as a start: http://www.theresourcechannel.com.au/blog/construction-starts-wpg-resources-south-australia. Macmahon also has the mining contract for BHP Billiton Olympic Dam Operation and could be contacted.

If this is still proving to be a challenge, you need to consider what other alternative jobs you could do in the interim that demonstrates your ability to operate equipment. This might include large scale landscaping, or civil works for the government, like road construction - anything that demonstrates operating mobile equipment for long periods.

Subscribe to The Blog – the reason why we write about awarded contracts is to point you in the right direction for the best job opportunities. When companies like WDS (http://www.theresourcechannel.com.au/blog/wds-wins-new-coal-seam-gas-project) blogs about winning work on a major coal seam gas project, or NRW is awarded a contract for civil works for Fortescue (http://www.theresourcechannel.com.au/blog/nrw-wins-fortescue-solomon-hub-contract), this is important news for the job seeker. Too many seeking an entry level opportunity apply to the major operators like Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Fortescue and Xstrata for example, and don’t consider the literally hundreds of other organisations who provide specific services to the industry.

And then there are those we see who appear to have outstanding work histories, aligned experience and qualifications from a different industry – and still have issues getting a foot in the door.

Often this is because the highly experienced in the industry are also applying to the same positions you are. It’s not always feasible for people to do so for financial reasons, but if at all possible, consider doing shutdown and construction work. This means you are doing shorter-term contract work, ie without the security of permanency. It is, however, more often than not, the most beneficial way of getting a foot in the door. You get the right experience, you learn on-the-job skills and most importantly, you are working with others in the industry who are ‘in the know’. Often crews move from one job to another on this basis because they know where the work is next coming from and tell their work colleagues.

This might mean that even if you are trade qualified and have worked in another industry, you could try applying for Trade Assistant (TA) roles on shutdowns with organisations like Transfield Services, United Construction, Monadelphous or Thiess - all provide short or longer term labour for shutdowns and construction projects.