Luckily, writing a resume is nowhere near as hard as your Mine Planning units or, worse, your last group assignment.

As a company that proudly employs and supports graduates and interns, we’re something of an expert when it comes to mining engineer resume do’s and don’ts. In this blog, we will walk you through some tips and tricks to make this task seem less daunting.

But first things first, if you’re going to spend time getting your resume right, step one is to take some time to think about what you really want to do. What kind of jobs are available, what would the perfect graduate job be, and what are you not keen on?

What to include

• Contact details
  • Full name, email address, phone number (optional: LinkedIn URL).
• Personal statement
  • A brief statement that highlights why you’re suitable for this particular job.
• Education
  • Name of the School, your degree, and the dates you attended. If you have multiple degrees, start with the most recent.
• Work experience
  • Company name, your job title, and the dates you worked there. List all of your relevant experience, starting with the most recent.
  • For each job, list your key responsibilities and accomplishments.
• Skills
  • List your soft and hard skills.
• References
  • This is optional and down to personal preference; if you do include, you will need their name, position and contact details.

How to write your Mining Resume

Tailoring the content.

Once you know what position and what company you’ve got your heart set on, it’s so important to curate the content of your resume to the business and the job you want. Every company has its unique way of operating, and every individual reading your resume is looking for something specific.

The clues to what the business wants are very often on the company website; look for what their vision, mission and values are, where they operate, their history and see where you align. If a company you want to work for values innovation, and during an internship, you worked with a team overseeing new blasting technologies, include that.

Get the keywords right.

Before your resume makes it through to your potential manager, it will likely go through a type of Applicant Tracking Systems software that will scan your resume for keywords, skills and experience and rank you alongside other applicants. To find these keywords, study the job advertisement. Highlight the keywords that stand out or that come up time and time again. If words like ‘Diligent, ‘attention to detail’, and ‘meticulous’ show up in the same ad, then repeat them (where they seem suitable) in your resume.

Highlight relevant skills and quantifiable results.

Once you understand the business and the keywords your employer is looking for, it’s time to pull it all together. It can be easiest to start with your experience. Think about where you have interned. Were there any particular experiences you had there that feel relevant to what this job is looking for?

For extra marks, employers love to see any kind of quantifiable results you contributed to. In your internship, did you assist a team that was focused on increasing production by a certain percentage? How did you contribute to that?

Once you’ve outlined your experience, it should become clearer to you where your skills lie. Just don’t forget your soft skills, like being a clear communicator, creative, collaborative, and a problem solver – they are equally as important and will help your employer get a real sense of what makes you unique.

If you haven’t yet had a chance to gain practical hands-on experience yet, it’s not too late; we’ve got a guide for internships too.

Ai – should you use it to write your mining resume?

Listen, there’s no denying that AI can make life easier. Especially if you are staring at a blank page. Trust us, we know the feeling. But we recommend caution over abstinence from this technology. Mining jobs are incredibly competitive, and AI is useful at creating the average of everything that is available – so if you want to stand out and be authentic, we recommend writing the resume yourself.

AI can be a useful tool, though, especially when it comes to helping you think about what you might write; some useful prompts might be;

• What are the 5 common mistakes a new mining engineering graduate makes
• What are [insert desired company’s] ESG initiatives

Make it look as capable as you.

This is an area we often see overlooked in applications, but first impressions matter. And after spending all this time getting your content just right, it would be a shame to let the design of your resume fall by the wayside. Consider utilising a free tool like Canva or looking for Word document templates to help you organise your information in an appealing and easy-to-read way.

Proofreading.

Don’t stop at your first draft. And don’t let your eyes be the only ones to review what you have written. Ask your friends or family to take a look and offer you a fresh perspective.

Your path to success as a Graduate Mining Engineer:

So there you have it; you know what to include and how to construct your mining resume. A final word from us, have courage, support each other, be honest and celebrate your wins. There is a big wide world out there, with a place for everyone.

We wish you all the best on your mining journey.

Macmahon is the contractor of choice for some of the world’s largest mining companies. Our mining internship program supports on-the-job training with work experience opportunities for students and interns to help prepare for entry into the workforce. Find out more here.