How to Get a FIFO Job With No Experience in Australia

01First, separate two different situations

'No FIFO experience' and 'no work experience at all' are very different positions, and employers treat them differently. Many people enter FIFO with solid work history — hospitality, trades, warehousing, cleaning, driving — but have never worked on a mine site. That is a normal and hireable profile.

If you have no work history at all, the honest advice is to build some first. Even six months of consistent employment in any physical or service role materially improves a FIFO application. Requirements vary by employer, role and project — nothing in this guide guarantees employment, and any source that promises otherwise should be treated with caution.

02Realistic entry-level FIFO roles

The most common genuine entry points for people without site experience are:

• Utility / camp services — kitchen hands, cleaners, housekeepers, bar staff and grounds crew at remote camps. These are the largest genuine 'no mining experience' category
• Labouring — general site labour on construction or shutdown crews
• Trade assistant — supporting qualified trades on maintenance or construction scopes
• Drilling offsider — physically demanding exploration drilling support; some employers train the right attitude, many still prefer related experience or tickets
• Shutdown work — short, intensive maintenance shutdowns that regularly take on extra hands

Be sceptical of advertising that promises high pay for unskilled FIFO work with 'no experience, no tickets'. Genuine entry roles exist, but they are competed for, and pay depends on the award, agreement, role and roster.

03What employers will check

Pre-employment screening is standard across the industry and catches many applicants by surprise. Depending on the role and employer, expect some combination of:

• Pre-employment medical and fitness assessment
• Drug and alcohol screening — sites enforce strict policies, often with random ongoing testing
• National police clearance (common for site access and camp roles)
• Right-to-work and identity checks
• Driver's licence checks — many roles require a current licence, some require manual
• Reference checks — FIFO employers place heavy weight on reliability and behaviour in shared camps

04Tickets and licences: what helps, what to skip

A White Card is the baseline for site construction work and is worth having before applying to site roles. Beyond that, do not buy tickets speculatively. Camp services roles often need none. Site roles may value a White Card, first aid, or specific high-risk work licences — but requirements differ by employer, and paying for training before a role asks for it is a common way to waste money.

Before paying for any course, check the actual requirement in job ads you could realistically win, and verify training units on training.gov.au. See our tickets and licences guide for the detail.

05Your resume and application

FIFO resumes are read with two questions in mind: can this person do the work, and can they handle the lifestyle? Cover the first with transferable skills — physical work, customer service, cleaning or kitchen experience, teamwork, procedures. Cover the second by showing you understand rosters, remote living and time away from home, and by presenting a stable, reliable work history.

Keep it to one or two pages, put tickets and licences near the top, include your suburb and phone number, and tailor it to each role. Recruiters processing hundreds of applications spend seconds on the first pass — make the relevant evidence unmissable.

06Where to find FIFO work

Mining companies, contractors and camp services providers all recruit, often through their own careers pages and through recruitment agencies that specialise in resources (for example WorkPac, CoreStaff, Programmed and Hays Resources, among many others). SEEK and Indeed carry large volumes of FIFO listings — set alerts for 'utility', 'camp services', 'trade assistant', 'labourer' and 'offsider' filtered to your state. Listings change daily, so frequency beats volume: check and apply regularly rather than blasting one weekend.

Western Australia and Queensland host the majority of FIFO operations, and many employers prefer or require you to live in the state with the port of departure — read location requirements carefully before applying.

07The interview

FIFO interviews test workability and lifestyle fit in equal measure. Expect questions about working away from home, long shifts, heat, fatigue, following procedures, and how you've handled conflict in shared environments. Prepare honest, specific examples from your real work history.

For a full question bank with example answers and preparation checklists, see our FIFO interview questions guide.

08Rosters and lifestyle: go in clear-eyed

Common rosters include 8 days on / 6 off, 2 weeks on / 1 week off and many variations; shutdown work can be weeks of long days. Camp life means shared facilities, early starts, limited alcohol rules, and distance from family. Some people thrive; some find the first swing genuinely hard.

Ask about the roster, camp facilities, travel arrangements and communication options before accepting — these are normal, expected questions. Fair Work sets baseline entitlements, and site agreements vary; read your offer carefully and check anything you don't understand with the Fair Work Ombudsman.

09Mobilisation: what happens after the offer

Once you accept, expect a mobilisation checklist: medical and D&A screening, police clearance, site inductions, PPE issue, travel itineraries and camp details. Respond to everything quickly — slow paperwork is a common reason start dates slip. Pack light but properly: work clothes, boots if not supplied, toiletries, any medications with documentation, and entertainment for camp nights.

10Common mistakes first-time FIFO applicants make

• Applying only for high-profile operator roles instead of genuine entry points like camp services
• Buying expensive tickets before any employer has asked for them
• A resume that never mentions availability, lifestyle readiness or location
• Ignoring location requirements — many roles require you to reside in a specific state
• Treating the medical, police clearance or D&A screening as a formality
• Accepting a roster without asking about camp conditions, travel and time-off structure