Should you move to Kalgoorlie, Karratha or Port Hedland to get into mining? The regional route, honestly

There is a route into mining that the FIFO groups do not talk about much, because it is not FIFO. You move to the town. Kalgoorlie, Karratha, Port Hedland, Newman, Mount Isa, Emerald, Moranbah, Roxby Downs. You get any job to pay the rent, and you apply from inside the town. After twenty years in HR across Australian mining and construction, I will tell you plainly: residential applicants who are already in town get hired ahead of FIFO applicants with the same CV, because they can start Monday, they do not need a flight or a camp bed, and they have shown they can live there.

Why it works

Three reasons. The first is cost: an employer who hires a local does not pay flights, camp and the overhead of a FIFO roster, so for an entry-level role a local is cheaper and faster. The second is networks: in a mining town, the person who runs the pub, the gym and the footy club knows who is short-staffed this week, and a reliable newcomer gets mentioned. The third is proof: you have already done the hard thing, which is leaving where you were, and that counts with supervisors who have watched FIFO starters quit after one swing.

The honest costs

Rent in mining towns is high and housing is tight. Do not arrive without somewhere to stay sorted, even if it is a room or a caravan park for the first month. Do not arrive without enough money for six to eight weeks, because the first job may be behind a bar or on a council crew and the mine job may take a couple of months. Summer in the Pilbara is brutal. Some towns are a long way from anything and the isolation is real. If you have a partner and kids, it is a family decision, and a bad one if they are not on board.

Who it suits

Single or a couple without school-age kids, mobile, some savings, willing to do any work for a few months, and able to live simply in a hot, remote place. Younger people, people between things, people from regional backgrounds already. It suits people who like the idea of a town, not just a site. If the thought of two years in Kalgoorlie makes you miserable, it is the wrong route; take the labour hire route instead.

How to do it

Pick a town with more than one operator and more than one kind of work, so you are not betting on a single employer. Get the White Card and First Aid before you go. Arrange a bed before you arrive. Take the first job that pays the rent; hospitality, retail, civil labouring and council work all hire newcomers. Register with the local labour hire office in person the week you arrive. Join something: the footy club, the gym, a volunteer brigade. Apply to every contractor and the operator from a local address, and say in the first line that you are local and available immediately. Then give it three months.

The step after

Once you are in, the residential role is yours for as long as you want it, and it is a different life to FIFO: you sleep in your own bed. Many people stay. Others do a year or two residential, build the site history and the tickets, then move to a FIFO role from a city of their choice with a CV that says site experience in the first line. Either way, you are in, and you did it without fifty unanswered applications.

The guide has the regional route alongside the others, with a list of what to sort before you go. If you want a straight read on whether your CV and situation suit it, the free readiness check asks the question directly.

Read next: Mining jobs in Queensland with no experience

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