I am a mid-career mechanical engineer, and I am cosnidering a career change with the mining industry as my top area of interest. I have a long held fascination with the industry as my father, an accomplished geologist, worked in the exploration side for many years.
My question for members is this: I would expect there is always a training process for new hires at any company,but for someone who has been out of school for a couple of decades, what essential training, certification work or schooling can one add to their resume or academic background to make them a stronger candidate for employment in this field?
Thanks!
Comments
Hi Eric,
Thanks for your post and question. I think you as being an expereinced mechanical engineer you should be able to move to mining without too many problems. If your CV looks good on the work you have done e.g. expereince gained than I guess 80% is covered. It helps of course on what type of equipment you have worked on. Best woudl be to have good references from th emanagers and clients you have worked for to 'open the door'. When you get to an interview indicate the passion you have and why you want to be working in the mining industry. I am a strong beleiver in a quote I have read some where. ''We hire people on character, skill we will train later''.
Good luck in finding what you are after!
Cheers,
Harald
p.s. please do not forget to join the Group Jobs on this Forum and make yourself known there.
Solid advice Harald. I greatly appreciate the reply. I have to say that for such an important industry, there seem to be very few online forums. Perhaps I'm not looking in the right place though. I have worked around heavy machinery off an on for a while. I spent nearly a decade on commercial sword fishing boats in the North Atlantic and have worked on subsea renewable energy projects with engineered lifts and lots of large equipment in a lethal environment. It's just like they say it is...hours of boredom followed by a few minutes of sheer terror.
At this stage of my career hunt I am simply tryng to understand what roles engineers have in the mining industry, particularly those on site, what their typical days might look like and to an extent, if there is any money to be made. Afterall, a sense of accomplishment is great, but compensation is what keeps you coming back. I am very keen to get out from behind a desk and get into the field as much as possible, and the rotation scenario has great appeal. I'm a Canadian citizen, but live in the US so I'm hoping that can help my cause by opening a few more doors perhaps.
Do you have an opinion about working through a recruiter or working directly with a particular company?
This site is a great resource and I hope other members will be willing to share their advice as well.
Thank you again. Eric
Hi Eric,
On yor comment regarding a mining related on-line forum I also had the same thoughts and started around 10 years ago the Mining Industry Professionals group on LinkedIn to have a 'meeting' place where people in the mining industry share their ideas, knowledge and to assist each other. Unfortunately due to LinkedIn's changes it has turned into a spamming / advertising place on which I can do nothing against. Guess same will eventually happen with the mining related groups on Facebook. That is why I started this independent forum for miners by miners.
Comming back on your question on working through a recruiter or company I suggest doing both.
As a Canadian citizen have you alredy contaced Canadian companies such as Red Path http://www.redpathmining.com/ ?
Other mining contracting companies you can find here: http://cdn2.audiencemedia.com/var/site_352/storage/original/applica...
Alternatively you can search on the various job sites that have mining related jobs such as:
https://ca.indeed.com/Mining-Contractors-jobs
Cheers and good luck hunting!
Harald
Thank you for the links Harald. I have reached out to some Canadaian mining companies, some Canadaian recruiting companies and then companies that may not necessarily be Canadian, but have a presence in that country. I have done the same for American companies as well. I don't quite know the ins and outs of working in Canada, as it may turn out that there are legal/logistical hurdles for me despite my citizenship, but it's certainly worth the time to explore these options.
Eric