k8bug79 Posted May 15, 2010 Share Posted May 15, 2010 Hi, My husband is a chef with many years experience but he does not want to work hotels/ restaurants anymore. So as we are considering moving to Oz we thought maybe getting into one of the industres on the catering side maybe good. We are thinking we'll go to Adelaide but this is still up for negotiation!!! I have read a good thread on mining and taken loads of details from it. But can anyone suggest some companies who may recruit catering staff or do mines take them on directly? Also is there another industry over there that may be worth looking at? I know the defence industry is big over there but is there much call for catering staff in this area? If so where do we look for vancancies? Also my husband has always been quite keen to leave catering altogether and go back to his original engineering interest when he left college (only really basic experience) has anyone gone into one of these industries in a related job but found a way to train in something else in the company? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eera Posted May 15, 2010 Share Posted May 15, 2010 Do you mean the mining camps? The actual minesites themselves are not catered; you grab the crib in the morning and lump it around with you all day. Camps don't have chefs, only cooks, the two big ones in QLD are the MAC group and ESS, they have high turnovers for service staff and to be honest, I don't think the big money is going to be found there (see the thread called "mining - the truth in WA" or something like that, I think it was in Dilemmas which tells you exactly how much the service staff earn compared to what is actually advertised. Depending on what your OH's engineering qualification is actually in, that might be a better way to approach it, probably through contract staff or someone like Theiss or Downer if he has little experience, BUT he's going to be away from home for long periods of time - for some reason "professional" staff on a minesite don't do the even time off rosters that the boneheads do, so while he may be able to get larger money, he'll miss out on his kids growing up. A solution may be for you to move to a mining town with him, but it just means you get stuck in a small town where everyone wears fluoro orange and doesn't have many opportunities for the kids - don't forget the distances, if you're in Adelaide he'll be at Olympic Dam at best, an hour's flight away, and won't be commuting home each night. Sorry if that's a bit negative, but I've been in the industry for a few years and see the reality of what it's like first hand and am presently living effectively as a single parent for half the year while my OH fixes big yellow trucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k8bug79 Posted May 16, 2010 Author Share Posted May 16, 2010 Thanks for the reply. We know he'd have to fifo, but the problem is my hisband has no desire to chef really. The wages are appalling and hours awful, he doesn't see the kids at all at the moment anyway. He has no engineering qualifications just half a btec and some cnc milling experience. The problem he faces with cheffing is that to progress he needs to take worse hours and commit even more than he does now and he just doesn't want to do that. I know a friend who was a head chef over here and he works in the mines, probably as a cook, for far better wages than he was on in the UK. I know that there would be sacrifices of him being away. What would be interesting is to find out the on/off ratio. I saw 2/1 for some job somewhere which does seem a little harsh. We are lucky that my husband is a citizen so we don't have to rely on his occupation to get us out there, but in reality we want to have a job offer before we go and he is realistic enough to realise that no employer is going to pay for a bog standard chef, so he really has to choose between the lesser of two evils, unless he can find a brand new career willing to train and ship him out (unlikely) Oh its so difficult, if only we had oodles of money to get ourselves out there. Thanks for taking the time to explain what its like. I hope you are not a "single" mum for too long Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eera Posted May 16, 2010 Share Posted May 16, 2010 I'm glad you've got your eyes open. Have you thought about things like soil technician work or drilling offsiders? The wages are low initially, but you get trained up and given a different skill set, normally they don't want any initial qualification and you work up from there. Some of our techs earn $120k when we've got mine construction jobs on, they can do diplomas in engineering while they're at it if they want too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k8bug79 Posted May 16, 2010 Author Share Posted May 16, 2010 I'm glad you've got your eyes open. Have you thought about things like soil technician work or drilling offsiders? The wages are low initially, but you get trained up and given a different skill set, normally they don't want any initial qualification and you work up from there. Some of our techs earn $120k when we've got mine construction jobs on, they can do diplomas in engineering while they're at it if they want too. Great thanks. I will investigate that a bit more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Aldo Posted May 16, 2010 Share Posted May 16, 2010 Its something i've thought about seriously in Aus. The problem is getting in, in the UK or in Spain it would be a case of greasing a few palms but the aussie are quite straight when it comes to things like that. I worked on some big construction sites in brisbane and the canteens and snck vans where having it off, I would say the miners camps would be the same. The problem is getting access to them. Some of the miners camps (dongas) are privatly owned and are just a load of porta cabins for the miners to crash in so presumably if you contact the owner and do a deal you might be in there. Good luck I think its a great idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k8bug79 Posted May 16, 2010 Author Share Posted May 16, 2010 Its something i've thought about seriously in Aus. The problem is getting in, in the UK or in Spain it would be a case of greasing a few palms but the aussie are quite straight when it comes to things like that. I worked on some big construction sites in brisbane and the canteens and snck vans where having it off, I would say the miners camps would be the same. The problem is getting access to them. Some of the miners camps (dongas) are privatly owned and are just a load of porta cabins for the miners to crash in so presumably if you contact the owner and do a deal you might be in there. Good luck I think its a great idea. Thanks. I don't get everything you are saying tho What do you mean "where having it off" - I only know the obvious dob't think I want to send my husband into that lol. Guess you may be right lots of well placed cvs may do the trick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Aldo Posted May 16, 2010 Share Posted May 16, 2010 Thanks. I don't get everything you are saying tho What do you mean "where having it off" - I only know the obvious dob't think I want to send my husband into that lol. Guess you may be right lots of well placed cvs may do the trick Sorry, i mean making very good money.:wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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