FreeWould you pass the FIFO screen? Twelve questions from the hiring side, a score out of 100. Take the 2-minute check →
Worker in a hard hat standing in front of a haul truck in an open-cut mine

Want a FIFO or construction job?
Ask the person who hires.

Most FIFO and construction job advice is written by someone who did a few swings. This is written by the HR manager who read your application and binned it, or didn’t. Twenty years on the hiring side of Australian mining and construction.

I’m in AustraliaTake the free 2-minute readiness check→ I’m coming from overseasThe order that gets you hiredNew: Construction is Priority 1→

Already applying and getting nowhere? Get your CV screened →

20 years on the hiring side~10,000 CVs readA FIFO household of my own

30 secis all your CV gets on the first pass
20 yrsin HR, hiring for mining and construction
~10,000CVs read on the hiring side, give or take
3 daysto get your CV back, screened and rewritten
Binned in 30 seconds
No point of hireTickets on page 2“Hardworking team player”Public FacebookGaps with no explanationSix pagesA photo“General duties as required”No expiry datesJoke email address

Where are you at right now?

Pick the one that sounds like you. I’ll show you what I’d fix first.

No tickets, no experienceStart with the doors that actually take beginners. It isn’t the big miners.Start here → Tickets, but no callbacksIt’s usually the top third of your CV. Two minutes to find out.Take the check → I’ve got a tradeYou’re who sites want. Most tradies still apply the wrong way.Apply properly → I’m coming from overseasSame hiring desk, different first step. Construction is now Priority 1.Your order → I want an apprenticeshipSchool leaver or mature-age. How it works, and how to get picked.Get a trade → Office and professional rolesSite admin, engineering and accounts. Same sites, a different screen.See the roles →
What actually happens to your application

It is not read. It is screened.

Thirty seconds, often less, with sixty more behind it. The screener is scanning for four things: can you legally and physically do the roster, have you got the tickets the ad listed, have you been on a live site, and are you going to be a problem. If those four are not in the top third of page one, you are in the maybe pile, and the maybe pile is where applications go to die.

Then, before anyone rings you, someone opens your Facebook. You will never be told this was the reason.

What the scan looks for → The socials check → Why you are not getting callbacks →

The 30-second screenwhat I check, in order
  • 0–5sCan you legally do the roster? Licence, right to work, point of hire.
  • 5–12sThe tickets the ad named. Not every ticket. Those ones.
  • 12–22sHave you been on a live site? Labour hire, farm, shutdowns, anything industrial.
  • 22–30sAre you going to be a problem? Gaps, tone, and later, your Facebook.
  • 30sAny one missing from the top third of page one: maybe pile.
Question 1 of 12

I would pass a drug and alcohol screen if it were tomorrow.

YesNot yet, but I know whenNo
Your answer carries over. Eleven more, two minutes, score out of 100 at the end. Free.
Start here

Where to start

Start free. Go as deep as you need. Everything here is written from the other side of the desk.

Free

The readiness check

Twelve questions, the same ones I would be asking about you on the hiring side. Two minutes.

  • Your score out of 100
  • Your red flags, named
  • What to fix first, before you spend a dollar
  • Starter checklist and FIFO CV template
Take the check → Most people start here
A$49

How to Get Into FIFO (and get asked back)

The whole way in, written by the person who reads the applications. Now with the Employer Map.

  • New: the Employer Map. 50 places to apply, by state, and which door to knock on first
  • How the 30-second screen really works
  • The A$2–3k ticket budget and what to buy first
  • Your way in by starting point: no tickets, trade, labour hire, camp services
  • The CV, the interview, the first-swing rules and a 30-day plan
Get the guide · A$49 →Secure checkout · card or PayPal · instant download
A$179

The Hiring-Side CV Review

Send your CV and the job you’re chasing. I read it the way I would at work, then tell you what to fix.

  • The thirty-second verdict
  • The bin list and the gap list
  • A rewritten screen block
  • Back in three business days, every one read by me
  • Or just the top third: A$79. Or done for you: A$279
How the review works →

Already in and want the roster, pay and LAFHA detail? The Fly-In Fly-Out companion, A$67.

Look inside · How to Get Into FIFO

Eleven chapters, in the order you’ll need them.

Eleven chapters, written from the hiring side. Opens in any browser, works offline, ticks off as you go and keeps your progress. Print PDF included. Plus the Employer Map and an application tracker.

  1. How the 30-second screen really works
  2. The ticket budget, with a planner that does the maths
  3. Your way in, by where you are starting from
  4. The CV, the phone screen and the interview
  5. Your first swing, and the camp rules nobody writes down
  6. The readiness check and your 30-day plan
  7. The Employer Map: 50 places to apply, and a tracker
A$49Get the guide →Read chapter 2 freeSecure checkout · card or PayPal · instant download, yours to keep. General information, not a job guarantee.
The FIFO guide open in a browser, showing the cover and chapter list
The FIFO guide on a phone, chapter two: how the screen really works
The Employer Map filtered to WA, showing labour hire and mining contractor cards with careers links
Find your first door: three questions, then the order to apply in
Included with the guide

Fifty places to apply. And which door to knock on first.

Everyone sends their CV to the same five mining companies. The jobs you can actually get first are usually somewhere else. The map shows you where.

  • 1
    Find your first doorThree questions about where you're starting from. It tells you which type of employer to try first, second and third.
  • 2
    Every state, every typeCamp services, labour hire, contractors, the big operators, construction and apprenticeships. Filter by WA, QLD, NT, NSW, SA, VIC or TAS.
  • 3
    A tracker that tells you when to follow upAdd employers in one tap. Mark an application sent and it reminds you a week later. Excel version included.
Get the guide + map · A$49 →Read chapter 2 freeOne price: the guide, the Employer Map, the tracker and both print PDFs. Public careers pages, checked October 2026. Not a list of vacancies or a referral.
Before you pay anyone for FIFO help

Including me. Here’s what to check.

There are courses, packages, groups and resume services out there, some costing more than your first round of tickets. Hold every one of them, and me, to the same five questions.

What to watch forThe Hiring Desk
Who wrote it?Someone who did a few swings can tell you about camp. Not why you got binned.The person who reads the applications. Twenty years, close to 10,000 CVs.
Can you see inside first?If not, ask why.Yes. Chapter 2 is free, no email needed.
Does it promise a job?If it does, walk away. Nobody legitimate can.Never. It shows you what the screen wants. The rest is on you.
What does it cost to start?Packages can run to hundreds, some near two thousand.Free check, then A$49. Less than one ticket.
CV help: written or screened?A nicer rewrite doesn’t fix experience hidden on page two.Screened by a recruiter, then fixed. A$179.
Checked

The long version: before you pay for a FIFO course, package or resume service.

Front-end loader carrying a bucket of red dirt on a mine site
I’ve watched new starters get quietly not asked back after one swing. And I’ve watched others still there ten years later, house paid off. It starts with how you get in.
The Hiring Desk
The CV I see every week

Jake, 34. Eight years civil. Fifty applications, no calls.

Every ticket the ad asked for. Eight years on live sites. And a CV that hid all of it. Same man, same experience, two different top thirds. Jake is made up. The problems are real.

What the screener saw Binned

Hardworking and reliable team player with strong communication skills seeking a new challenge in the mining industry.

says nothing. every CV says this.

2017 – present · Labourer
General labouring duties as required.

8 yrs of plant, traffic, heights — hidden

Tickets & certifications → page 2

never got there
What it says now Shortlisted

JAKE [SURNAME] · Trade Assistant / Civil Labourer · Baldivis WA

Point of hire: Perth · Any roster from 1 Nov · Australian citizen

all four answered in 5 seconds

Tickets: White Card · Working at Heights (exp 03/27) · Confined Space (exp 03/27) · EWP · C class · First Aid (exp 08/27)

Site: 8 yrs civil, roads and drainage, metro and regional WA. Plant spotting, traffic management, trenching, confined space entry on live sites.

Verdict: passes with changes. Apply this week. Nothing to buy. The whole problem was the top third of page one.


Put your CV on my desk · A$179 See all three examples →
Site access · Hiring side
Illustrated portrait of The Hiring Desk
The Hiring Desk
Senior HR Professional
Industry
Mining & construction
Side of desk
The one that hires
Rosters lived
2:1 · 4:1 · 6:1 · 8:6
Who is The Hiring Desk

I’m the person who reads your application.

20years in HR across Australian mining and construction
~10,000CVs read on the hiring side
1FIFO household of my own, onshore and offshore

Most of those twenty years have been on the hiring side, inside some of the country’s biggest companies. I’ve sat in the room where FIFO candidates get shortlisted and binned. I’ve seen the medicals that fail and the new starters who quietly aren’t asked back.

Everything on this site comes from what I see screening applications every day, not from the internet and not from someone who did a few swings.

I still work in the industry, so I write as The Hiring Desk. Nothing here is about any one employer. It’s how the whole industry screens and hires, from someone still inside it.

  • No recruiting
  • No job promises
  • No employer named
  • Straight from the screening desk

The Hiring DeskSenior HR Professional · The Hiring Desk

Free, straight away

The FIFO starter checklist and the CV template

One page of what to fix before you apply, which tickets first, where to apply and the first-swing rules. Plus the FIFO CV template in Word with the recruiter’s screen block already laid out. Join the list and both are yours now.

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. See our Privacy Policy.

Coming from overseas?

Same hiring desk. A different first step.

If you’re a tradie in the UK, Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand or the US, the screen bins you in five seconds for things that have nothing to do with your trade. And since 19 September 2026, construction and resources are top priority for skilled visa processing.

The order that gets you hired →
The six steps, in orderfree Construction is now Priority 1news FIFO from Overseas bundleA$149 Settling-in guides by countryA$97
Questions

Straight answers

I have no experience and no tickets. Where do I start?
Take the free readiness check first; it tells you what to fix before you spend a dollar. Then the A$49 guide: which tickets to buy first on a A$2–3k budget, the doors that actually open for green applicants (labour hire, contractors, camp services, traineeships), the CV, the interview and the first-swing rules. Start with the posts on getting in with no experience and which tickets first if you want a taste.
Is the Employer Map a list of jobs?
No. It is a map of who hires: 50 employers, labour hire firms, camp services companies and official apprenticeship pages, sorted by state and type, each with its public careers page and the search words to use. Jobs change daily, so you check the ads yourself. What the map gives you is the order to apply in and a tracker to keep on top of it. It is not a referral, and no employer on it has paid to be there.
Can you look at my CV?
Yes. That is the Hiring-Side CV Review, A$179. You send your CV and the job you are chasing; within three business days you get it back marked up the way it lands on a hiring desk, with the thirty-second verdict, the bin list, the gap list, a rewritten screen block and a straight call on whether to apply now. It is not a resume-writing service and I cannot refer you into a job.
Who are you, and why no name?
A senior HR professional with twenty years in HR across Australian mining and construction, most of it on the hiring side, still working in it. That is exactly why there is a pen name: nothing here is about any one employer, and I do not recruit for anyone through this site. What you get is how the whole industry screens and hires, from someone still inside it.
I’m overseas. Where do I start?
With your right to work, sorted through a registered migration agent (check them at mara.gov.au). I don’t give visa advice. After that, the hiring side is the same for everyone, with a few extra traps for overseas CVs. The order that gets you hired from overseas.
Is this legal, migration or financial advice?
No. It is general information from industry experience, and no guarantee of an interview or a job. Employer requirements and site procedures always take priority over anything written here.
Got a question I haven’t answered?Your application, a ticket, a roster, the medical. I answer the most useful ones for the email list and the blog, names taken out.
Ask the Hiring Desk →

Get in. Get asked back.

Take the free check. Get the guide when you are ready to apply. When the CV is the thing between you and a callback, get it screened by the person who would be screening it.

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