FIFO and site jobs for office and professional people

Most FIFO advice is written for labourers and trades. That makes sense, because that is most of the workforce. But every mine, every major project and every camp also runs on people who never pick up a spanner. Someone keeps the documents straight. Someone books the flights and the rooms. Someone tracks the money. Someone signs off the engineering. Those jobs are advertised every week, and very few people know they come with a roster.

This is the professional side of FIFO and construction, from the side of the desk that hires for it.

The three lanes

Site admin. Site administrators, document controllers, camp and village admin, training coordinators, timekeeping and payroll admin, procurement and warehouse admin. This is the most realistic way into FIFO without a trade, and the least talked about. Site admin and document control jobs, in detail.

Engineering. Site engineers, field engineers, project engineers, planners and schedulers. Graduates and people moving from an office or consulting role out onto site. Engineers moving to site: what the screen looks for.

Accounts and commercial. Site and project accountants, cost controllers, commercial and contracts roles. Most people with an accounting degree have no idea these jobs exist on site. FIFO and site accountant jobs.

What is different about the screen

For a labourer, I am screening for tickets, site time and whether you will be a problem. For a professional role, the first thirty seconds are different. I am looking for three things.

Have you worked anywhere near a site before? Not on the tools. Near them. A project office, a construction company, a mining services firm, a council works depot. Anything that tells me you know what a site is and how it runs.

Do you know the systems and the language? Each lane has its own. Document control has transmittals and revisions. Engineering has RFIs, ITPs and shutdown scopes. Project accounts has cost codes, accruals and forecasts. If your CV uses the right words for the job, it gets read. If it reads like a generic office CV, it gets the generic office pile.

Can you live on a roster? Professionals get binned for this more than anyone. Someone used to nine to five, home every night, often has not thought it through. Tell me you have, in one line, near the top.

Where these jobs are advertised

The same places as everything else: the big job boards, the contractors' and operators' own careers pages, and labour hire for short admin contracts. Many professional roles sit with the contractors and the engineering firms rather than the mine owners. The Employer Map in the FIFO guide lists them by state and type, with the search words to use.

Search with the job title and the word FIFO or the region. “Document controller FIFO”. “Site administrator Pilbara”. “Project accountant Bowen Basin”. Set the alerts and apply in the first few days.

The honest bit

These roles are competitive, because a lot of people want an office job with FIFO money. They do not pay like the trades, and some are residential or drive-in drive-out rather than fly-in. Read the ad for the roster and the point of hire before you get excited.

But they are real jobs, they are advertised often, and most applicants make the same mistakes. A CV that shows site awareness, the right systems and a clear head about the roster stands out quickly. If you want a second opinion on yours before you apply, that is exactly what the Hiring-Side CV Review is for.

From Office to Site · A$29Site admin, document control, engineering and accounts roles: what the screen looks for, the words your CV needs, and the way in.Get it →

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