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If you think you need to know someone to get a mining job then you haven’t done enough research
If you think you need to know someone to get a mining job then you haven’t done enough research
I see this everywhere at the moment on social media, “you need to know someone to get a mining job” or “there’s 5000 people applying for one job”. If you think you need to know someone to get a mining job then you haven’t done enough research into the areas of the industry that are actually booming. Areas like Gold and the base metals (Nickel, Copper, Lithium, Lead, Zinc etc) that are going into these batteries that are supposed to be saving the planet. These are where the jobs are and employers need bums in seats. The employers in both Exploration and Hardrock Underground have no choice but to hire new starters, like it or not. FYI they don’t, it costs time and lots of money, it’s not unusual to cost above $20k per person to bring a new starter on board.
Yes, these areas of the industry hire friends and family but these people only account for a small amount of the total jobs available. The employers all have jobs that need to be filled because of the boom. This is where someone without a mining contact can get a job. However, it is like any thing else in life that sounds too good to be true, there are catches. For those that jump in green with rose coloured glasses on, the failure rate is over 50%. Prepare yourself correctly and you can get the failure rate below 10%, but that’s down to education. Educating yourself on how the employers mine works is the best skill you can acquire. It’s the hardest skill to teach new starters and is what causes the majority of the turnover.
So why does most of social media think you must know someone to get a mining job? Easy, they are looking in the wrong spot, areas of the industry like Iron Ore and Coal both have embraced driverless trucks. Which means the handful of jobs still available (it’s only a handful of poor paying jobs these days) go to friends and family. Then you have shutdown work, which is by its nature is hit and miss, if you don’t know people, due to the short term nature of the work and the constant amount of new starters applying for jobs (often at reduced rates). In the oil and gas boom 10 years ago, a TA was making $65-$85 an hour. Today the rate can be as low as $35 an hour. This is why people feel they need to know someone to get a mining job. But if you do your research and educate yourself, then there are lots of great paying jobs going all over the country. The videos below outline what’s going on with Driverless trucks, shutdown work and what is going on in the industry.
What are these jobs and where can I get one?
Underground Training, does training for the entry level jobs that are in the Hardrock Underground mining industry. You only need a manual drivers license, you don’t need any equipment tickets, as the employers we deal with have to issue their own onsite equipment tickets, inductions and procedures.
Those jobs are Nipper, Truck Operator, Service Crew, Paste Crew, and Diamond Driller Offsider. If you type “underground” into seek you will see all the jobs come up. We also have the “mining jobs to apply for” page that has all the jobs that you should be apply for once you educate yourself. Employers are looking for entry-level people on most Hardrock Underground mine’s around Australia, they need bums in seats.
The problem that all employers are having is teaching someone to drive the underground truck is the easy part. It only takes a couple of weeks, they are point and shoot, hydraulic steering, automatics. They are the most expensive trucks you will have ever driven, but the easiest. The problem is teaching a person enough about how the mine works, so they can be left alone to drive the truck on their own. This is the hard part and while you need someone sitting behind you to tell you what to do, the pressure will be ramped up. Often to the point that people just don’t want to be there anymore. This is why there is such a high turnover of new starters. You have to know what is going on to be left alone, it’s as simple and important as that. This means knowing how the mine works is a skill all employers need their employees to have (which most new starters overlook).
So, if you can show the employer that you know how their mine works and what’s going to be expected of you working on their mine site, then you have something to offer them. Showing the employer that you know about the culture, language, employment process, everything that makes up the work environment turns you into low hanging fruit. This is all about setting yourself up for success in the industry and showing you are ready to be thrown in the deep end. Because that’s what’s going to happen in the middle of this boom.
This the link to the DIY introduction to underground mining training package, there are full instructions on how to redo your resume (it takes about 2 hours to do yourself) and interview prep questions as well as a mining company to apply to directly.
If you want help getting in, we also do a Workready package, where you get a ticketed WA shift boss to mentor you with the mining information, redo your resume, conduct interview prep and come up with a plan of where and how to get in.
If you’ve got any questions or if you’d like to talk to someone, follow this link.
I hope that info helps.
The Mining Coach
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