verystormy

Thats a good age. You will be surprised how many mature students there are doing geology and at uni generaly.

And contrary to what some might say, actually a lot of employers love older geo's. In fact most companies will take one over a young kid. The reason is that this industry is now all about safety and most of the incidents we see are things like a young 22 year old driving too fast and comming a croper. Older geo's are thought to be a bit more sensible.

Also, older grads dont only have their degree but also a lot of life experience that can help in the job.

In mining new goe's are often left managing a rig. But its hard on a 21 year old to manage a big sweaty driller who is in his 40's. But older grads take to it better.

laven

verystormy, thanks for such an encouragement.. I hope there will be some mature age students.. teenagers all scare me))

verystormy

You get used to them.

I am sure you will get on well and hey, if you get stuck with assignments you can always turn to your friendly local geo!

If you want to meet and have a chat over a coffee i am happy to help out. And once you have started if you wanted some work experience i am sure i could help out.

laven

really?? oh thanks for that, I live regional now, but will move to Perth in Januray-February.. I saw youe email on the forum, so can I email you?

verystormy

By all means email me. I am near Mandurah if you ever want to catch up, though do go into Perth occaisionaly to get my city fix.

laven

Thanks again, will do. We live in the south, mount pleasant, shall be not too far from Mandurah I think (or maybe it is a bit far - I dont really know Perth and surrounding area).

verystormy

I am about 100km south of you

laven

it is quite far, right. before I thought we were a bit closer to Mandurah, ok then..

So.. hope we will be able to catch up later))

Greystoke

Hi guys,
Excellent reading, especially what you've got to say Very Stormy. I'm a kiwi geo who has been working in Contaminated Land for five years and am currently taking a year out working the UK.
We are thinking about heading to WA later this year and what you say is pretty much the same as all my old uni-mates in WA are saying - the place is booming. I won't be doing CL if we come out as I want to do mining/exploration which is what I originally went to uni for before I got side-tracked. My wife has a geology degree too, although she has never used it. I would like to think that she would be able to find some Perth based work in geology when we go out there as she is also a true rock-lover and much smarter than me.
Stormy - could you suggest to me what kind of salary I should be pitching for? Five years in contaminated land with a lot of project management and planning, client facing, Health, Safety and Environmental focus, drill-rig supervision, project budgeting and finance and keen/happy to do the field yards and the shift work to get the right money? Would people be happy to take me on for exploration even though I'm coming from an environmental background? Sorry if you've already answered some of these questions for others earlier in the thread...
Anyway, thanks for the interesting reading guys.
One last question - How old are you Weebie and what will/are/did you study(ing) at uni?
Cheers.

laven

http://www.hays.com.au/salary/output...010-AU_res.pdf

have a look here. So many geologists from the UK

verystormy

Hi Greystoke

Sorry for my late reply, but i only come on the site when i am at work and just flew back after christmas break today.

I dont think you will have any difficulty in picking up work as a geo here. My guess is that you will find it easier to pick up work in exploration rather than mining as exploration is easier with limited expereince in metaliferous work.

You mention you have drill rig supervision and this should be highlighted, though the rig type might not be the same. Here we tend to use diamond, RC and AC / RAB. Do spend time talking on your CV about safety and your awareness and any skills that you have. Companies here are very big on this.

Although you have a fair bit of contaminated land experience it wont count too much towards exploration so you can probably expect a salary in the lower orders initialy, though i would expect most companies to fast track you. So my guess is you should be able to pick up work earning about $90 - 100k per year based on doing either campaign based work which is office based in the city with occaisional field trips or doing 1 week on one off roster. Longer rosters do pay more and a 2:1 would get you about $100-120k.

As a guide, gold tends to pay less but is more interesting and iron ore the most but is the least interesting work. But bear in mind that gold is considered rightly or wrongly the best start to a career.

Greystoke

Thanks for that Very Stormy - great information. We are thinking about heading down around October time. How much lead time should I give to get a job sorted? Not sure how far in advance companies would hire and also, is it likely that they would hire based on phone or skype interviews (i.e. while I'm still in the UK) or would I really need to get to Perth in order to secure a job? I'm guessing you have some experience on this one so any comments would be greatly appreciated!
Cheers.

verystormy

There would be no harm in having a go at companies while in the UK and if you succeed you will probably get re location assistance. We moved from the UK with our costs paid for by the company i was comming to work for. So have a look through seek.com and infomine.com a bit closer to the time when you want to come over. It might not work with your experience level, but no harm in trying and i know several new grads who have secured work while in the UK.

Perthflyer

Privet

Just to echo everyone's comments: a Geology degree is a good way to go in Perth: plenty of opportunities and a massive shortage

All I'd say is do something that you are passionate about and you will be fine

Udachi tebe

laven

privet:-)

there is a significantly increased number of geology students in Aus already.. Seems like this shortage is being filled fast enough plus very cyclical job demand, future may not be all that rosy but again as many people in this thread piointed out there are lots of related occupations. Hopefully I will be fine.

thanks.