If you’re looking to apply for a role within the Australian mining industry, a mining-specific resume is a must. But how do you write Australian mining resumes when you are a greenie? How you can you increase your chances of getting to the top of the pile and actually getting a mining job?
As one of Australia’s top mining resume services, we’ve been writing mining resumes since 2012. We’ve worked closely with mining industry leaders to gain feedback about what works in a mining resume. Use the below tips to write your mining resume no experience needed.
Here are our tips:
Detail required tickets, licences and experience
When you’re applying for a mining job, the jobs ads tend to be very clear on what they are looking for. Since there are no shortage of applicants for these roles, if you don’t have the required skills and experience, you are unfortunately unlikely to get a look-in.
This means if you are targeting an entry-level mining job, you may not bother applying for a role if they are looking for someone with a particular skillset. Luckily, there are plenty of entry-level mining roles available.
Either way, you should review the job ad carefully and ensure you thoroughly address their requirements. If they ask for a cover letter highlighting your motivation for the role, make sure you follow these guidelines. If they ask for certain tickets, ensure you refer to these within your resume and cover letter. Attention to detail really matters when it comes to mining resumes!
A focus on safety
It’s well known that mining organisations have a strong emphasis on safety. In fact, when organisations use Applicant Tracking Software (ATS), and most of them do, keywords relating to safety are almost guaranteed to be included. Your commitment to safety and willingness to abide by the mining company’s safety policies and procedures should absolutely be highlighted in your resume.
Some ways you can do this include:
- Highlight relevant safety training and courses you have completed;
- Detail safety-related duties in each of your roles (while it may seem obvious to you, mentioning your completion of Take 5s, toolbox talks and SWMs will be show you value these tasks);
- Identify and emphasise accomplishments which indicate your safety focus e.g. times you have recognised safety issues and addressed them. Consider using this XYZ method to frame them.
Use a stand-out (but ATS-friendly!) design (isolation effect)
We’ve had feedback from jobseekers using plainer, black and white style resumes as well as more colourful, stand-out designs. The verdict is in – mining employers tend to prefer bolder, more stand-out designs. This is in contrast to other industries like government which tend to prefer plainer resume designs.
Why might mining employers prefer more stand-out designs? Well, typically mining resumes go through two screening phases. The first phase is the Applicant Tracking Software (ATS). This is where a computer system automatically scans every applicant’s resume and cover letter and decides, based on keywords, whether that resume should be assessed further, or simply rejected.
This is where the above points (i.e. ensuring you have included relevant skills and experience) come in. It’s also important you have an ATS-friendly design (hint: avoid text boxes and complicated visual elements).
The next phase is where the resume is viewed by an actual person (hooray!). However, there will still likely be dozens (if not more) of applicants the person has to assess, all of whom have indicated having the required skills, experience and keywords to get through the ATS software.
So, who will the person select? A psychological phenomenon called the Isolation Effect suggests that when one item differs from multiple similar objects, the one item that differs will be more likely to be remembered. So, by including a resume design that stands out will likely stand you in good stead to be remembered.
You can do this effectively through strategic use of colour and design (check out our styles for some inspiration and mining resumes inspiration!).
Write a strong mining cover letter
Make sure to have a strong mining cover letter to accompany your mining resume. This is an area newbies often forget. A professional mining cover letter template can get you started.
So if you’re applying for a mining job in Australia, whether it be in Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales or elsewhere, spend some time writing your mining resume no experience needed. Increase your chance of finally securing that mining role you’ve been wanting!
Read our general Australian resume writing guide.
Our expert mining resume writers can help. Contact us for a quote.
