Getting into FIFO

FIFO ticket packages: are they worth it, and what should be in one?

What FIFO ticket packages bundle, what you probably don’t need yet, and how to tell a good one from an expensive one.

By The Hiring Desk · Senior HR Professional · October 2026

Search for FIFO tickets and you will be shown packages: five, eight, sometimes a dozen tickets in one bundle, sold as “job ready”. Some are good value. Some sell you things you will not need for years. Here is how I would judge one from the hiring side.

The test: does your target ad ask for it?

Pull up three ads for the role you actually want. Write down every ticket they name. That is your list. Anything in a package that is not on your list is money spent on a hope. Having no tickets is a problem. Having every ticket is a waste.

What most green applicants need first

White Card and first aid. They are cheap, quick, and say “responsible adult” to a screener. After that it depends on the door: working at heights, confined space and EWP for general site roles, forklift for stores, Standard 11 if you are heading to Queensland mines. The order is in White Card first, then what.

What packages often include that you probably don’t need yet

High-risk work licences like dogging, rigging or a heavy rigid truck licence, before you are going for a role that asks for them. An MSIC, which is for ports and offshore. Security certificates. Anything with “mining” in the name that is not a recognised induction. These are not bad tickets. They are just not your first tickets.

How to check a package before you pay

Look the provider up on training.gov.au. A card from a provider that is not registered is a card sites will not accept.

Price each ticket on its own. If the package is not cheaper than booking the tickets you need separately, it is not a deal.

Check the high-risk licences properly. These involve an assessment and a licence application with the state regulator. Ask exactly what is included and what costs extra.

Read the promise. If a package promises a job, an interview or a placement, walk away. Nobody can sell you one. More in before you pay for a FIFO course.

Ask about refunds and dates. If a course is cancelled or you cannot make it, what happens to your money?

When a package does make sense

When every ticket in it is on your list, the provider is registered, and it costs less than booking them one by one. That happens. It just is not the default.

The guide has a ticket budget planner that adds it up as you tick what you need. Or start with the free readiness check to see whether tickets are even your biggest gap.

The full playbook, from the hiring side

How to Get Into FIFO (and get asked back): the recruiter's screen, the ticket budget planner, your way in by starting point, the CV and interview, and the unwritten rules of your first swing, plus the Employer Map: 50 places to apply. A$49, opens in any browser, yours forever.

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About the author. The Hiring Desk is a senior HR professional with twenty years in HR across Australian mining and construction, most of it on the hiring side, who still works in the industry, which is why there is a pen name and no surname. Nothing published here is about any one employer; it is how the industry screens, hires and runs sites, from someone still inside it. A FIFO household of her own, onshore and offshore. Author of the The Hiring Desk guides.