Working in the mines

[seqfisho]

Off to the QLD gov Gas and Mining Jobs expo on friday in Brissy so we will see what becomes of that

[Manjimike]

Good luck Glen
 
Mike

[chester ver2.0]

OK as someone who works up here in the WA mines here is a few tips

1. What are you coming for and no just to make money is not good enough you need to have a plan that both you and the family agree on is it to smash the morgatge put a kid through Uni or what. I can pay you 200k but i bet if i treat you like crap or something else goes on you WILL get to a stage where you go this is not worth it

2. How long are you going to be here for once again you will not last here forever so are you going to do a year 2 or 5.

3 What are your salary expectations matched with how long are you prepared to be away yes you can do a 4 and 1 or a 3 and 1 roster and earn big bucks, come down to an 8 and 6 roster and if you have skills you can almost earn the same in Perth and be home every night.

4. How long have you spent away from home, if never you need to have a big think you are on site often in a mobile dead zone for 12 hours of the day and if something goes wrong at home you are looking at 24 hrs best before you can get there. How will the kids handle it. Also how will your wife, we dont have kids and my wife actually finds it quite hard as she is alone and bored when i am not there.

5. Agree on who pulls the pin, my personal deal is that my wife has the first right of refusal if she is not liking the way things are going.

Ok so you have sorted all of the above and if you have not spent at least 2 weeks discussing this with your family and maybe some people who work in the mines you have not discussed it enough. Now to get a job

If you have never had any experience on a mine you may have to go in the back door there is a number of ways to do this
1 Look at emerging miners such as FMG or Roy hill as they have to compete harder than say BHP they will often be more flexible in their requirements if you can prove that you have skills and are willing to have a go

2 Put your name down with the big perth recruitment companies but stress that you are only interested in mining

3 Think outside the square for the love of god dont put down a dump truck driver as you are competing with 100,000 other people who want to do the same thing. There is really no such thing as unskilled labour up here anymore, got a forklift ticket and computer skills well go for a storeman role or something think a bit laterally.

4 If you do get into a job even for 1 swing work your ass off as there are a heap of other people trying to get in

5 Mining is the most insestuous community if have ever worked for i have been here for 2 years and seen guys come and go around twice so NEVER and i mean NEVER burn bridges.

You can give your details to the guy in the bar but that sort of hiring is almost dead, as there has been to much vouching for to many guys that have not worked out.

Hope this helps

[D4D]

Gee Chester that's some great advice, you're getting wise in your old age.

When are you getting the camper out again

[Manjimike]

Thanks Chester 
That really is good advice and I would say I have been going thru the same thought processes.
Storeperson is one of the jobs I have been looking at as I have the forklift ticket, good computer skills and I used to do Receivals/despatch at Coles.

You must have an old head on young shoulders 

 
Mike

[seqfisho]

Hi Chester,

Not sure exactly who your post is intended for but I have added my personal comments regarding my situation, and as you say it isn't as easy as it seems, and the donga's are not always paved in gold

I can pay you 200k but i bet if i treat you like crap or something else goes on you WILL get to a stage where you go this is not worth it

Ive done a lot of work for people who have treated me for crap or worse and paid me A LOT less than that.

2. How long are you going to be here for once again you will not last here forever so are you going to do a year 2 or 5.

I'm looking at least a 5yr plan, longer even if we could get a residential role as the family are fine with living remote and actually prefer it to the city, we want financial freedom and debt free start to early retirement

3 What are your salary expectations matched with how long are you prepared to be away yes you can do a 4 and 1 or a 3 and 1 roster and earn big bucks, come down to an 8 and 6 roster and if you have skills you can almost earn the same in Perth and be home every night.

I would be interested to see how all the rosters compare money wise

4. How long have you spent away from home, if never you need to have a big think you are on site often in a mobile dead zone for 12 hours of the day and if something goes wrong at home you are looking at 24 hrs best before you can get there. How will the kids handle it. Also how will your wife, we don't have kids and my wife actually finds it quite hard as she is alone and bored when i am not there.

That would probably be the hardest issue but you have to realise that great gains require sacrifice.

5. Agree on who pulls the pin, my personal deal is that my wife has the first right of refusal if she is not liking the way things are going.

I would say the same, the wife and family would be the ones to hit the stop button, if the $$ are flowing in I will keep plugging away at it weather I like it or not, I have never been unemployed in the last 32yrs and I don't intend to until I retire


5 Mining is the most insestuous community if have ever worked for i have been here for 2 years and seen guys come and go around twice so NEVER and i mean NEVER burn bridges.

Doesn't pay to burn them at anytime, you just never know when you may need them

You can give your details to the guy in the bar but that sort of hiring is almost dead, as there has been to much vouching for to many guys that have not worked out.

I have got a lot of my jobs that way, or been poached and it still goes on but I would think with the publicity on minning jobs these days it would be the hardest way to get a start

Hope this helps

Thanks heaps, I'm sure it will help lots of people

[Hairs]

Hi Glen,
I went to the one held at Logan, Wednesday last week.
Left home at 4.30am to get there by 9 o'clock, 300 odd k trip.
Unlike the 95% plus of the people that showed up, I knew that they were not GIVING OUT JOBS. It was a fact finding mission as far as i was concerned.
I had done my homework pryer to walking in the doors. I spoke with several of the representatives of different construction companies and didn't demand work or ask for it. I walked away with several contacts and an understanding of how the system works.
It would seem you're not running into this blind, Good Stuff.
I wish you well in your search for work.

Hey chester ver2.0,
All good advise to those that have no clue at all about what to expect.
 
 

[Pebble]

Hi Pebble,
looking at Seek etc over the last couple of days, I believe I could do Storeperson/Trades Assistant/Drillers Offsider/Survey Assistant.
I have Loader and Forklift tickets and AS2980 welding operator certification ( tho' a bit rusty).
I am sure I will get something eventually, it is just a bit hard to Centrelink help when you have been self employed

 
Mike

I've done store-person work without prior experience (was thrown into it when the mine was taken over by another company and they didn't want to keep the store person that was there at the time). If you're reasonably familiar with using a computer and happy to learn how to use certain computer programs then you will be fine, having a forklift ticket is a big bonus. Mind you I did see a storeperson job going in Busso in the recent SW times, sounded good to me but I'm kind of tied down 9-3 with the kids and living in Nannup doesn't help. Shame was my ideal sounding job! Oh well keep on cleaning houses then!

Something else you might consider going for is a Pit Technician, it's basically doing jobs that Geologists don't have time for, like sampling and probably assisting survey. It's a job that wouldn't be too hard to learn without prior experience.

[Pebble]

I went into PVSWorkfind yesterday to hand in my resume, but because I don't have
-sleep deprivation,
-anxiety because I am unemployed
and because I am motivated to get myself out there looking for work;
I am a 1 on a scale of 1 to 4.
The government (who PVS is an agent for) don't help those who are a 1.
I need to go on drugs to get any help.

Muck fe, I still pay for these other bar-stewards 
 
Mike

p.s. Probably do a better job without them - had only hoped to get Snr 1st aid paid for 

Hah yeah I know where you're coming from. I stayed in Canberra to finish my yr11 and 12 while Mum moved to Qld. I was living with a friend of hers paying some cheap board. Was on AusStudy or whavever (Mum was pretty much a dole bludger anyway). Tried to get a living away from home allowance but couldn't basically because I hadn't been abused by my Mother or something to that effect! Made me so angry that all these kids who go off the rails and leave home can get it but someone trying to do the right thing can't.

Back on topic now..
Don't forget to look up contracting and recruitment companies in general and if they don't have anything suitable lodge your resume with them anyway. The weekend paper is a good spot to find some.
For example BGC  (www.bgc.jobs)
hays.com.au
www.miningpeople.com.au
theiss.com.au/careers

The employment agencies (like Mining People) get paid a fee or agreed percentage by the company that employs you if they find you a job, or sometimes the company pays them and they then pay you (taking their cut of course)....it depends weather you get full time employment or work as a contractor through the employment agency.
The disadvantage of being a contractor is that you don't get sick leave, paid holidays etc, but you get a higher hourly / daily rate compared to a salary.
The only thing is that it might be a short term or say 3 month contract after which the agency has to find you another with a different company. But sometimes you can find a full time job that way because if someone leaves the company might get a contractor in while they're looking to fill that role. A lot of mining companies go through employment agencies to fill the jobs.

[nick 08]

X2 on what chester said. Its a very different world compared to the 9 till 5 mon to fri.

I started as a carpenter out of school and had my trade and some machinery tickets skid steer, digger, EWP etc. Any tickets and trades help just that bit more then the average
joe blo just trying to score a cushy truck driving job making $ well it helped me anyway.

I kind of fell into mining a few yrs back having a contractor mate needing maintenance carpenters in the gulf for mining villages and site work.
I worked my arse off to get where i am now and operating all different machines out in the Bowen basin.

As chester said ur either cut out for the rosters and the time away from family or you will soon find out how hard it can be.
Try any type of mining related work if you don't have a mining related trade eg. store man, TA's even security and cleaners on site find it easier to work up to a permanent job.
I have mates that started as TA's and are now operators on all different plant just from starting at the bottom.

Hope this helps a little bit

Nick
 
 

[chester ver2.0]

Gee Chester that's some great advice, you're getting wise in your old age.

When are you getting the camper out again

Hey mate going camping for my birthday for a couple of days. I am currently pursuing a oil and gas opportunity in Aldeiade atm if that comes off i am going to spend a bit of time getting there. If not the contract runs out here in November so will prbably get back on the road then

[chester ver2.0]

Hey SEQfisho

Rosters and money kind of work like this

I will use my brother as an example he is on the road crew at a gold mine in WA (My company does ore haulage so we build and maintain our own haul roads to run the trucks on)
Has a HR Licence
Is passed out to drive a watercart and a 992G Loader

All wages below are based on a 2 week on 1 week off roster 12.5 hrs shift except for QLD which i will explain in a minute

WA Goldfields he is on 96k gross
WA Mid e.g Geraldton Proably 90k gross as you could then do drive in drive out shortening your roster
WA Pilbra 105 to 110k gross

QLD you would probably get around 85 to 90k gross reason being is that they do more of an even time roster over there it goes something like this
4 days of day shift 3 days off
4 days of night shift 4 days off

Reason being the union is a lot more heavily involved over in QLD so the rosters are shorter were as in WA there is virtually no union invlolvement at all.

Hope this gives you something to work on

Qualified tradesman can earn a lot more and yes 200k in the Pilbra is possible however these are usually mining or oil and gas construction jobs. Meaning that there is immense pressure to finish the job on time and in budget so they are hired on say a 12 month contract and will have to do a 3 weeks on 1 week off roster or even a 4 in 1.
Most of the guys i know that do this will complete the project and then take 6 months off to go surfing as they are just physically worn out to roll into another job. So if you take that into account so over a 2 year period you may only work 1.3.to 1.5 years so overall earnings drop considerably, added to the fact when the project ends you are out on your own to either wait for your company to get more work or try to latch on toanother project.
The money is good but lifestyle is very nomadic

Another consideration is that most mining jobs in WA consider Perth the step off point so if you live interstate you have to get yourself to and from Perth for each swing. On a 2 and 1 roster you will do 17 swings in a year so you need to budget for about 12k in airfares, and as the flights to site leave early in the morning you will have to come over to Perth the day before and stay the night so you will loose 1 of your days off in doing this. Some companies will pay for flights from the eastern states but this is usually for managers or highly skilled technical specialists (e.g when our loaders break down and need computer diagnostics)

Not trying to put anyone off and there is good money to be made just need to look at it hard and weigh up the hidden costs cause there is nothing more depressing than getting 6 months in and realising you are not earing that much more than you could at home

I should go into recruitment consulting and start billing in 6 minute increments

[waz65]

Off to the QLD gov Gas and Mining Jobs expo on friday in Brissy so we will see what becomes of that

Don't expect much as a mate of mine went to the one at the coast earlier this year and was basically told to jump onto each mines website and apply

[Campa]

I agree with chester. Lots of hidden cost that all add up. I did a 3 yr stint in WA after fiinishing my apprenticeship working from Karatha from 2002. Its great as a single bloke, but now im married and have a little daughter I moved back home to Brisbane and work for a drilling company as Fitter & Turner. I now earn $20k less in annual wages but that evens out because I dont have to pay travel fees etc or get stuffed around with delayed flights,  etc etc etc and Im home every night with the family. Only downside is that I work 5 days a week, every week and every second saturday. I did miss the even roster with time off but now that ive been doing this for a number of years I appreciate time at home with family.

[Redcherokee]

Also how will your wife, we dont have kids and my wife actually finds it quite hard as she is alone and bored when i am not there.

5. Agree on who pulls the pin, my personal deal is that my wife has the first right of refusal if she is not liking the way things are going.

This reminds me of when my other half was in the Forces.  The 2am phone call, and he's getting picked up in 15 minutes, can't say where he will be, how long he will be away for (2 weeks typically) and absolutely no phone or other communication while he is away.  :'( 

After a while you learn to be independent.  Plan a social life etc that doesn't depend on or require them.  Realise you can organise plumbers, change lightbulbs and kill spiders, without a partner around.  The absent partner can actually get in the way on their return.   Don't underestimate the impact this sort of thing can have on a relationship.   Talk it through big time with your other half.

We had a an agreement that at a certain point in time he would leave, and it would then be his turn to follow whatever I wanted to do career wise.  25 years after that original agreement was made (and long after he had left defence) that situation arose and the agreement held.

Oh yeah, and the first things you 'forget' when they become permanent fixtures at home again, is how to kill vermin, how to empty kitty litter,  and how to take out garbage.

[stepheng]

I have a freind working in the mines, he gets bigish $ but I wouldnt do it. He is married with two kids, so is basically missing out on them growing up, which to me is not worth it. He is currently in Kununurrua and it can take him days to get home, as he goes via Perth to Melbourne. The time it takes for him to get home is counted as part of his time off, so he basically gets home and then leaves again in a couple of days. I would agree with others who say it is a single mans life.

This friend and his wife have a plan, it extend their house and pay off the mortgage in five year but so far he has missed their birthdays, first day of school and got home on XMAS Eve close to midnight.

I heard a story the other day (dont know if it is true) wereby someone was looking for people to work in the mines, which was essentially an ID scam. They placed an add in the paper, people applied, did interviews etc. The succesfull applicant was drive from NSW to WA and on the way, he was murdered (body disposed off) and the person took over his identity...if it is too good to be true it generally is.

[crackacoldie]

Some of the statements about it being a single mans life, i notice are being made by people who have not and do not work in the mining industry.  I have been working FIFO for the past 6 years and have more involvement in my kids (3 of them) lives than I ever hd before.  I am a Dad who gets to go school activities with his kids.  I get to travel during school holidays, every holidays, with my kids.

I will admit that you need a very supportive partner and a very strong relationship to make this work, but the only people who can make that decision are you and your wife/partner.  Unfortunately, many people will bag your decission, as happened when we made the choice, however, this lifestyle does not suit them, it is not for every one.  There is lots of discussions to be had between your family before you make your choice.  Do what is right for you and your family and ignore all others inputs as to why or why not you should work in the mining industry.

My 2c worth Cracka

[jclures]

If you are trying to get into the mines working and you have no mining experience, as is the case for a lot of workers, even those with trades. I might be worth looking at labour hire companies, you don’t get the big money but you get the experience.

My son has gone this route, even though he is a diesel fitter by trade, he had no mining experience, so he started work just doing fly in fly out shutdowns. He is still now still working for a labour hire company, but now as a heavy diesel fitter.

[seqfisho]

Off to the QLD gov Gas and Mining Jobs expo on friday in Brissy so we will see what becomes of that

Apart from the hordes of people there, who I think were expecting to land a $100K job on the spot, it really was a bit hard to find anything out. Having to queue for 10 minutes to speak to a Theiss rep who eventually I found out had no "fffin idea" and said "electricians are more fore construction and were looking for mining staff" and then gave the common approach of most of the people "please check our website", and you would have thought the labour hire companies were giving away freebies with the crowds they had at their stands.

I did come away with some positives though, some of the big companies like Xstrata etc prefer residential roles and offer relocation and subsidies, which would work for us, and the LNG projects in QLD are coming online quite quick with reasonable money and rosters.

And the biggest thing I realised was that looking at the vast majority of people who were there, when it comes time to apply for positions the competition don't look too tough

[Hairs]

And the biggest thing I realised was that looking at the vast majority of people who were there, when it comes time to apply for positions the competition don't look too tough

Yep, Sums it up for me too.
Wish you well in your search for a job.

I couldn't get over how rude people were, they grunted, they had don't have any respect for themselves , there wasn't any thank you's or pleases. the just expected.
Anyway I came away from there with a little bit more knowledge than if I didn't attend.

 

[MONDO-100]

I started permanent as an operator with Rio Tinto a month ago (140k per year
+ benefits) on a 3days on - 2days off - 3nights on - 5 days off roster with 6 weeks annual leave a year 1hr 20Min's from home and only 4 nights away a fortnight they bus you in and out on first and last days of shift. they fully accomadate you in a flash ass en suited rooms at a village with all the good food you can scoff ha ha. the hardest thing is getting use to being away from your family.but of all rosters around i think that's the best because there is physically only one day out of the three that you dont see them. just keep hammering away at them its the only way. 

cheers Mondo

[Pebble]

Some of the statements about it being a single mans life, i notice are being made by people who have not and do not work in the mining industry.  I have been working FIFO for the past 6 years and have more involvement in my kids (3 of them) lives than I ever hd before.  I am a Dad who gets to go school activities with his kids.  I get to travel during school holidays, every holidays, with my kids.

I will admit that you need a very supportive partner and a very strong relationship to make this work, but the only people who can make that decision are you and your wife/partner.  Unfortunately, many people will bag your decission, as happened when we made the choice, however, this lifestyle does not suit them, it is not for every one.  There is lots of discussions to be had between your family before you make your choice.  Do what is right for you and your family and ignore all others inputs as to why or why not you should work in the mining industry.

My 2c worth Cracka

I am essentially a miners wife.  And all I would say is that it certainly isn't for everyone. It works well for us though.

Yes it is harder when the kids are young, particularly on the 2&1 or longer rosters (kids have to get used to Dad being home again when they're like under the age of 2). As the kids get older everyone just gets used to it and some people wouldn't have it any other way. I know my Husband would hate to have to do Mon to Fri and potentially have to work some of his weekends.

He did do Mon to Fri for a wile when the kids were younger and it seemed harder on all of us (Dad gets home after a hard day, kids are whiney etc, gets called out on weekends).

On a roster basis he feels like he gets to spend more quality time with the kids, even if it's not as large a time in quantity compared to Mon-Fri.
 And we both communicate well on parenting / discipline etc  and probably both have similar styles, so there is no issues in that regard, I think that's where it sometimes doesn't work if one parent is the disciplinarian and the other is not

Only downside without close family around the partner (like myself) might have more limited job / career options while the kids are too young to be home on their own for any period.

[trekkn]

the mines will make you or break you
im in my 11th yr of fifo mine work and i have had long rosters 8 weeks on 10 days off
down to a 8days on 6 days off
i have work offshore even time on/off
and open cut mines 90% of my work has been on the west coast and the pilbara
wages from $110k up to $200k
i have a great partner of 12yrs this year a 4 yr old girl and a 3 yr old boy
and work a 2 and 1 roster but only days no night shift and earn $160k
what i do now is what works best for us and thats the key it making it work
i turned down a  220k job at the start of the year it was 2 and 1 which is greaty but its a week of days then a week of nights then a week off it doesnt work for us even though its 60k more which would be nice but my family suffers with me coming home off night shift and i suffer to

after reading all my dribble im trying to say is look at the whole job not just the money

p,s im back on the forum after a few absent months the cape trip is getting closer

[cancan]

Try and get in quick. If this happens http://www.couriermail.com.au/business/miner-maps-out-new-town/story-fn7kjcme-1226270204866 then they wont be employing Aussies to work in the mines for much longer.

I have heard from a few people that have either consulted to one of the new foreign mining companies and also people that have/do work for them and they have no intention of employing Aussies and never had. They currently have foreign workers working in Australia doing positions which can be filled here (under the 457 visa you cannot employ someone from overseas if the role can be filled by Australians (don't quote me here)) yet no one knows how they are getting away with it although  I have heard that someone very high up in the company has a regular luncheon appointments with the Federal Immigration Minister Chris Bowen.

Of course this could be Chinese whispers and utterly crap, but I started hearing about it last year and still hear about it now.

Sorry if this is a bit off topic but anyhow I am off to my foreign language classes now to learn engrish

[Manjimike]

Well off to Perth next week for 'driller's offsider' course with 4wd training included.

 


Mike