Tips For Landing A Good Mining Job By Networking

You’re on the hunt for your next mining role, and looking for exactly the right mining company to work for. Apart from providing us with your resume, here are a few other tips that will help you find, and land, it. First, as we mentioned in another article recently, over half of all jobs are landed, not by spending hours trawling through online search engines and job boards, but by networking! By creating, and using contacts, to find out about all those hidden jobs; in fact, a large % of jobs are never advertised. Could it be because companies know the right candidate will come knocking on their door without them having to do much more than making a few select people know the position is available? By reaching out to contacts in the industry, and contacts of contacts, to reach the hirers and influencers. And so on. Indeed, recruitment authorities frequently tell you that the majority of hiring these days is via ‘friends and acquaintances’ hiring ‘friends and acquaintances. The only way to become one of those ‘friends or acquaintances’ is by networking.

Are You A Worthwhile Product?

However, before you even get to the stage of networking, you have to figure out what you’re selling, and who you want to sell it to. When it comes to job hunting, that product is yourself. ‘The product’ needs to be attractively packaged as well as functional and ‘fit for purpose’. After all, even utilising the most aggressive networking and marketing tactics, you’ll find no one wants to buy a product that is not up to scratch, or not marketed properly. It’s the same deal when job hunting. Here are a few tips on how you can more effectively package and sell yourself.

  • Don’t just rely on job boards and aggregate job search engines. Use them as a stepping-stone to more effective networking and for tailoring your ‘package’ more effectively.
  • If a position is advertised on a job board or comes up in your search engine results, have a look at the wording they’ve used, particularly for the job description. Then tailor your resume accordingly. Use similar key words and phrases, especially in your cover letter and emails to prospective employers.
  • Do your research on the companies you’d like to work for. What qualities are they looking for in their new hires? Make a list of your strengths and figure out how those attributes will directly benefit those companies. Then make sure your emails, letters, and resumes tell them that.
  • Customise your cover letters for each individual company you approach. Don’t just focus on what you’ve done in the past, or your expertise. Tell each company what you can do for them if they hire you.

Treat your job hunt like – well, a job!

If you asked them, some of the most successful job hunters will likely tell you that they went ‘to work’ hunting for work. The keyword here is ‘work’. They approached their search for employment like a job. They set aside a specified amount of time each day to work on finding work and during that time that’s all they did. They methodically put in place a procedure by which they searched, contacted, and applied for jobs. They then refined and repeated this process daily until they landed the job they wanted. Tip – being persistent, proactive, and aggressive in your search for work will pay off. 

It’s Mostly About Networking

Did you know – about 80% of your job hunting time should be spent networking! As we mentioned at the start, it’s the networking that produces the best results most of the time. However, it can take time to build a large network of ‘warm’ contacts so the earlier you start, the more benefits you’ll find your network if or when you need to use it.

  • Compile a list of companies, or people, that you’d like to work for/with
  • Find or connect with people who work in these companies or with the people you want to work for. LinkedIn is, not surprisingly, one of the best places to do this. It has both company and search functions to help you. Use these contacts to find ‘hidden’ jobs or learn about upcoming vacancies before they’re advertised.
  • Find and contact where possible those responsible for making the final hiring decisions for the positions you’re interested in, or find and contact someone who knows them and can bring you to their attention, or at least put in a favourable word on your behalf
  • Aim to aggressively grow your contact list – plan to add at least 100 relevant new contacts to your list every month by door knocking, cold calling, emails (don’t spam though) etc.
  • Once you’ve made these contacts, take the time to build meaningful relationships. Follow up with them – find them on social media platforms like LinkedIn and send them a connect request with a personal message.
  • Try to provide value before asking for help. You can do this by learning more about your connections and taking the opportunity to assist them where you can. It may be something as simple as introducing them to someone in your own network, or recommending a product or service.

Remember Online Applications Attract Vast Numbers Of Applications

Another point you want to bear in mind is that vacancies advertised online usually attract copious numbers of applications. If you’re going down this path, make sure you go above and beyond to ensure yours stands out from the rest. You can do this by networking – create a personal connection as per the tips directly above! After all, exactly the right referral from the right person can greatly increase your chances of getting a particular job, even if there are hundreds of other applications.

Looking for a new job in the mining industry, or interested in what’s out there? Why not get in touch with me and I’ll do my best to find you exactly the right position.