Diggers: Lessons for mining jobseekers from the 2023 forum
After a week at Diggers and Dealers, what insights and advice does MPI’s team have to help mining jobseekers in 2023?
While the focus at Diggers and Dealers is on mining companies, commodities and investments, at the MPI stand in the main hall the spotlight is always squarely on matching good candidates to great jobs.
Our team spent the week talking to people from all across the mining industry, from all over the world, hearing about their challenges and successes in attracting people to work for their companies.
So, what did they learn? And what advice do they have for mining jobseekers in the current market?
Salaries are starting to stabalise
MPI General Manager for Client Services and Major Project Delivery Shane Moore said while the jobs market itself hadn’t changed much in recent times (in the sense that there were still more jobs available than candidates to fill them) mining companies were moving away from competing for talent based on salaries only.
“I think we’ve reached a point where salaries can no longer increase in the way they did over the last 12 months,” he said.
“To be competitive now, it’s about what else can be offered. And it’s not necessarily the health insurance components or the short- or long-term incentives, like bonus payments. It’s more about the things companies can offer onsite. They’re asking what they can do differently to others.”
Shane said jobseekers were now questioning the value of the benefits promised.
“Candidates are asking questions like, ‘how many times has the bonus been hit across the last two years for this particular employer?’ It’s one thing to offer a short-term incentive. However, if it’s outside of the benchmark ability to achieve, then it doesn't mean a thing.”
Mining companies get creative
Shane said mining companies of all sizes were making sure their remote teams had as many of the creature comforts of home as possible, like excellent wi-fi.
He said the big end of town—blue chip mining companies—were offering benefits like camp accommodation where partners can live in the same rooms. But even the smaller companies are getting creative with their offerings.
“Most companies can’t do what they are doing but they’re doing things like regular themed nights onsite, like bringing in chefs for smoked meat nights and slow cooking nights,” he said. “Some of these sites have been on a real culinary journey over the last six months!”
Culture really is centre stage for mining jobseekers
Yesterday we reported that gold mining companies had collectively come up with a strategy to improve their culture in order to attract staff, including recruiting more women and people from diverse backgrounds. MPI’s Mining Engineering Consultant Emma Lewin said culture was now one of the top three questions jobseekers asked about a mining company, even before asking about roster or salary.
Shane agreed. He said the specific questions candidates asked were often very different depending on the role and the discipline of the job.
“It’s common for candidates for technical jobs to ask questions like, ‘what's the longevity of your senior management staff?’ ‘What can they teach and mentor me with?’ ‘How can I grow?’,” he said.
There are plenty of early career opportunities available
The other good news for mining industry jobseekers to come out of Diggers was the investment mining companies are making in entry-level career opportunities.
“A lot more companies are taking the training and development piece a lot more seriously now, and that’s going to have a positive impact on the industry as a whole,” Shane said.
“I watched a presentation today where the company had 100+ apprentices on the go, which is phenomenal considering go back five to seven years ago and that would be one per cent of that number.
“It’s good because it means we’re thinking about five years down the track; we’re not just thinking about the next quarter.”
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