Mining mystery

Picture by Andy Tyndall.

I get hit with a wave of emails every time a new "mining boom" story makes the newspapers. While the boom is fact not fiction, I have to wonder about this notion that people without experience can up sticks and walk into lucrative mining jobs. I know it's been done.

I've read the stories, but most of the unskilled people featured in such yarns appear to have made the move two years ago. I've tried different research avenues to find out how people without skills can land jobs as truck drivers, cooks or other hands-on roles.

Over many months I've quizzed those manning the mining stands at career shows in three states, called recruiters in three states and visited
countless websites.

I've spoken to a really nice guy at the Mining Industry Skills Centre and, more recently, a colleague spoke to a clearly exasperated media woman at BHP Billiton.

She had been inundated with inquiries about mining jobs following a recent TV program and was clearly 'over it'. It appears there are a huge range of jobs for experienced people listed in newspapers and on job boards, including CareerOne.com.au. If you have no experience, then it appears you need a mate on a mining site to steer you straight.

One source told me, "People should go and start drinking at the pub where the miners go". Easier said than done when that pub is in the in the middle of nowhere more than a thousand kilometres away from where you live.

We have collected a bunch of website addresses that we can pass on, but I have no simple answers.
If you do, then I would love to hear from you.

By Kate Southam, Editor of careerone.com.au

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