Sonny Shelford is warning fellow Northlanders not to go through recruitment agencies to get jobs in the Australian mining industry.
Sonny Shelford is warning fellow Northlanders not to go through recruitment agencies to get jobs in the Australian mining industry.
A Whangarei tradesman who secured work in Western Australian mines through a recruitment company is advising Northlanders to avoid going to such agencies.
Sonny Shelford was among about half a dozen Northlanders who took up job offers in May, 2011 to work for a new gas plant in Dongara, 351kmnorthwest of Perth. He was recruited by former Kaitaia man Douglas Foster, a director of Reciprocus Pty in Myaree, to fill large numbers of vacancies for skilled tradesmen in the Western Australian mining, oil and gas industries.
Mr Shelford, who has since changed jobs four times and is now working for Chinese-owned Karara Mining north of Perth, said Northlanders keen to work in the mineral sector should fly over and start building contacts with employers.
"Go past the middle men and do your own ground work. It's better to be physically present here than going to a recruitment company at home and leaving your CV. They've [recruitment companies] been very picky in terms of the class of licence people should obtain before going over but people put their lives in their [recruitment companies'] hands thinking they are smarter in this game."
Mr Shelford said those with friends and relatives working in Western Australia had a better chance of securing work, but emphasised they had to be physically present approaching employers rather than relying on phone calls and emails.
He acknowledged the mining boom had slowed down due to dwindling ore sales but said the construction sector was still booming.
When he started in 2011 Mr Shelford said he worked on a "three weeks on, one week off" basis, but his current arrangement was "two weeks on, one week off". "The mining boom has gone but the industry is still operating. It's not barren because when one mine closes, another is cut open," he said.
More than 2000 job seekers attended seminars Reciprocus held in Kaikohe and Ruakaka in May 2012 seeking people to work in Australian mines.
Since then not only has the recruitment failed to materialise, but a planned training of potential workers in New Zealand before they left for WA has not happened either.
Last June Mr Foster urged Northlanders to be patient and wait for the downturn in the mineral resource sector to swing the other way.
