ex brikky myself never looked bak i no barminco burncut an barrick are employing heaps of guys atm dont even no half the ppl here anymore theyre all underground companies an u only need a car licence an senior first aid hope it helps 

Get as many tickets/certificates as you possible can Marko.

forklift, EWP, Senior First Aid, Working at Heights, Confined Space etc.

This then will give you a head start over all the other greenies without any of these Certificates.

Lodge your applications with as many places like Skilled etc.

 Marko, no more bricks?? You must be crazy wanting an employment change after the great working conditions we've had lately [today especially!!] Don't blame you mate. I gotta go to Ellenbrook for my next one, work is very tight at present.

Skilled seem to one of the best in the Pilbara. The best advice I can give is to get to the location you want to work in and try from there. A lot of people are hired because they are there at the time. Not too sure how many certs you need to get. Depends on what you want to do. I started up here and most things that I had werent recognised by the company as they did their own training. Possibly a HR licence would help.

Yep, unskilled FIFO in mining is pretty hard to get into. You do need to have something to offer an employer. Plenty of work on offer with some good coin but for starting out your probably better off making a move for a couple of years.

 Mate I made the switch to mining about seven years ago and it has been really good to me. Like the guys have said above if you can moving to a mining town just to get a foot in the door can be a really good way to go if your situation allows. I moved to Kalgoorlie without a mining job but with a building background put my name down with all the recruitment agencies in town and went from there (living in town really helped) took what I could to get a start and after a couple of years gained plenty of skills and took all the training offered to me and then had the flexabilty to move into plenty of jobs currently based in perth but like most industries once your in it gets alot easier to move around.

Good luck mate

That would be great but I would have to lose the mrs to do that. Atm I dont think I want to be doing that but see how we go. Il just try my best get some courses done see how I go.

I'm also a brickie and ready for a change, not enough money in it for the work you put in

Keep looking at different options, would like to get up to the mines.

Before you all dissapear to a minesite, consider the complete different lifestyle you are going to get used to.

Maybe some of us here who are/were living this FIFO lifestyle put up some of the + and - of this.

might help the ones that are considering "The big Buck$ option"

It is not all sensational and easy.

Depends on your attitude towards it; if you are willing to "Pay the price" 
 

Willing to do whatever gets me the work. Will start getting a few different certificates that can hopefully get me a job there even if I start off as t.a or whatever.

hey mate

i work for a company called orica mining services they are an explosives company. i work in boddington drive in drive out i couldnt handle fifo its not for everyone. my company are always employing trainee shot firers and truck drivers  dt workforce do the hiring all you need is a hr and a whitecard at some mines. keep a lookout on the websites if you want more info send me a pm and i may be able to help you out some more.

cheers

Rod

In my personal opinion it comes down to what you are willing to work away for , as in dollars.
As I have two kids an wife at home and being a tradie ( boilermaker) I cannot justify working away for any less than maybe 120k and no longer than eight days at a time.
Its a personal choice as some guys don't mind being away for weeks at a time, but having been on the mines for years now I see alot of guys earning only 75,85,95K . Obviously these guys dont have an actual trade and they maybe happy with that money.
You have to work out what you think is good enough money to spend time away from friends an loved ones.
In saying that most guys have to start out on longer rosters like myself (3/1) and over time find better rosters and money. But I would think that everyone in mining started out just like yourself asking questions and doing your home work.
Goodluck mate hope it works out.

Gazza

Gday marko.not sure what type of traineship you after,or weather you just want to be an operator.to get in as an operator no traineship required is a matter of just having to keep applying with different minning companies and eventually someone will take you on as a greenie.try mobs like skilled or work Pak.i work away week on week off and find the roster good giving me plenty of time with my family and the money is a lot better than my trade cabinet making.only thing bad at the moment I'm on the wrong shift as the weather been great when I'm at work .

Yeh for now anything would do just to get in but eventually I would like toadvance . I'm going to get my hr white card first aid etc to increase chances

It aint all that easy, I've sat for a few interviews in the last couple of weeks and they all say I'm a little over qualified for what we want, I just say that if I didn't think I could do it, or want the damn thing in the first place, do you think I would be wasting $60 in fuel for the trip up there to see you and then drive back home again. I HATE HR PEOPLE, AND REQRUITMENT AGENTS.

White card is mainly for construction, not sure if that's what you mean when you say you want work in the mines.

Do a CST (Cert of Safety Training) at Swan Maritime, and try and get into MUA as a seaman.

$100K, equal time (though longer swings, up to 5 weeks) and good tucker-paid/accumulative time off.

 Not all that glamorous Marko, but I have a good mate that recruits for a drilling company that could probably get you a start.

I reckon it's a bit of a false economy when you are unskilled and you factor in the 12 hours a day, 7 days per week. I know for a fact that I'd earn a lot more laying bricks if I kept those type hours instead of the 35hrs I do.

Give me a buzz in the morning if you are interested.

The  suggestion to move to kalgoorlie is  the  best option. I  advised  a  friend to  do  the  same  and  he resisted  until  he  caved in when it was obvious  he  wasnt   getting offered a  fifo number  with no experience  or  contacts. Got  a  job  on  a  small  gold  plant  straight  away  and  eventually  moved  onto working  for  Barrick  in kal which  have  heaps  of  8/6 FIFO  operations across WA.

I dont recomend  fifo  for   people  with  family. last  time  i worked  fifo  a  work  colleague  started   taking  anti-depressants  in order  to  deal  with  the  sadness of  being away   from home. I  suggested  to him the  fix  was  easy  and  to  work  residential at  the  many  operations  up  north. His  missus  wasnt  down for  that.  Anyway  we recomended  he  notify  the  site  medical  group  that  he  was  on  those  drugs  and  he  was  told  not  to  worry  because  half  the  minesite   were  on  anti-depressants as  well. Pretty  sad  to  have  so  many  men   depressed   feeling  trapped  and  forced  to  work  these  conditions  which  eventually  lead  to  resentment  of  their  situation  and   their  partners. also  sad  to  know  that  there  will be  a  few  generations  of   children   growing  up  with  absent  fathers. Living  in  regional  WA   is  what  you  make  of it. Be  part  of  the  community   and  be  part  of  your  family  again. Ban  fifo  operations  in  functioning  towns.  The  urban sprawl in  perth is unsustainable  and  the  state and federal  government  should  be  doing  more  to  encourage  growth  in regional  WA.

been a long time since I was in the mining side but I have been fishing (longlining) and now 7 odd years offshore (a little better than equal time) and while the number of divorced guys here is fairly high, it is also what you make of it.

Our swings are longer (4&4 or 5&5 weeks) but many do make it work. Sure Id rather be home all the time but I love having my own time when home also. Pretty clear line between work and home so they rarely mix.

If I had my life over again I would have headed north alot earlier. Pack up the mrs and give it 6 months. Both of you working will bringing much better than Perth money and you get an adventure at the same time. It's not all easy but since when was life supposed to be?

Haha yeh no shite today was crap. In and out of the shed all day prob shouldn't have bothered

I miss the days of sittin in the shed making sweet fa watchin it rain. It hasn't been a wet year for years either. This year feels like its goin to be a wetter year.

I lost a few boys over the years that went to the mines and never came back. The mines like em too because their used to the heat and a work site environment.

It used to be simple, now there's a load of b$^#^$#^ and the money aint that great once you take out expenses and you car is stuffed.. Sore and tired..

The reason they advertise on the television for apprentices is because bricklaying is a crap job..

Best move I ever made gettin out of it..

If it was a truly free market there'd be brickies everywhere with apprentices. The realty is that there's not enough money in it to pay and train apprentices. If the market was truly free enterprise then the prices would go up enough to pay those apprentices without using taxpayers money.

Its a crock, an the oversupply collusion.. Socialist even..

G'day hoookt.

Ive got well over 20 years in mining, both opencut and underground.

Some good points have been made and I think the best is (if possible, be where you want to work) Its also a huge advantage to have someone onsite putting in a word for you.

In my experience!

I wouldnt bother with big companies as they will require you to have all the skills already, that said, some big companies will at times offer traineeships but they are extremely hard to get because of the number of people trying to do what you are doing.

Starter postions in underground are normally Service crew and a good starting point in opencut would be Pit tech, these postions are normally trained as you go.

Underground (if you can deal with it) will have you progressing up the ladder a lot faster than opencut because the crews are normally very small.

I know of people that have gone from service crew to bogger to bogger/charge up within 12 months (it used to take years) and are earning around $600 a 12 hr shift or if you are very fit and dont mind extremely confined spaces you could try to get into airleg mining, plently of guys still getting 1k for an 8 hr shift.

Open cut still takes a long time to get to the top of the ladder (excavator operator) and you would still not get the same money as in underground.

fly in fly out mining isnt for a lot of people. When my kids were really young I came home on break and went shopping with the misses, we went into Kmart and the misses wanting a bit of free time said "you take the boys and I'm going to the bra knickers section" I started off towards the fishing section and both the boys started crying, I want my mummy, I want my mummy. It broke my heart and when I got home I rang up and quit my job. I only took jobs that were residential for many years after that.

All that said and done.

I was talking to a guy a few weeks ago that works at Galaxy resources in Ravensthorpe as a dump truck driver, he is on $22 an hr flat and doing 12 hr shifts.  $264 a day.

A mate of mine is a supervisor at the new desalination plant at Mylup, he was telling on the weekend that his laborers are on $35 an hr plus penilties and they are brush painting pipes. 

where would you rather be 

Cheers Max.

Appreciate all the information from everyone in this thread and via pm been alot of help. Marko.