The FIFO Interview Pack: pass the phone screen, the trade questions and the interview

You got the call. Now don't lose it in the next fifteen minutes.

For trade and operator roles, the recruiter often reads you a short list of technical questions written by the supervisor, with the key words they want to hear next to each one. The recruiter usually isn't a tradie. They tick whether you said the words. If you know the job but don't say the words, you get marked down.

This pack shows you what's on those lists, and what a good answer has in it.

Inside:

• How the phone screen really works, from the side of the desk that asks the questions
• The knock-out questions: availability, point of hire, tickets, medical, right to work
• Trade and operator competency questions for 14 roles: trades assistant, utility, plant operator, HD fitter, mechanical fitter, electrician, boilermaker, scaffolder, rigger and dogman, crane operator, instrument tech, underground entry, camp cook. Each one shows what they're listening for, a good answer and the answer that loses it
• The five-step answer shape that works for any technical question
• Behaviour questions ("tell me about a time"), with model answers
• The awkward ones: gaps, short jobs, being let go, old injuries
• Pay and roster questions, and your own questions to ask
• After the call: references, the medical, and how long to wait
• A practice sheet that saves your answers, and a one-page cheat sheet for when the phone rings

Opens in any browser on your phone or laptop, plus a print-ready PDF.

Written by The Hiring Desk: twenty years in HR across Australian mining and construction, most of it on the hiring side.

General information from industry experience. Not a guarantee of an interview or a job.