Your Mining Resume Must Reflect the Competitiveness of the Industry 

Demand for mining services is up 43.6 per cent year-on-year. Illustrating the gradual shift from owner-operator sites to contract-managed mine sites, mining services now hold a 21.7 per cent share of industry opportunities, up from 17.3 per cent when DFP started reporting in November 2013. But the DFP Mining and Resources Index still shows the long distance between the state of the industry in boom times and now, with job opportunities in WA at 72.04 per cent of where they were in late 2013.

The outlook is good for engineers, with vacancies for engineering trades and technicians recording the seventh month of growth in the past eight months, rising to levels not seen since June 2014. It backs up figures presented by Engineers Australia showing there had been a 50 per cent increase in opportunities for engineers in WA since April 2016. According to EA, 188 mining engineer jobs were available in WA in April 2018.

This all means that advertised jobs will be popular with typical response rates in the 100s. To ensure your skills are properly recognised, your resume must perfectly encapsulate your qualities, qualifications, and achievements.

How to Make Your Mining Resume Shine

Writing a resume for the mining industry can be a daunting task irrespective of whether you are an entry-level candidate or a seasoned mine-site professional. Competition in the industry is fierce, and you have to make your resume stand out from the crowd to be in with a chance at landing an interview.

There are certain elements that must appear on mining resumes – and in a certain order – that are different from other industries. If you fail to address these conventions, you may find you do not make it past the 15-second rule of the initial assessment. And this could be despite you being an ideal candidate.

Essential Details

The most important details on your mining resume should be within the body of your career summary and include your trade, your length of service (if any), your highest qualification and your professional strengths. You should also not your commitment to safety, your physical fitness, your willingness to work FIFO, and a commitment to ongoing professional development.

Then, formally list your qualifications, tickets and licences, including any courses you are currently taking.

Your transferable, or soft skills, should be highlighted. These can be highly valuable for an entry-level candidate, but irrespective of experience should be listed. These are your non-industry specific skills which are nonetheless essential qualities that hiring managers are looking for. They include:

• Written and verbal communication skills across a range of personnel from team members to senior staff, contractors, other trades and in some cases, external stakeholders
• Your ability to work calmly and decisively under pressure
• Your ability to work within a team, or with little or no supervision
• Your ability to analyse a problem logically before taking action
• Your commitment to further study
• Your ability to be self-reflective in order to improve your overall efficiency and effectiveness
• Your commitment to safe working practices

Your Work History

Obviously, as with any resume, a mining resume needs a chronological work history. But with the nature of mining work, there are often short contracts and sub-contracts. It is imperative that you list the projects you worked on, together with a brief outline of the type of mine and the particular part of that project – some larger projects are extremely multi-faceted and are on multiple locations, so please be specific.

Key Responsibilities and Achievements

Your list of duties should be comprehensive but not exhaustive. It is more important to list your principal job requirements rather than a long list of absolutely everything you do – remember your list of licences and tickets will give the HR Manager a good clue as to the scope of your duties, so just concentrate on the ones that are relevant to the role(s) you are targeting.

Next, highlight one or two key achievements – specific examples where you have used your skills and experience to bring about a positive outcome. Be very specific here in terms of machinery, location, circumstance, etc. Hirer’s love to see these personal examples and they help immeasurably to give a more rounded idea of you as an individual.

Summary

Your mining resume is a vital tool in securing your job in a vibrant and highly competitive industry. It’s so important that you set it out properly and ensure your skills, experience, qualifications, and commitment are highlighted in a way that gets you noticed.

Are you seeking a resume writing service? Select Resumes can provide this service to you at the highest standard. Select Resumes also offers dedicated selection criteria writers to give you the help that you need for even the most complex government job applications. Once you have secured your interview, talk to us about our experienced and passionate interview skills coaches so that you can feel more confident at your next job interview.