For Sienna Mallon, it was a no-brainer for her to ditch her so-so job and chilly home in Victoria for higher-paid work in the mining industry in central Queensland two years ago.
Kirsty Sewell runs Industry Resumes Australia, a company which helps people find jobs in the resources and mining sector."I've been doing this for the past 10 years, and predominantly it used to just be middle-aged men that would be needing resumes for FIFO roles," Ms Sewell said. "I worked out that if stayed in my role down south, it would have taken me 25 years to pay off my HECS debt, whereas it's only going to take me five and a half years to pay it off in the role that I'm in."
"The flexibility of the lifestyle really surprised me ... it is such a nice routine to separate my work and life, and have a long weekend every weekend," she said.The number of women employed full time in the mining industry nationally jumped from 8,700 in August 2002 to 45,000 in August 2022, as per Australian Bureau of Statistics data.According to Women in Mining and Resources Queensland, the sunshine state is leading the nation in the number of younger women working in the industry.