I have lost count of the number of people that approach me saying, “I’ve done everything I am supposed to do and I can’t get an interview”. When I ask what they have done? I get the standard list, especially from people in the Eastern states;
“I have my front end loader ticket, my truck ticket, confined spaced ticket, full medical, the S11, working at heights, passed drug test and first aid ticket”
Everything that I do, to help people get jobs, is in the Hardrock area of the industry, so let’s look at it form one of these large Hardrock mines point of view. These mines are all having to hire new starters at the moment to fill the lower paid jobs. Jobs that can put you on a career path to an income of $25k a month once you get to the top (I know a number of miners making this sort of money and because of a lack of experienced staff it’s only going up).
From the Hardrock employers point of view;
All the tickets are useless to me as an employer, the rules say I have to train and ticket everyone I employ on site. Not only that, we must keep records of this tickets/training/procedures on site for inspection.
Next, the confined space ticket, the only place we need that ticket is cleaning the tanks on the mill, not the mine site. Even if I need you to have this ticket I’m going to put you through it myself, using my own staff to make sure that all the paperwork is in order for inspection.
The same can be said for a working at heights ticket, HR may like that you have it but I bet you end up doing it again as part of the onsite induction. Mining employers really do take their obligation to have this paper work in order very seriously.
As for the medical and drug test, I want you to see my company doctor and do a drug test at that same doctors. Again it’s all about the paper work, as the employer I don’t want paperwork from lots of doctors, I want my own paperwork from my doctor, to show that I have done the right thing as the employer.
Lastly the S11 or General induction, is only required by coal mines in QLD, this fact is apparently lost on new starters. It speaks volumes to the employers, about a person’s knowledge of the industry and what it is we do on a mine site.
So that’s what Hardrock employers don’t want, it wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t tell you what they did want in a new starter. They want you to have;
Mining knowledge, if you can talk to the employer about their own systems of work then this goes a long way to giving the Foreman the confidence to hire. I have included a video at the top of this page showing what I mean by mining knowledge.
The employer wants you to have a manual drivers licence to work underground and a HR licence to work on the surface.
They will like that you have done a first aid ticket, even though there is a good chance that the employer will put you through their own train again, as part of their site induction.
As an employer, I want to see that you have been in steady work. It really doesn’t matter what sort of work because you don’t have to be super fit to be a miner any more. They don’t call it “arm chair mining” for nothing. I want people that have done night shift, will work weekends and have worked 10 or 12hour shifts. People that are working in retail often make the swap to mining easily, as these people already have OH&S training from the large companies that they work for. This training transfers well to what happens on a mine site.
It’s like anything else, if you have what the employer wants then they will hire. The problem is that there are too many sites out there that think they know the industry when they clearly don’t. The reason that I am able to offer a pathway to follow, is that I have a WA Shift boss ticket and have been in the industry for more than 20years. Having been both a worker and part of management I know exactly how the system works, what the employer wants and how to get the employers attention.
I call it my “Do it yourself” package and for $495 it provides a pathway to employment in the Hardrock industry for those that follow its steps. There has never been a better time, with 100’s of these low paid (between $300-$500 a day) jobs needed to be filled on large Hardrock mines all around the country. If you want to sign up, follow the “Do it yourself” link or if you want to talk about this more leave a comment in the link to the left of the page. No matter what happens, I wish everyone reading this, the best of luck trying to get their dream mining job in the future. Good luck I hope it happens soon.
