Want to know if there are any part-time jobs available in the mining industry? Here's what you need to know.
When people imagine mining jobs they probably picture people working FIFO rosters spanning weeks and not people working part-time in offices.
But the mining industry in Australia is incredibly diverse and there are opportunities for people to find employment in mining, even if their life circumstances aren’t suited to disappearing to a mine site for a week or two at a time.
That diversity includes part-time mining jobs.
What sorts of part-time mining jobs exist?
Some of these roles are genuine part-time mining jobs, others are job-share arrangements that might otherwise be done by a single person.
Most of these roles are based in offices, often in administration, rather than on mine sites – although there are certainly some part-time roles on mine sites in and around residential mining communities. Many companies offer employment on a “family-friendly roster”
MPI’s Managing Consultant for Workforce Perth, Stephanie Logan, said part-time roles can take many different forms.
“There are companies such as BHP who offer flexible working to employees which can come in different forms such as job sharing, Newmont Boddington have a “Hot Seaters” program where parents (usually locals) relive Operators during school hours to reduce the downtime of mobile plant equipment,” she said.
Here’s a little more about the Boddington ‘hot seaters’!
RELATED: Women in mining: just how supportive is our industry?
What kind of person would suit a part-time mining job?
What type of candidate are mining companies looking for to fill part-time mining jobs? That’s a tricky question to answer, Stephanie said.
“It varies depending on the company and the role,” she said.
“There seems to be more chatter around having opportunities for women returning to the workforce, and part-time and job-sharing roles are a great way to do that. Flexible work hours are also a great way to keep people with a lot of knowledge but looking to reduce hours if they are looking at retirement or have other commitments that have come up.”
How do I get a part-time job in the mining industry?
Stephanie said part-time jobs could be created because someone already working in a company wants to work fewer hours, for whatever reason.
But new roles are also regularly advertised and you can also find out about them by contacting your industry networks to see if anyone knows of anything available. Certainly, the team at MPI can help.
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