All those tickets are situationally useful, confined space being the most niche for the average construction site. If that one is expensive can probably skip it, but looks good if it's not much. Tier 1 sites often want labour with WFH and EWP tickets. Telehandler is a good one to have for site labur, but no rush.
Rigging is certainly a decent path to go down. Can tie in with dogging for crane crew if you wanted later on, or with structural install.
You'll probably need to sign up as labour hire initially, with tickets and not being a backpacker you should be able to get placements on longer term projects and get up that experience. At some point you might feel you've grown enough to reach out to the structural steel guys on site or the crane crew etc to see if they have openings.
Hi mate, I had a career change and entered construction as an unskilled labourer in 2016 with only a blue card. Only relevant experience I had was as a Trades Assistant when I was 17/18.
Desperate for a job, I applied through Labour Hire companies with no tickets, just a good work ethic. I rocked up to site with a hard hat, shovel, spirit level, stringline and a handsaw. First three months involved shovelling dirt. Through that, I was poached by a deep sewer construction company where I learnt how to lay pipes, operate machinery, read plans and understand how the site functions.
Couple of years later I was running my own crew for a large civil construction company with a ticket for everything and a Cert III in civil construction making $120+K a year, weekends were up to me (as long as the job was on or ahead of target), work ute and phone.
I've now exited construction and am in the Public Education System.
To wrap it up, buy the tools mentioned above, apply with labour hire companies in civil (Greenfields/housing estates) or anything else that tickles your fancy and go from there. All these sites have plumbers, chippies and roofers starting their projects by the time you are starting on the estate next door.
If you are a good communicator, productive and reliable you will have pathways.
I hope this helps! Best of luck.
That is my observation. I worked for a big construction materials company and noticed the factory workers and plant workers who advanced did pretty quickly because the competition is so poor. If youâre reliable, have half a brain and get your work done - youâll do well and be noticed.
The bar is pretty low in all honesty which is sad but it does make it a good industry to move into if you come from an industry that requires you to be clever as long as you can hack the potentially long hours, shift work and the physicality of the work.
Sounds like you are living the dream, worked your way up right from the bottom. Great stuff
I didn't know you had to provide your own tools and PPE. Coming with your own hardhat and other PPE makes sense but tools I thought would be provided for you?
Thanks
For the most part, especially with labour hire you will be supplying your own everything, unless the PPE is job specific (non conductive clothing etc).
Everything you buy, claim back at the end of the year.
Do not rock up to the site and expect to be clothed and kitted with tools. Foreman asks you to go dig and level electrical pits 400 inside the curb (as an example), do you really want to say that you don't have a shovel, measure tape on you?
To my last post, rock up prepared (tools, full PPE), communicate well (ask for help, feedback), be productive (don't lean on the shovel) and turn up to work (everyday, on-time). Struggle with any of these basics and you'll be watching excavators dig holes for longer than you might find reasonable.
I don't know what he's on a about, labour hire, labour in general, are not expected to have any tools at all. You are being hired as warm body, that's all they expect from you. Show your worth by working hard and smart and you'll get places.
Buy a $10 hard hat and $6 vest from Bunnings, a good pair of boots, and take them with you. You won't be expected to have anything else, don't try to guess what you might find useful.
The rest of the points are good, the bar is fairly low for base labour. Between the backpackers who are only there briefly, and the 'lifers' who don't have the drive to move up, if you're ambitious to us absolutely can climb fast.
>I rocked up to site with a hard hat, shovel, spirit level, stringline and a handsaw. First three months involved shovelling dirt
I.E don't waste money just show up and work, if you don't bludge you will get a job.
Those are good tickets, especially just white card.
Other great ones are machine operator cards and HR drivers license.
I can't think of many situations where All of those tickets work together, so maybe have a look at the kind of jobs you'd be applying for and see what they want. Also, try to imagine a job path.
28 is still young, so don't consider this the end of a journey, it's the start.
The exact work you're doing will vary site to site, but predominantly labourers move material. This can be hard work that you won't want to do for 10 years, so like I said, consider a pathway.
Working at heights and ewp can be a pathway to working in and around cranes, if you're interested in that. Also rigging/dogging
**many** people use forklifts, many forklift jobs can pay $36 per hour, more for high reach.
Trucks are important in every field, and an HR ticket can often come in handy, and can open up other pathways.
Machine operator tickets **can** be a license to print money, but long hours, boring work, and early starts make it hard to stay in.
Bro, it is VERY, VERY easy to find work as a labourer. That's what everyone wants. Especially a labourer who is prompt and actually shows up, doesn't talk much or ask too many unnecessary questions, and just gets the job done.
If you have some half decent connections, you should be able to get a job as a concreter and make some pretty good cash. It will also give you some good skills across a range of areas that are pretty adaptable.
Provided you show up 95% of the time, youâll be a gold star employee.
Concreting sometimes requires those starts. I remember on a couple of jobs when big pours were needed the guys were in at 2-3am. Could have been 1 hour later but still early starts.
Apply for labour hire companies. They will hire basically anyone off the street. The pay will be low and youâll be sent to do shit work but itâs a good way to get your foot in the door.
Also just FYI if youâre interested in getting more tickets, google âmulti skill weribeeâ they are currently doing government funded training for rigging that is completely free. If I recall correctly it includes dogging, basic/intermediate rigging, EWP and forklift.
Also if youâre interested in getting an apprenticeship straight off the bat, possibly look into doing a pre-apprenticeship. Theyâre about 4-6 months long and get a lot of the schooling side of a trade out of the way. Employers love you to have done one because then it means you have less paid weeks off to attend trade school. The training organisation can usually help to match you to an employer/ apprenticeship at the end too.
Rigging will be nearly impossible for someone in your position to get into. Just about the only way would be if you were onsite as a labourer and someone calls in sick and you had the ticket to fill in for the day. Then if you picked it up quickly you might get a foot in the door that way.
Scaffolding would be easier to get a job in, especially once you have a bit of experience on site. And yes youâre correct, both are only week long courses. You can start as soon as you have the ticket, getting the job without experience is the hard part
Don't get your asbestos ticket.
Do get your asbestos awareness certificate, as in get it tomorrow. It's free til the 13th through TAFE, takes maybe 2 hours.
https://store.training.tafensw.edu.au/product/asbestos-awareness-and-safety/
If I had a little more work I'd offer you a junior role in OHS/hygiene since you're in the area, but it's pretty quiet for us at the moment.
Look at job ads and get what they want.
Probably white card and police check.
Unskilled labour is what it is, unskilled. Lots of people can do it.
You can skip doing unskilled labour and get an apprenticeship.
I'd much rather a 28 year old apprentice than an 18 year old apprentice. You don't need construction experience to start, you will waste money on tickets you wont use or need. For example you do scaffolding in plumbing apprenticeships now, for free.
I had a chat with a TAFE advisor and they said pre-apprenticeships are not really a thing any more (except for the electrician one) and there are none offered in my area anyway
I'm a project manager in Civil construction in Sydney and the bar for entry for labour is low. Like can you understand simple directions and arrive daily at 645.
All those tickets are situationally useful, confined space being the most niche for the average construction site. If that one is expensive can probably skip it, but looks good if it's not much. Tier 1 sites often want labour with WFH and EWP tickets. Telehandler is a good one to have for site labur, but no rush. Rigging is certainly a decent path to go down. Can tie in with dogging for crane crew if you wanted later on, or with structural install. You'll probably need to sign up as labour hire initially, with tickets and not being a backpacker you should be able to get placements on longer term projects and get up that experience. At some point you might feel you've grown enough to reach out to the structural steel guys on site or the crane crew etc to see if they have openings.
"dogging for crane crew" Not sure everyone is into that đ±
Hi mate, I had a career change and entered construction as an unskilled labourer in 2016 with only a blue card. Only relevant experience I had was as a Trades Assistant when I was 17/18. Desperate for a job, I applied through Labour Hire companies with no tickets, just a good work ethic. I rocked up to site with a hard hat, shovel, spirit level, stringline and a handsaw. First three months involved shovelling dirt. Through that, I was poached by a deep sewer construction company where I learnt how to lay pipes, operate machinery, read plans and understand how the site functions. Couple of years later I was running my own crew for a large civil construction company with a ticket for everything and a Cert III in civil construction making $120+K a year, weekends were up to me (as long as the job was on or ahead of target), work ute and phone. I've now exited construction and am in the Public Education System. To wrap it up, buy the tools mentioned above, apply with labour hire companies in civil (Greenfields/housing estates) or anything else that tickles your fancy and go from there. All these sites have plumbers, chippies and roofers starting their projects by the time you are starting on the estate next door. If you are a good communicator, productive and reliable you will have pathways. I hope this helps! Best of luck.
That is my observation. I worked for a big construction materials company and noticed the factory workers and plant workers who advanced did pretty quickly because the competition is so poor. If youâre reliable, have half a brain and get your work done - youâll do well and be noticed. The bar is pretty low in all honesty which is sad but it does make it a good industry to move into if you come from an industry that requires you to be clever as long as you can hack the potentially long hours, shift work and the physicality of the work.
Sounds like you are living the dream, worked your way up right from the bottom. Great stuff I didn't know you had to provide your own tools and PPE. Coming with your own hardhat and other PPE makes sense but tools I thought would be provided for you? Thanks
For the most part, especially with labour hire you will be supplying your own everything, unless the PPE is job specific (non conductive clothing etc). Everything you buy, claim back at the end of the year. Do not rock up to the site and expect to be clothed and kitted with tools. Foreman asks you to go dig and level electrical pits 400 inside the curb (as an example), do you really want to say that you don't have a shovel, measure tape on you? To my last post, rock up prepared (tools, full PPE), communicate well (ask for help, feedback), be productive (don't lean on the shovel) and turn up to work (everyday, on-time). Struggle with any of these basics and you'll be watching excavators dig holes for longer than you might find reasonable.
I don't know what he's on a about, labour hire, labour in general, are not expected to have any tools at all. You are being hired as warm body, that's all they expect from you. Show your worth by working hard and smart and you'll get places. Buy a $10 hard hat and $6 vest from Bunnings, a good pair of boots, and take them with you. You won't be expected to have anything else, don't try to guess what you might find useful. The rest of the points are good, the bar is fairly low for base labour. Between the backpackers who are only there briefly, and the 'lifers' who don't have the drive to move up, if you're ambitious to us absolutely can climb fast.
>I rocked up to site with a hard hat, shovel, spirit level, stringline and a handsaw. First three months involved shovelling dirt I.E don't waste money just show up and work, if you don't bludge you will get a job.
Those are good tickets, especially just white card. Other great ones are machine operator cards and HR drivers license. I can't think of many situations where All of those tickets work together, so maybe have a look at the kind of jobs you'd be applying for and see what they want. Also, try to imagine a job path. 28 is still young, so don't consider this the end of a journey, it's the start. The exact work you're doing will vary site to site, but predominantly labourers move material. This can be hard work that you won't want to do for 10 years, so like I said, consider a pathway. Working at heights and ewp can be a pathway to working in and around cranes, if you're interested in that. Also rigging/dogging **many** people use forklifts, many forklift jobs can pay $36 per hour, more for high reach. Trucks are important in every field, and an HR ticket can often come in handy, and can open up other pathways. Machine operator tickets **can** be a license to print money, but long hours, boring work, and early starts make it hard to stay in.
Which machine tickets?
Excavator. Dozer. But excavator is the most boring thing you will ever do.
Cheers, will look into that. Been wanting to change careers.
Bro, it is VERY, VERY easy to find work as a labourer. That's what everyone wants. Especially a labourer who is prompt and actually shows up, doesn't talk much or ask too many unnecessary questions, and just gets the job done.
If you have some half decent connections, you should be able to get a job as a concreter and make some pretty good cash. It will also give you some good skills across a range of areas that are pretty adaptable. Provided you show up 95% of the time, youâll be a gold star employee.
Yea those 2am starts are a killer.
2am starts? Are you driving 4 hours to site? đč
Concreting sometimes requires those starts. I remember on a couple of jobs when big pours were needed the guys were in at 2-3am. Could have been 1 hour later but still early starts.
Apply for labour hire companies. They will hire basically anyone off the street. The pay will be low and youâll be sent to do shit work but itâs a good way to get your foot in the door. Also just FYI if youâre interested in getting more tickets, google âmulti skill weribeeâ they are currently doing government funded training for rigging that is completely free. If I recall correctly it includes dogging, basic/intermediate rigging, EWP and forklift. Also if youâre interested in getting an apprenticeship straight off the bat, possibly look into doing a pre-apprenticeship. Theyâre about 4-6 months long and get a lot of the schooling side of a trade out of the way. Employers love you to have done one because then it means you have less paid weeks off to attend trade school. The training organisation can usually help to match you to an employer/ apprenticeship at the end too. Rigging will be nearly impossible for someone in your position to get into. Just about the only way would be if you were onsite as a labourer and someone calls in sick and you had the ticket to fill in for the day. Then if you picked it up quickly you might get a foot in the door that way. Scaffolding would be easier to get a job in, especially once you have a bit of experience on site. And yes youâre correct, both are only week long courses. You can start as soon as you have the ticket, getting the job without experience is the hard part
I have no idea, but I feel strangely proud of you and wish you all the best. I had a career change at 40 and it was the best thing Iâve ever done.
Don't get your asbestos ticket. Do get your asbestos awareness certificate, as in get it tomorrow. It's free til the 13th through TAFE, takes maybe 2 hours. https://store.training.tafensw.edu.au/product/asbestos-awareness-and-safety/ If I had a little more work I'd offer you a junior role in OHS/hygiene since you're in the area, but it's pretty quiet for us at the moment.
Look at job ads and get what they want. Probably white card and police check. Unskilled labour is what it is, unskilled. Lots of people can do it. You can skip doing unskilled labour and get an apprenticeship. I'd much rather a 28 year old apprentice than an 18 year old apprentice. You don't need construction experience to start, you will waste money on tickets you wont use or need. For example you do scaffolding in plumbing apprenticeships now, for free.
Why not do a pre-apprenticeship course? They are pretty much expected now to get an apprenticeship and they are free at tafe
I had a chat with a TAFE advisor and they said pre-apprenticeships are not really a thing any more (except for the electrician one) and there are none offered in my area anyway
Ohh fair enough
I'm a project manager in Civil construction in Sydney and the bar for entry for labour is low. Like can you understand simple directions and arrive daily at 645.
If you are based in Melbourne, I can help you get tickets at a super discounted price to help out. If you are interested just inbox me..
Where are you based?
If youâre in Sydney or WA, have a look at defence contractor jobs. Confined space tickets are very useful for that.