Hi everyone,

Hoping you can offer some help or advice. Me (31yrs old) and my girlfriend (31yrs old) are planning to move to Cairns in January and after some advice regarding work. Im currently a plumbing and heating engineer in Manchester, prior to this I worked in the golf course construction industry operating plant machinery, finishing work and irrigation. My girlfriend has a background in travel and tourism.
I am hoping to find construction work and am also interested in working out on the mines in QLD on a FIFO basis. Would anyone be able to point me in the right direction for such positions. The research I have done seems to indicate companies won't touch you if you have no experience. I'm a hardworking and enthusiastic individual and willing to give anything a go, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks everyone

I read about this in the local Cairns paper last week...a dedicated FIFO coordinator to be based here.

http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/ne...ased-in-cairns

Out of interest, why Cairns?
You need to be very aware that the job situation in Cairns at the moment is pretty tough. Because of its almost total dependence on tourism, it is suffering greatly from the GFC. On top of that, Yasi has further damaged tourism.
My understanding of mine work is that it can be very hard to get into unless you know someone.
When in January.are you arriving? Recruitment generally very quiet in January.

SS is right. The unemployment in Cairns was terrible - we had to leave as we just couldn't get anything that lasted - even bar and shop work etc isn't easy. Try somewhere else.

Thanks for the info guys, we were thinking cairns because we have never been there. The other option is Perth, any thoughts??
cheers

Cairns or Perth, ooh what a choice. Is there a 3rd option ?

Well I dont think it has the unemloyment issues that Cairns has.

You would probably die of boredom though

......or, perhaps, the poison in the air judging by many of the posts from perth on this forum

Wow, some interesting responses there! Where would you guys recommend then? We're looking for somewhere with good employment prospects, reasonable weather and rents, and friendly people and stuff to do
cheers

Southern England?

Where do you fancy? Do what you want to do. There is no point getting opinions on an internet forum on this topic, one person could say Perth is great and the next says it isn't. The friendly people of Australia have not congregated in one city BTW.

Interesting about Cairns. Must be the high dollar? I wonder about other tourist towns. My feeling is that when it comes to employment it's better to go to a bigger city because small towns can be so cliquey.

Avoid any town without industry. Anything dependent on tourism in Qld is really struggling. The tourist numbers are way down so shops and restaurants are closing. Getting work is very tough as it's friends, locals, Aussies and then immigrants. To the OP look at Perth or Brisbane? You could FIFO from either to mines if you lucky enough to get in.

Good advice about industry, and I think the order of employing people like you say could be anywhere really. People always trust those they know first and work out to strangers.

What about Tasmania?

My son works in the mines down there in Queenstown with no previous experience, mind you he did know "somebody" who helped him get in.

I believe the weather is very much like the UK, so if it's a tropical climate you are after, Tassie won't be for you.