Getting into FIFO

Women getting into FIFO: the entry programs, the real door, and what the hiring side actually wants

The industry is actively trying to hire you. Most women applying do not know that, and apply as if it were not true.

By The Hiring Desk · Senior HR Professional · October 2026

I am going to say something that will annoy some people in the FIFO groups: if you are a woman trying to get into site work right now, you have a door that most men applying do not, and I have sat on the hiring side of it for twenty years across Australian mining and construction. The industry has targets, it has programs, and it is actively looking for women to put through them. The problem is that most women applying do not know this, and apply through the general ads where they compete with everyone.

What the programs are

Most of the large operators and many of the big contractors run some form of women-in-mining, women-in-trades or diversity entry program. They go by different names: pathway programs, entry-level traineeships with a women's intake, pre-employment programs, sometimes run with a training provider or a state government initiative. The common thread is that they are built for people with no site experience, they often include the tickets as part of the program, and the screen is about attitude, reliability and fitness for work rather than what is already on your CV.

They are not charity and they are not easy. They are competitive, they are intake-based, and the people who get through them are the ones who turn up to every pre-employment session, pass the medical and the drug screen, and have clearly thought about what the roster will do to their life.

How to find them

Search for the program names rather than job titles: women in mining, women in trades, pathway program, pre-employment program, entry-level traineeship. Look on the operators' and major contractors' own careers pages, not just job boards, and look at state government and industry body sites, because some programs are run jointly. Follow the companies on LinkedIn, because intakes get announced there before they hit the boards. And ring the recruitment teams and ask when the next intake is. They will tell you. They want the applications.

What the screen is looking for

The same four things as any site role, plus one. Can you legally and physically do it, and are you available for the roster. Do you have, or are you willing to get, the basic tickets (many programs supply them). Have you done anything that shows you can turn up, work hard physically and deal with people: hospitality, care, retail, sport, farm work, the lot. And the extra one: have you thought about the lifestyle. Programs lose a lot of people after the first swing, and the screen is trying to spot who has actually considered two weeks away, a camp, a crib room and a twelve-hour day. Say that you have, and say why you want it.

The things to know before you fly

Every rule about the camp applies to you, and some of them land harder. Camps are overwhelmingly male. Most people are decent; a few are not. Know how to report harassment and know that the airport and the charter count as the workplace. Know the absenteeism line and use it if you are unwell, because a welfare check on an empty room is an incident. Find your people, keep a routine, and stay out of the drama, which on a camp finds you if you let it. I wrote the first-swing rules down here; they apply to everyone and women tell me the harassment section was the part they wished someone had said out loud.

And if a program is not open right now

Camp services and village roles hire continuously and are the other door that opens readily. The screen is reliability and temperament, the tickets are minimal, and you will be on a site with your medical done when the next program intake opens. More on those here.

The guide covers the programs route alongside the others, with what to say in the application. If you want your CV read the way a program screener reads it, that is the review.

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.

Get the guide · A$49Secure checkout · card or PayPal · instant download

Not sure yet? Read chapter 2 free, no email needed.

Already have a CV and still no callbacks? Send it to the person who would be screening it. The Hiring-Side CV Review: the thirty-second verdict, what is getting it binned, and a rewritten screen block, back within three business days. A$179.

Not ready to buy? Take the free two-minute readiness check first, or grab the free FIFO starter checklist and FIFO CV template.

Not ready to buy?

Get the free FIFO starter checklist and CV template

One page: what to fix before you apply, which tickets to buy first, where to actually apply, and the first-swing rules. Yours straight away.

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy Policy.

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.