How long should a FIFO resume be?

A FIFO resume should be one to two pages, and for an entry-level applicant one is often enough. Anything past two pages says the writer doesn't know what the reader is looking for, and it gets closed before the reader finds out whether they were wrong.

How do I write a FIFO resume with no mining experience?

A FIFO resume with no mining experience translates whatever work you have done into proof that you turn up and finish. Farm work, kitchens, labouring, warehousing, fishing and even completed sport seasons all count, because each meant turning up and finishing. Write it the way the reader needs it: not "managed stock in a fast-paced retail environment" but "six months of physical warehouse work, ten-hour shifts, no absences".

Should I write a professional summary at the top of a FIFO resume?

A FIFO resume doesn't need a professional summary; the location-and-availability lines do that job in three lines instead of a paragraph. If you want one sentence, make it the plainest possible statement of readiness: "Manual licence, White Card, first aid, available for 2:1 or 8:6 rosters from 1 October." That's a summary the reader can use, with 2:1 meaning two weeks on, one off.

Should I tailor my resume for every FIFO job?

You should tailor a FIFO resume for each type of role you apply to, not each ad. Keep one version each for utility, trade assistant and offsider, each leading with the tickets and experience that role's ads ask for, in the ad's own words. Three versions kept current is fifteen minutes of work and it changes the call-back rate more than any other fix.

Should I pay for a FIFO resume guide or template?

You shouldn't pay $300 or $400 for a FIFO resume guide from social media. What employers want is a plain two-page document you can format yourself in an hour, like the free FIFO resume template. A resume writer who knows the industry can be worth paying for, but anyone selling an "Australia approved" or "FIFO approved" resume is selling a phrase that doesn't exist.

The FIFO Resume

A recruiter at a desk reading one resume from a tall stack, a bin full of crumpled pages beside her, a photo of a drill crew on the wall

A FIFO resume is not a city resume. The person reading it is scanning a pile of applications for four things: where you are, when you can start, what tickets you hold, and proof you won't quit in week three. Give her those four things in two pages. There's a free template too, with nothing to sign up for.

What does a FIFO resume look like?

Short answer

A FIFO resume looks like something built to be read in eight seconds: a single column, plain headings and no photo. It answers the reader's four questions in the order she asks them, starting with where you are. It looks less like a career document and more like a checklist she can tick.

Here is what happens to your resume when you send it. Picture a labour hire office in an industrial suburb of Perth or Brisbane on a Tuesday morning, with six offsider spots to fill and two hundred PDFs in the inbox. Most of them arrived on Sunday night, which is when people who want FIFO jobs apply, usually from a phone, after a job ad made the money sound simple.

The person opening those PDFs is not reading them. She is scanning, eight seconds each, for four things in roughly this order, and if they aren't where she expects to find them the resume goes in the pile that never gets a call.

What should I include on a FIFO resume?

Short answer

A FIFO resume includes four things, in this order: where you are and your start date, then your tickets, listed with numbers and expiry dates. Third comes your work history, written as evidence of reliability, with dates and completed contracts. Last come two or three referees with current mobile numbers, who know the call is coming.

A man with a folder walking into a labour hire office in an industrial estate, ute parked outside, truck passing on the road — Whoever reads your résumé wants to know first where you live and when you can start.

Location and start date

Your location and start date go in the top three lines, because before your name means anything, the reader needs to know whether you're local and whether you can fly Monday. "Perth-based, available immediately, current medical" is a resume that stays on the desk. "Experienced professional seeking new opportunities in the mining sector" is one that gets binned before the tickets.

If you're in a mining town, Kalgoorlie, Karratha, Hedland, say so in line one, because it's an advantage. If you've moved from interstate, write "relocated to Perth", not "based in Sydney, willing to relocate". The first means you're here.

The second means you're not, and many employers filter out applications without a local address before anyone reads them. That's also why applying to Perth, Brisbane and Darwin jobs at once gets no calls. Pick one hub and apply there.

Tickets as a list

Put your tickets in a list, not in prose, not in the cover letter and not inside a paragraph about professional development. Give each one its own line with the number, the expiry date and whether it's current. That covers the White Card, driver's licence and class, Heavy Rigid licence, Working at Heights, Confined Space, first aid, and the two checks with their dates: the pre-employment medical and the national police clearance.

The reader is checking boxes, so give her boxes. An expired ticket is worse than no ticket, because it says you're not paying attention; renew it or leave it off.

Work history as reliability evidence

Work history is where city resumes go wrong, because a city resume is about what you achieved and a FIFO resume is about whether you'll still be there after the second swing. The reader isn't looking for career progression. She's looking for proof you've done hard physical work for sustained periods without quitting.

"Camp services, Sodexo, Newman, March to September 2025, completed full contract" does more than two paragraphs about transferable skills. It says this person went to site, did the work, and stayed to the end.

Dates matter, not for your career timeline, but because an unexplained gap suggests unreliability and a completed contract suggests the opposite. Don't stretch a date to cover a gap; recruiters check dates in interviews and catch it.

Safety systems you've worked under

Name any safety systems you've worked under, even from a warehouse or a farm: toolbox meetings, Take 5s, incident reports, permit or isolation procedures. Safety exposure is one of the things a mining recruiter scans for, and a line of it tells her you've worked somewhere that had rules.

A gloved hand pulling a ringing phone from a hi-vis shirt pocket, a drill rig and camp in the background — Thirty seconds on the phone with your old boss outweighs the whole résumé.

Referees who pick up

Give names, current mobile numbers and the relationship (direct supervisor, site manager, crew leader), on the resume itself, not "available on request". A supervisor who answers on the second ring and says "yeah, good worker, I'd have them back" is worth more than everything else on the page combined. That call is where the decision is made, not in the resume and not in the interview.

Text your referees before you apply: "I've put you down for a FIFO role, they might call this week." A referee expecting the call answers differently from one ambushed by an unknown number mid-shift.

What should I leave off a FIFO resume?

Short answer

Leave off a FIFO resume career objectives, photos, design and hobbies that aren't physical: anything that isn't location, tickets, work history or referees. Every extra line costs the reader time she isn't going to give you, and some of the extras trip up the screening software as well.

Leave off career objectives, personal statements and adjectives. Motivated, passionate and detail-oriented are claims without evidence, and the work history is the evidence. Let it speak.

Leave off photos. A photo is not required and not helpful, and it takes space a ticket list would use better.

Design and hobbies

Leave off design. Colour, graphics and two-column layouts annoy human readers and confuse the screening software in equal measure.

Leave off hobbies that aren't physical. An ultramarathon or two seasons of rugby league proves something the reader cares about. A record collection is for the donga.

Do I need an ATS-optimised FIFO resume?

Short answer

You don't need a specially formatted resume to get past applicant tracking software, the program larger employers use to sort applications before a person reads them. A plain single-column document with standard headings and the words from the job ad passes every system in common use.

The software looks for words, and only words: the name of the role, the tickets and the requirements, spelled the way the ad spelled them. Match those and there is nothing else to beat. The fear that a robot will bin your resume before a human sees it is sold mainly by the people selling the cure.

Can I see a FIFO resume example?

The resume that gets the call is often half a page. It lists three tickets, all current, each with its number and expiry; one previous role, six months of camp services on a completed contract; and two referees, both supervisors, who answer the phone.

Plenty of resumes in the pile look more impressive. This one is an easy yes.

The template

Here's the half-page resume as a template, with a made-up name. Everything the reader needs is on it, and nothing else.

John Smith

Belmont, Perth WA | 0400 000 000 | john.smith@email.com

Available immediately | Pre-employment medical passed August 2026 | National Police Clearance, June 2026

Tickets and licences

Driver's licence, C-class manual	WA 0000000	Expires March 2029
White Card	WC 0000000	Current
Working at Heights	RIIWHS204E	Expires May 2028
First Aid and CPR	HLTAID011	Expires June 2027

Work history

Camp Services Attendant, Sodexo, Newman WAMarch 2025 to September 2025

Completed six-month contract. Housekeeping and kitchen hand on a 2:1 roster, 12-hour shifts, no absences. Daily pre-starts and Take 5s, weekly toolbox meetings, no incidents.

Referees

Dave Reilly, Site Supervisor, Sodexo, Newman0400 000 001

Karen Moore, Village Manager, Sodexo, Newman0400 000 002

That's the whole resume. We've built it as an editable Word file you can download and fill in. There's no email and no sign-up. It's a template, not a hostage.

Download the FIFO resume template

Which resume are you sending?

If this is you	Lead with
No mining experience, physical work history	Location, then tickets, then the hardest job you finished, with dates and hours.
No mining experience, office or retail history	Location, tickets, then the shift lengths and the attendance record, not the duties.
Six months of camp services behind you	The completed contract in line one of work history, and the supervisor's number.
A tradie from a capital city	The trade, then any remote or heat work at all, then the tickets.
Applying for a professional role	An ordinary professional resume. The advice for FIFO entry and trade roles doesn't apply; engineering, nursing and admin hiring reads a resume the normal way.

The resume gets you the interview. Whether the job suits the rest of your life is a different document. Six questions. Three minutes. Free.

Is FIFO right for me?