How to Get Into FIFO (and Get Asked Back): Guide + Employer Map

Sending FIFO applications into a black hole? Here is what is actually happening on the other side of the desk, and how to fix it.

Written by a senior HR professional with twenty years in HR across Australian mining and construction, most of it on the hiring side, with close to ten thousand CVs read, from a FIFO household of her own, on two-and-one, four-and-one, six-and-one and eight-and-six rosters, onshore and offshore. I still work in HR in the industry, which is why I write as The Hiring Desk. Nothing here is about any one employer; it is how the whole industry screens and hires.

This is the entry playbook nobody on the worker side can write: what the recruiter's thirty-second screen filters on, the fact that they check your Facebook and Instagram before they ring you, the two-to-three thousand dollar ticket budget and which tickets to buy first, the back doors in when you have no experience, and the unwritten rules of your first swing that decide whether you get asked back.

Want to see inside first? Chapter 2, How the screen really works, is free to read in full at australiaready.com.au/sample-chapter. No email needed.

NEW: THE EMPLOYER MAP

Most people send their CV to the same five mining companies and decide FIFO is a closed shop. They are knocking on the hardest door first. The Employer Map now comes with the guide:

• 50 places to apply across WA, QLD, NT, NSW, SA, VIC and TAS: camp and site services, labour hire, mining contractors, the big operators, construction and civil, and the official apprenticeship pages
• Find your first door: answer three questions and it tells you which type of employer to try first, second and third
• The search words to use and the careers page for each one
• An application tracker that reminds you to follow up a week after you apply (Excel version included)
• Templates: decode the ad, the top of your CV, the follow-up message, and what to say to labour hire

The map lists public careers pages, checked October 2026. It is not a list of current vacancies or a referral, and no employer on it is affiliated with Australia Ready.

WHAT'S INSIDE THE GUIDE

• How the recruiter's screen really works, including the social media check
• The ticket budget: what to buy first, what to skip, how to check a provider is real, with an interactive budget planner
• Your way in by starting point: no tickets, qualified but no callbacks, mature-age apprenticeships and traineeships, moving to the regions, labour hire, and if you have a trade
• The CV that gets a call in thirty seconds, and where to actually apply (not just the big operators)
• The phone screen and interview, and the one safety answer that matters
• Your first swing: the mistakes that end people, in the order they end them (drama, sick days, drugs and what you leave in your room, the camp bar, harassment, the airport, other people's laundry)
• Camp rules nobody writes down: crib room, laundry, quiet hours
• Looking after yourself: routine, the "why", and who to call
• A 12-question readiness check with a score and flags, and a 30-day plan
• A verify-it-yourself chapter with every official source

Opens in any browser, works offline, progress saves on your device. Print-friendly PDFs of the guide and the Employer Map included.

HOW TO OPEN

You get a small ZIP file. On a computer: unzip it and double-click "How to Get Into FIFO.html" and "The Employer Map.html"; they open in any browser, no install. On a phone: the print PDFs inside the ZIP are the easiest way to read them. Your download link also arrives by email, so you can open it on any device later.

WHO IT'S FOR

Anyone trying to get into FIFO or resources work in Australia: no experience, a fresh ticket or trade and no callbacks, or a first swing booked and a wish not to stuff it up. Australian residents and working-visa holders alike. If you are overseas and need a visa, only a registered migration agent can advise on that; this guide does not.

General information from industry experience, not legal, financial, medical or migration advice, and not a guarantee of employment. Employer requirements and site procedures always take priority.