mines.......

[miss2]

Hi everyone looking for some advice and help from anyone who may have worked in the mines or still does.
Am in need of a serious change asap so my other half and I have decided to try the mines, only problem is I cannot work out how to get in. The recruitment companies are un helpful and rude and I’m stuck.
If anyone has worked there before, no anyone who does and can help us get our foot in the door I would be forever indebted to you.
At that point that I can no longer handle where our lives are going and need to get out.

 

[Pineapplekitten]

My Brother and Dad both work in the Mines, one drives those big dump trucks the other drives a Semi.. Its hard as **** to get in though and you have to do alot of courses or be skilled in something not alot of people can apply for..

What area do you want to get into? I know a chick that Drives Dump trucks in the Middle Mount mines.. Sooo many people try to get into the mines though cos they pay really well and EVERYTHING is provided for you..

I'll talk to my Bro and see about how he got in.. and it depends on what mines you want to go to also?? I'll PM ya when i talk to him..

 

[miss2]

thanks heaps darl.
we really dont mond or care which ones.
my other half id a truck driver already and has his HR license and im prepered to do anything from admin to out in the mines, dont care!!!

 

[Lplater]

Have you tried around the hunter valley? Resco, subzero, skilled etc. All the contract companies stuff you around, but put your resume in and ring them once aweek and harrass them.

 

[Jeannine]

dont forget Perilya, they are opening up more and more area's around here, in fact due to open another mine just out of town and are (fingers crossed) going to have a bypass from one side of town to the other side built in the near future

also there are heaps around here opening up all the time, im NOT sure how you would go about getting a foot in the door but perhaps a quick email/letter to the local council here asking if they can tell you who is working mines around here they might be able to tell you then you can contact them

people try to write us off but were not dead and out of the game yet and wont be for long time yet especially with the new mines opening around the place. another new one is one mining uranium near the SA/NSW border which is driving distance from here

 

[waruikazi]

Not sure how cost effective it will be but you could look at doing FIFO from the NT. Plenty of jobs around the country. They will fly you in and out of Darwin but you would have to organise your own flights to and from ACT. When my Dad was in the mines a few years ago a lot of people from QLD would pay their way to Darwin for work in the Granites.

 

[Shhnake]

I work in them got my job by association, not trying to put uoff, butif u don't no anyone, u can pretty much forget it, sad as it sounds. They say they want new ppl all the time but try getting in listen to " u don't have the required experience" it sux big time but I wish u all the best!

 

[Pineapplekitten]

I work in them got my job by association, not trying to put uoff, butif u don't no anyone, u can pretty much forget it, sad as it sounds. They say they want new ppl all the time but try getting in listen to " u don't have the required experience" it sux big time but I wish u all the best!

Yep thats how my Dad an Bro got in.. they knew people there plus already had tickets and experience.. They knew the Manager there and still had to put in their resume and harass them for months before getting a position..

You usually need to have at least 18mths experience in your trade/skill to even get looked at and even then they have so many wanting to get work unless you've actually worked in a mine before you got a low chance of them taking notice.. There is a 12mth trainee program you could do with them but you have to apply for it and its still no guarantee you'll get accepted..

Sorry.. Good Luck

 

[Dragonwolf]

My partner has worked all over Qld and in the NT and is constantly getting txts about jobs available BUT he has multiple qualifications and years of skills.
He got his start by applying to everything and anything and unfortunately Shhnake is right - sometimes it is who you know.
Another pointer that was given to us by someone inside the industry - have a killer resume that basically grabs them by the short and curlies in the first page because they have so many applications they rarely look beyond that. Get a professional company to write it for you and then have 2 or 3 different versions that are location/job specific.
Good luck.

 

[Bel03]

Im not saying the above are wrong.....im sure it does happen, as these days you seem to have to 'know someone' for alot of things. BUT, my uncle & female cousin work in the mines, neither had experience, both went through lots of training, & done the courses etc. A really good mate of mine also just got a job in the mines, mind you it took him over a yr from the date he applied, & many many calls later, before he was excepted, but he has now made the big move up north & is loving every minute of it. Goodluck with whatever you decide to do, just stick to it if you really want it, & who knows, they just may need you.......even if they dont know it yet!

 

[duarf]

Just move to one of the mining towns and keep applying. You can get a local job before you get into admin, hubby should pick up work within 3-4 months if he has existing driving experience. It just depends on the companies hiring cycles. Truck drivers do move around a bit so there are always openings. Good references and solid work history will also make you stand out as a greenie.

Also FIFO is stressful if you are not on the same roster as your partner. I work overseas FIFO and most people here are pretty warped don't have families & when they do they generally go back to look for residential work. Look for residential if you want a lifestyle change. I am only doing it because I am a young professional, my partner hates it and is very lonely (and so am I). Some of my family are on good 7/7 rosters tho, but sometimes you gotta go through a 1-2 years of a bad roster/crew to get experience.

You can forget about recruitment companies until you have experience, they only want to make money off you. They will be a your beck and call once you get your foot in the door. Yeah it's not easy but there are a lot of people out there that want to make short term bucks, so that means high demand but it also means people moving on after a relatively short time as well.

 

[Jeannine]

forgot to mention the local mineral sands place is going to expand soon and they will need truck drivers as the actual mine is quite a way out of town and the trucks travel 24/7 between it and here

 

[miss2]

thanks everyone... sigh lol

 

[AndrewHenderson]

A lot of people over here are under the impression that all they have to do is go and get some tickets like riggers, forklift dump operators scaffold etc and they are a shoe in. Problem is most these people who spend 6 weeks doing hard out training come out and find they can't get a job and then ask themselves "why not?" well the biggest thing is experience. Mining companies don't like hiring the people with no experience, they are a huge hazard and liability. A lot of people also think they can up sticks where they are to and move to a mining town and get a job that way, then they get to town and realise it's going to cost them $2000 a week to rent a house while they are looking for a job after needing to also shell out up to $10k for a bond. Even to rent a room here in Port Hedland costs over $350 p/w not including utilities. If you have no experience you have to start small and work your way up, or if you are young start looking for apprenticeships that can lead to the industry eg electricians, fitters, diesel fitters etc.....

It is a lot harder than it can seem sometimes!

 

[user 16324]

It is such a hard industry to get into unless you have specialized skills in something they could use. In all honesty, its more about who you know rather than what you know. I was lucky enough to be contacted by a company who one of my TAFE lecturers used to work for. I was searching and applying for jobs all over Australia with so many different companies because i wasn't fussed on where i started but still got no replies. Then this company that called me was willing to give me a shot. In comparison to the average wage in the Mining industry, my wage is moderately low. But in saying this, I'm only 18, I only work half the year,all my expenses including flights and food are paid for, and its a start. Once you have some experience under the belt there are so many more opportunities. Within my first week, other service companies that work along side of us ( I work in the cooper basin on oil and gas rigs) were offering me jobs with them but their specialities do not interest me.
The media make it sound so easy and so do many companies offering training courses for mining related jobs like loaders, trucks, etc.
If a company is going to hire you, they will put you through the training you need. I my first month of employment the company put me through 4 training courses including 4WD training, work at heights, working in confined spaces and Helicopter underwater escape training. thats already 5 odd grand i have saved myself.

Good luck, it took me about 6 months of applying for any interviews to arise. I would suggest applying for such companies as Saxon energy as i know they are looking for leasehands. this is a base position that pays roughly $69,000 working even time. If you can cut it and you work hard, you will be seeing 100k within a few years.

PM me if you want more info. I am willing to give a few company names that might be hiring. i can not guarantee anything but the more you apply to the more chances you have.

 

[the_tzr]

i work at a mine right now, it is hard to get in for some jobs, but at our mine certain jobs are easyer to start with eg truck, but also location is a big part with our company.
as said truck drivers are easy to get a job doing, you dont need a licence at our mine to start they train you to get your ticket. and moving up in the company doesnt take long soon you will move to other jobs. 4 on 4 off shifts doing days then nights 12 hours tho can get pretty boring in a truck we get alot of people who cant handle it. if your fine with being underground then just apply, i know your in ACT but if you were in melb i could put a resume in for ya. other wise i can see from one of the guy i deal with who goes to all the mines around aus see if he can hand some in. but truthfully mines arnt that hard to get into you just got to look and start from the bottom not expecting to get there for the big cash straight away.

 

[Herpaderpa]

OMG do not move to a mining town. The mines are really hard to get into, regardless of what idiot Tony Abbot says... and those that work in the mining towns who arent in the mines get paid nothing. I was a receptionist in a mining town, it was horrible. Everyone was horribly rude and disgusting and I didn't even get paid $20 an hour. The rent is heaps more expensive and so are all other services. I hated my experience in a mining town, will never go back.

 

[BrownHash]

OMG do not move to a mining town. The mines are really hard to get into, regardless of what idiot Tony Abbot says... and those that work in the mining towns who arent in the mines get paid nothing. I was a receptionist in a mining town, it was horrible. Everyone was horribly rude and disgusting and I didn't even get paid $20 an hour. The rent is heaps more expensive and so are all other services. I hated my experience in a mining town, will never go back.

+1 to this.

Don't move to a mining town unless you already have a job and you think it is worth it. If you get a FIFO job, that should give you enough exposure to the mining town lifestyle to realise its crap (some people do love it though).

 

[the_tzr]

OMG do not move to a mining town. The mines are really hard to get into, regardless of what idiot Tony Abbot says... and those that work in the mining towns who arent in the mines get paid nothing. I was a receptionist in a mining town, it was horrible. Everyone was horribly rude and disgusting and I didn't even get paid $20 an hour. The rent is heaps more expensive and so are all other services. I hated my experience in a mining town, will never go back.

i wouldnt agree with you on this, not all mining towns are like this! if you move away to big mines and there town then yes i would agree, where i work the town lives on the mine, the rent isnt high as the mine owns a fair few propertys and give it at a good rate. of course a receptionist is gonna be a lower rate than a underground worker as there at a higher risk, i can tell you now jumbo opperater is on around $170000, loader is around $120000 truck driver is on $80000 also peoples pay are all diffrent eg open pit mine to a underground mine also type of ore eg gold or coal.. ground is a big factor on how a mine pays if its good ground or bad ground. once you have your foot in the door you can go anywhere! FIFO is more harder to get into as a start than a mining town for someone with no exprence unless you work for a contractor like deep core or raise bore etc.

Also the town here is very friendly every one says hi and talk to anyone, i havnt had one bit of bad people in town..