FIFO Jobs Melbourne

Are there FIFO jobs in Melbourne?

Fly in fly out jobs from Melbourne: the ads that say so

Fly in fly out jobs from Melbourne are the ones whose ad says so, and two of September's did. Iluka was hiring a project coordinator on a "Family friendly 8:6 roster - FIFO from Melbourne", eight days on and six off; an agency's village manager ad was "FIFO from Melbourne or Adelaide". Two more were listed in Melbourne without naming a departure city: a site administrator for wind farms in north Queensland and South Australia, on 19:9 with "Melbourne training before FIFO", and Techforce's plant operators on 2:1, also in South Australia.

Then there are the ads with no home airport. Emeco's auto electrician ad offered a 2:2 roster, a fortnight on and a fortnight off, "from any capital city in Australia". That line is the one a Melbourne tradesperson is looking for, because the employer pays for every flight.

No site experience, in Melbourne

The entry-level ads among September's Melbourne listings were drilling. One recruiter's ad for driller's offsiders, headed "Entry Level", offered "a real start in drilling" and "FIFO roles across the country" on 2:1 or 4:2. It said the job plainly: "It's hard, dirty, remote and physically demanding." A second recruiter's offsider ad had "Relocate to WA" in the title, which is the honest version of a lot of entry-level FIFO for a Victorian: the job is real, and it starts somewhere else.

The other entry-level ads were sales. Two sales firms put "FIFO" in their ads, one with a 2:1 roster and paid travel, and their own websites describe face-to-face fundraising and sales, not mining. Read the industry line before the roster line.

The Laverton trap

Search FIFO in Melbourne and the boards return Laverton, which looks like the suburb off the Princes Freeway. It isn't. MACA's site administrator ad, filed under "Laverton, Melbourne VIC", was for the Dingo Range Gold Project on an 8:6 roster from Perth, and a gold miner's haul truck ad at "Laverton VIC" was "FIFO from Perth to Leonora". Laverton and Leonora are gold towns in Western Australia's Goldfields, and the boards file Laverton's ads under the Melbourne suburb of the same name.

How do you get a FIFO job from Melbourne, and who hires?

The point of hire is the airport an employer flies you from, and on many mine ads it is the capital of the mine's own state. For a Melbourne reader that line decides the job. "FIFO from Melbourne" and "any capital city" both mean the employer pays the whole trip. "FIFO from Perth", which three September ads said, means the flight to Perth is yours.

Step by step, from Melbourne

1. Get a manual car licence and a national police check, and do your White Card in a class, because Victoria doesn't run it online and the card can take up to 60 days to arrive. Every course asks for your USI (Unique Student Identifier), a free number you make online.
2. Search the boards with the words "FIFO from Melbourne", then check that any Laverton ad isn't the WA gold town (the Laverton trap).
3. Start with the ads whose flights leave Melbourne, then those that fly from every capital, because the employer covers the whole trip (the ads that say so).
4. With no experience, try the entry-level drilling ads, and skip the "FIFO" ads from sales firms (no site experience).
5. Never pay an agency or anyone else to put you forward for a job (the fee rule).
6. When the flights start in another capital, count your airfare there and a night's stay into every swing (taking a job in another state).
7. Once you're offered the job, the employer books the medical and drug test, then your seat on the charter out of the hub.
8. On your first swing, expect an evening flight out of Tullamarine, a night near the hub airport and a charter at dawn (a typical swing).

Taking a job in another state from Melbourne

The long way is a commercial flight the night before, a hotel or a mate's couch, then the charter. South Australia is the short version, about an hour and a quarter to Adelaide and the copper mine jobs that fly from there. Western Australia and Queensland are the long version, about four hours west or two hours north before the charter, and the trade ads that start from any capital are the way to make the employer pay for it.

When you pay your own way to the hub, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) counts the flight as private travel, so it isn't a tax deduction. The salary page covers what the ATO allows.

What the ads ask for

The drilling recruiter's entry-level ad asked for:

• A manual C class driver's licence
• Australian citizenship or permanent residency

After the offer, the employer arranges:

• A pre-employment medical and a drug and alcohol test; Compass's ad asked for the "Ability to pass" both
• Site inductions, and the charter booking from the hub

Nice to have, and what each one gets you:

• A White Card and an HR (heavy rigid) licence: one drilling recruiter listed both as "Highly regarded"
• Site administration experience: the admin ads, which all ask for it
• A trade: the ad that flew from any capital wanted one

The tickets page has the safety tickets and what they cost.

FIFO jobs in Victoria: the Bass Strait platforms

Victoria's own fly-in work is mostly offshore. The platforms in Bass Strait are reached by helicopter from Longford, near Sale in Gippsland, and the crews on them do swings like a mine crew does. Those jobs want offshore tickets and experience, come up rarely on the general boards, and the offshore page covers them. None was in the Melbourne listings in September 2026.

How much do FIFO jobs from Melbourne pay?

Only ads that stated a figure are in the table. Most don't.

To see what a rate comes to over a swing or a year after tax, put it into the FIFO pay calculator.

The pay for each job is on its own page, because the rate doesn't change with the city you fly from. What changes is the cost: an airfare each swing, sometimes a night's accommodation, and a day off spent in an airport. A job that flies from Melbourne is worth more than one that doesn't at the same rate.

What is FIFO from Melbourne like day to day?

A typical fly in fly out swing from Melbourne

The swing starts the night before it starts. The flight leaves Tullamarine in the evening, the night is in an airport hotel, and the charter leaves at dawn for a camp beside a mine two states away. From there it is the same as anyone's swing: a donga, the mess, the bus, twelve hours a day for the fortnight, and the charter back.

The part that isn't in the ad is the trip home. The charter lands in the hub mid-morning, the flight to Melbourne is that afternoon or the next day, and the first day of the week off is gone before the front door.

What is it really like doing FIFO from Melbourne?

The ads tell most of it. The ones that fly from one city only are telling a Melbourne applicant not to bother. For a tradesperson the sums can be closer than they look: a Victorian site job with overtime, and a bed at home every night, against a FIFO rate minus the flights and the lost days.

What the ads don't say is how tiring the travel is. Two flights each way, sometimes a night in a hotel, and a body clock that crosses time zones twice a swing add up. If a swing turns bad, Lifeline is 13 11 14, any hour.

Where does FIFO from Melbourne lead?

The first job is often the long commute, because the jobs with flights from Melbourne, or from any capital, want a trade or experience. Emeco's wanted a qualified auto electrician who had worked on heavy equipment, and the village manager ad wanted someone who had run a FIFO team. A year on a site, even paying your own airfare, builds that experience, and the commute shortens as it grows.

The other move is a change of address. Living in the hub city takes the airfare out of every swing, and suits someone without a mortgage in Melbourne more than someone with one.

Is FIFO from Melbourne right for you?

Two honest questions

1. Can you give up two days of every week off? That is the Melbourne commute when the ad flies from another city. If the answer is no, apply only to the ads that fly from Melbourne, and expect a shorter list.
2. Would you move west or north? One entry-level offsider ad said so in its title. If you would, read the Perth and Brisbane pages; if you wouldn't, build the experience first on the jobs that will take a Victorian address.