Surprising 'entry-level' FIFO job paying up to $80 per hour: 'Super easy to get'

Yahoo

26-01-2025

A FIFO recruiter has revealed the surprising job that can pay up to $80 per hour. There are plenty of ways to pull in big paydays in the mines, but many require a trade or speciality before you head up there.
If you don't have either of those but still want to make some decent money, you can work as a bus driver. Recruiter Alana Mohi told Yahoo Finance that it all depends on where you go.
"Bus drivers can still quite easily go and earn $110,000... it's definitely doable to go out there and get a job," she said.
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"It's classified as an entry-level job, because you need a little bit of experience, obviously, but all you need is your HR driver's license and the PTD authorisation."
The PTD is a passenger transport driver authorisation, which is an annual necessity if you want to drive passengers for "hire or reward".
Mohi said the salary can range for bus drivers from company to company and can go over the $80 per hour mark if you're doing night shifts.
According to Indeed, the average base rate for a bus driver in Australia is $36 per hour.
There are dozens of jobs available at the moment across the country for this profession, and one advert gave a taste of what a regular day looks like.
"You will play a key role in safely transporting passengers to and from the village, mine site, and airport, ensuring safety and reliability," it said.
"You'll be working an 11-hour shift on a 2:1 roster (2 weeks on, 1 week off)."
In addition to driving the bus, you'll also be required to:
Conduct daily vehicle inspections to ensure safety and cleanliness, and
Support the village team with secondary tasks when required
Jess Riches moved from the UK to get a job in the mines and wound up driving buses.
She said she loved the job but warned that the summertime heat was "no joke".
To get her role, she got her White Card, which is a standard and mandatory authorisation allowing you to be on a construction site, as well as her first aid, and police check.
The UK native urged people with no experience driving buses to do training at MIRO in Perth before applying.
The W1N W1N Recruitment founder said that getting into the FIFO realm can be difficult if you don't know where to start or what route to take.
But she added that bus driving can be a great entry point that allows you to move into other parts of a mine site.
"I wouldn't go out there saying, 'Every bus driver's earning this' because some of them are on shorter swings, or they're doing mostly the utility side of it," Mohi told Yahoo Finance.
"But even one of the bus driving jobs that I was in, I was operating like a skip truck and stuff like that, and was clearing well over $130,000 so that's not hard to do.
"Bus driving is one of the best jobs for somebody wanting an entry-level job and they'll generally put you on the smaller busses before you go into the big 56-seaters or bigger than that.
"But it's super easy to get one of those jobs."
She said that one of the biggest advantages of the gig was being in an air-conditioned vehicle away from the bulk of the heat.Sign in to access your portfolio