Graduate Employment

Organisations offering Graduate Employment

Some of the organisations offering graduate positions include:

This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of graduate employment opportunities. The intention is to provide information on the recruitment process.

Demand for Graduates 

The number of graduate positions available varies from year to year depending on the state of the industry and the economy.

In addition to mining companies, graduates are also employed by consulting companies (business consulting e.g. KPMG, Boston Consulting, and technical/professional consulting firms), service supply companies (computer modelling, material supplies) and government.

Recruitment Process 

Many of the larger organisations recruit directly, and advertise in newspapers as well as on their corporate website. Sometimes business units within the larger organisations, especially the global mining companies, recruit independently of their head office. The smaller organisations tend to use recruiting firms to assist in advertising and selection.

As part of the recruitment process, many organisations attend the UNSW Careers Expo hosted early in each academic year by UNSW Careers and Employment . The Careers Expo is a one-day event preceded by a series of workshops to prepare students with resume writing, applications and interviews. Nearly 100 organisations representing the vast cross-section of industry and government are involved in the Expo.
Organisations also arrange presentations to final year students within the School. Details on upcoming presentations can be found in the Calendar section for 3140 Mining Engineering in //Vista//. Students in all years of the Mining Engineeering program are welcome to attend. See contact details below for bookings.
In fairness to organisations which provide substantial support to the educational programs in the School (such as scholarships and funding of teaching resources), the first seven weeks of the academic year are reserved for presentations by these organisations. Presentations are then open to all other interested organisations.

Timing of Recruitment 

Notices for graduate job opportunities are usually posted in the first half of the year. This is followed by several rounds of interviews as the list of applicants is culled. By mid-year, the first offers of employment are made to students. Acceptance of an offer is usually required within 28 days, indicated by return of a signed copy of the employment contract.

It is not unusual for students to face the dilemma of being in a position where the deadline for signing a contract is close while they are still hoping for an offer/contract to be finalised for another position they would prefer.

Don't despair if you haven't had an employment offer by mid-year. It isn't uncommon for the larger organisations to re-run the process if all positions haven't been filled.

Also many medium to small (and some large) organisations wait until after the annual company budget has been accepted before committing to recruiting graduates. Usually this budget approval process takes place in the third or fourth quarter of the calendar year. Hence a second bout of recruiting activity begins in the second half of the year.

In recent years, the majority of final year students have been made an offer by the start of the second semester, that is by mid-year. And even before the mining boom the majority of final year students have been made an offer by the end of the academic year.

It is recommended that students expecting to finish mid-year of the following year should apply with other final year students.

 

Starting Date 

There is usually some degree of flexibility with the starting date of employment. In most cases it is mid-January.

With some of the larger organisations there may be less flexibility as they need to co-ordinate induction and orientation for 20 or more graduates across a range of engineering, science and business fields.

  • For further information on graduate employment, contact Paul Hagan
  • If your organisation would like to be included in the list of organisations offering graduate employment opportunities or you would like to make a presentation to our students then contact Paul Hagan