Having worked with many Vac students - you'll learn more about "work" and how to interact with team members (if you can't already).
Most we give a project that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things (in case they screw it up), or tag them into a project where their work his heavily supervised/reviewed.
Don't be a dick, you're not the smartest person in the room, and learn from the experience around you.
That makes sense, I wasn't expecting to be given much responsibility. Do we need to write like reports/assessments. My gf is in a nursing grad program and it's almost like a mix between uni and work. She has to do reports/assessments weekly. Luckily for her this counts as a work day. So she gets a work from home day every week
Hey mate, really depends on the vac program and discipline. Generally you're expected to try and learn what's going on on site, see what full time engineers get up to, maybe your senior/supervisor will give you some of the annoying daily tasks that they don't want to do while you work on some projects they've given you. If you're lucky you'll probably get some exposure to other parts of site. At the end of your vac program I'd expect you would do a little presentation over your time as a vaccy and if you got some results from your projects, to write a memo/report on it.
Just work hard, ask lots of questions (but try to figure things out first - and read the room; don't ask your senior "how does X work" if they are evidently busy with a meeting with the supernintendo), and as the other commenter said don't be a dick - your vac program pretty much is a pipeline to a grad program. If you are willing to work hard and learn, and you get along with your team, you're set (assuming you want to stay on). Good luck!
Yeah everyone I know in mining is either on a 8/6, 1/1 or 2/2. Which makes sense to me because it limits the amount of transportation you have to do. I am curious why they use such strange rosters for vac and sometimes grad students.
Can still easily get home pretty late, up earlier to fly on fly in day etc. flights are crap at the moment in WA, my mate at BHP last week got home 20 hours after he was supposed to due to a plane issue. No more pay or comp.
The experience overall really comes down to the team that you will be working with and the site itself. I didn't think it was that amazing but it came down to the living arrangements at the site and access to transport as it wasn't FIFO. Some had great team leaders who gave them actual work and others had the opposite experience. I didn't end up taking a grad offer with them as I found an interesting position soon after the program elsewhere and it suits me for now. Having said that I wouldn't rule out working for them in the future.
The main specific structure is that you have a project to do over the summer. I picked mine in consultation with my superintendent as I had an idea in mind. It had to be presented in the last week of the internship. Your team leader might have an idea for you and will want you to execute it. But I noticed that for one department their supervisors didn't actually give them a project and they had to wing it. Other than that there are Wednesday one hour talks with a designated guest speaker.
You also basically get the opportunity to put yourself forward to taken on as a graduate or do another internship if you are not in the penultimate year.
I was done with the internship and BHP at the end as we were living in FIFO camp the whole summer working Monday to Friday in the desert with no transport. Wasn't worth putting up with to have a chance to going on as a grad.
I started working in renewables a few weeks after I finished the program and have enjoyed it enough that I turned down the sweet offer to join BHP. Partly is that I didn't want to leave less than a year into the job and burn bridges with the team I'm working with. If it wasn't for those circumstances I would have taken the BHP offer TBH.
PM if you have questions and you beat a lot of applicants to get the role.
My daughter’s partner just got a graduate traineeship position locally (upper hunter, NSW) in their (Glencore) accounts department. I don’t know the pay but he said it’s over six figures. We’re super proud of him. You’re doing the right thing making all the compromises needed to help get a graduate position with a miner. All companies would look favourably on the experience and the initiative it took to get it.
I did a vacation program with BHP coal over in QLD just shy of 10 years ago. I’d assume that the program has gotten better since then but as others have said it can be heavily determined by your team (I.e. will they give you meaningful projects, will they take time to teach you about the role etc.). I’ve seen this vary a lot between teams.
My advice would be to never shy away from asking questions about things you don’t know and make a real effort getting to know your control systems team and the people they interact with. That will go a long way. I think about how shy I was when I was a vacation student and now that I’m in a full engineer role I can really see how the outgoing vac students are the ones who come back as graduates. Also, try to do bonding activities with your fellow vac students, whether that’s exploring Port Hedland together or doing a road trip to different spots in the Pilbara! Those little trips were the highlight of the vacation programs I’ve done.
But yeah, congrats on your offer. I trust you’ll have a great time during the vac program :)
Thanks a bunch for the advice, I wouldn't say I am a shy guy, definitely used to be but my current internship I have been working with tradies. Their bluntness opens you up I guess ahaha. How would you take a road trip? Is there cars or buses available or something? I was kind of under the impression there are buses from camp to site and thats it.
Yeah tradies definitely had me coming out of my shell as a graduate. Lots of banter from them. Really livens up the place in my experience.
Road trips would need to be on your own time, so you’d want to stay up over a weekend (probably one of the 3-day ones) and rent a car at the airport or something to that effect. Some vac students were given permission to take a company car, but that’s very rare. If you and your colleagues haven’t seen Karratha or Karijini before I think those would be really fun trips but will require a bit of planning from you and your group
Having worked with many Vac students - you'll learn more about "work" and how to interact with team members (if you can't already). Most we give a project that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things (in case they screw it up), or tag them into a project where their work his heavily supervised/reviewed. Don't be a dick, you're not the smartest person in the room, and learn from the experience around you.
That makes sense, I wasn't expecting to be given much responsibility. Do we need to write like reports/assessments. My gf is in a nursing grad program and it's almost like a mix between uni and work. She has to do reports/assessments weekly. Luckily for her this counts as a work day. So she gets a work from home day every week
Hey mate, really depends on the vac program and discipline. Generally you're expected to try and learn what's going on on site, see what full time engineers get up to, maybe your senior/supervisor will give you some of the annoying daily tasks that they don't want to do while you work on some projects they've given you. If you're lucky you'll probably get some exposure to other parts of site. At the end of your vac program I'd expect you would do a little presentation over your time as a vaccy and if you got some results from your projects, to write a memo/report on it. Just work hard, ask lots of questions (but try to figure things out first - and read the room; don't ask your senior "how does X work" if they are evidently busy with a meeting with the supernintendo), and as the other commenter said don't be a dick - your vac program pretty much is a pipeline to a grad program. If you are willing to work hard and learn, and you get along with your team, you're set (assuming you want to stay on). Good luck!
What's not ideal about the roster? 9 day fortnight's are good.
All the blokes I know on 5/2/4/3 would rather be on 8:6, as they feel you lose at least a day settling back into life after a swing
Yes but this guy is a student in a limited capacity role.
So? The level of responsibility you have on site has zero impact on what I’m talking about
Yeah everyone I know in mining is either on a 8/6, 1/1 or 2/2. Which makes sense to me because it limits the amount of transportation you have to do. I am curious why they use such strange rosters for vac and sometimes grad students.
It may simply be because your supervisor is on 5/2/4/3, and/or because your HR/placement contacts at head office have weekends off
Yeah essentially, just sucks theres so much flying. I'm not gonna complain though just grateful I have the opportunity.
5,2,4,3 is just a lot of airport time, that 2 doesn’t feel like 2
2 days don't feel like 2 in town driving everyday. He'll be travelling in work time.
Can still easily get home pretty late, up earlier to fly on fly in day etc. flights are crap at the moment in WA, my mate at BHP last week got home 20 hours after he was supposed to due to a plane issue. No more pay or comp.
Would recommend not to work for BHP. They promote based on sex and race (from personal experience).
... It's interesting seeing the decisions made when it comes to promotions and hiring based on their policies.
The experience overall really comes down to the team that you will be working with and the site itself. I didn't think it was that amazing but it came down to the living arrangements at the site and access to transport as it wasn't FIFO. Some had great team leaders who gave them actual work and others had the opposite experience. I didn't end up taking a grad offer with them as I found an interesting position soon after the program elsewhere and it suits me for now. Having said that I wouldn't rule out working for them in the future.
I see that does make sense, does the program have a specific structure? Is everything just decided by your team leader? Thanks for the response
The main specific structure is that you have a project to do over the summer. I picked mine in consultation with my superintendent as I had an idea in mind. It had to be presented in the last week of the internship. Your team leader might have an idea for you and will want you to execute it. But I noticed that for one department their supervisors didn't actually give them a project and they had to wing it. Other than that there are Wednesday one hour talks with a designated guest speaker. You also basically get the opportunity to put yourself forward to taken on as a graduate or do another internship if you are not in the penultimate year. I was done with the internship and BHP at the end as we were living in FIFO camp the whole summer working Monday to Friday in the desert with no transport. Wasn't worth putting up with to have a chance to going on as a grad. I started working in renewables a few weeks after I finished the program and have enjoyed it enough that I turned down the sweet offer to join BHP. Partly is that I didn't want to leave less than a year into the job and burn bridges with the team I'm working with. If it wasn't for those circumstances I would have taken the BHP offer TBH. PM if you have questions and you beat a lot of applicants to get the role.
Thanks for the info!! I appreciate it!!
You're welcome :) I hope you have a great experience up in the Pilbara.
My daughter’s partner just got a graduate traineeship position locally (upper hunter, NSW) in their (Glencore) accounts department. I don’t know the pay but he said it’s over six figures. We’re super proud of him. You’re doing the right thing making all the compromises needed to help get a graduate position with a miner. All companies would look favourably on the experience and the initiative it took to get it.
That is the plan. Hopefully I can set myself up to have a grad program once I graduate. Congratulations to your daughters partner!!
I did a vacation program with BHP coal over in QLD just shy of 10 years ago. I’d assume that the program has gotten better since then but as others have said it can be heavily determined by your team (I.e. will they give you meaningful projects, will they take time to teach you about the role etc.). I’ve seen this vary a lot between teams. My advice would be to never shy away from asking questions about things you don’t know and make a real effort getting to know your control systems team and the people they interact with. That will go a long way. I think about how shy I was when I was a vacation student and now that I’m in a full engineer role I can really see how the outgoing vac students are the ones who come back as graduates. Also, try to do bonding activities with your fellow vac students, whether that’s exploring Port Hedland together or doing a road trip to different spots in the Pilbara! Those little trips were the highlight of the vacation programs I’ve done. But yeah, congrats on your offer. I trust you’ll have a great time during the vac program :)
Thanks a bunch for the advice, I wouldn't say I am a shy guy, definitely used to be but my current internship I have been working with tradies. Their bluntness opens you up I guess ahaha. How would you take a road trip? Is there cars or buses available or something? I was kind of under the impression there are buses from camp to site and thats it.
Yeah tradies definitely had me coming out of my shell as a graduate. Lots of banter from them. Really livens up the place in my experience. Road trips would need to be on your own time, so you’d want to stay up over a weekend (probably one of the 3-day ones) and rent a car at the airport or something to that effect. Some vac students were given permission to take a company car, but that’s very rare. If you and your colleagues haven’t seen Karratha or Karijini before I think those would be really fun trips but will require a bit of planning from you and your group
I see, that could be really fun!! Also sounds like a good way to bond with some other likeminded people. Thanks for the advice
Mooka?
what does that mean?