The Australian Mining website recently published an article on mining employment opportunities that received a lot of controversial feedback. The article discussed the ‘desperate’ need for workers in Western Australia Goldfields region, stating that job vacancies were increasing steadily. However, the article’s plea for workers was contradicted by the comments below the article that questioned the ‘desperation’ of the situation in the fact that it seemed more difficult than ever to obtain a job in the mining sector.
The claims ranged from being overly-skilled to being overlooked in favour of international workers, with experience being the key component. In fact, being qualified but lacking in experience was the dominant complaint.
Because of this seemingly never-ending contradiction of needing experience to get a job but needing a job to get experience, one irate blogger wrote “What these employers must know is that there is no college or uni where experience is taught as a subject. They should just recruit qualified people and give them the experience.”
But what of the rare breed of workers who have the qualifications and the experience? Yes, they are few and far between but their edge in the employment market means that they are being actively pursued, even to the point of employing international workers over local ones. BHP Billiton's chief executive, Marius Kloppers, stated that there was a "massive talent gap" in the mining sector. This extreme skills shortage has resulted in mining groups satisfying their need for workers by employing fly-in fly-out (FIFO) workers.
The popularity of the use of FIFO workers has come under fire by the Australian Workers Union, who criticize it as a short-term solution. There is also a lot of talk about how employing FIFO workers are damaging to rural communities but on the other hand, why should qualified overseas or interstate workers be penalised in this process?
Fortescue Metal’s group manager Deidre Willmott justified the use of FIFO workers by stating that it was nearly three times cheaper to employ a FIFO miner compared with a permanent resident because of the housing costs and allowances.
Ron Mosby (Goldfields-Esperance Workforce Development Alliance president) indicated that the 61 projects currently underway, combined with a further 28 projects starting this year, meant there would be about 10,000 job vacancies in 2012.
However, officials at Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal stated that even entry level jobs were attracting more than 400 applicants so competition is fierce.
Whilst it’s understandable that local candidates want to get a look in, it’s basic business acumen to hire the candidates that fit your criteria to the letter. This is supply and demand at its best.
Perhaps the solution lies in each party re-evaluating their standards. Companies need to invest more in training programs and candidates should seek work experience and internships to add to their academic credentials.
RESEARCHED AND EDITED BY: DANIELLA SERRET
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