Triptych of resource-sector working life: a FIFO worker boarding a light plane at dawn, a WA resource town streetscape, a worker in hi-vis at a processing plant, and four career pathway cards — apprenticeship, TAFE, university and direct entry
Year 7 · Unit 04 of 05

What's the Job Actually Like?

Could I see myself working in this industry — and what would it be like?

The honesty unit. Salary bands, rosters, training routes and the FIFO-versus-residential liveability decision are presented with real, sourced data — including the hard parts. Career interest built here survives contact with reality.

The five lessons

A remote operations controller at a wall of screens, supervising autonomous haul trucks and live site feeds from a control centre
01
Jobs You've Never Heard Of
The breadth of roles beyond "miner": trades, tech, science, logistics, environment, community.
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A young drone surveyor in hi-vis piloting a survey drone above an open pit at golden hour, clipboard and field case beside him
02
The Real Numbers
Verified salary bands, training routes (TAFE, apprenticeship, university, direct entry) and entry requirements.
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A FIFO worker with backpack and tool bag walking toward a charter plane at dawn, past a sign reading FIFO — Thursday, time to fly; home next Thursday
03
Live In or Fly In?
The liveability decision workers actually make: residential resource towns versus FIFO — costs and benefits of each.
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A classroom video Q&A: a smiling offshore worker in orange coveralls on a laptop screen, platforms visible at sea beyond the window
04
The Q&A
Structured question-and-answer session with industry workers (video; partner-facilitated where available — see fallback protocol).
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A completed Job Reality Profile for a heavy equipment operator: role, typical day, salary bands, roster example, qualifications, training pathway and lifestyle factors laid out on a desk
05
Job Reality Profile
Students build the comparative profile (summative).
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Students produce

A “job reality profile” comparing two resource careers with two careers outside the sector.

Industry connection

Partner engineer video: what is changing fastest on site.

Summative task · Job Reality Profile

An evidence-based comparison of two resource-sector careers against two outside the sector — pay, training route, roster and lifestyle, all sourced.

Curriculum alignment — the exact wording

This unit teaches the following mandated content, quoted verbatim from the revised Western Australian Curriculum.

Geography · Place and liveability · Career Learning

“The factors that influence the decisions people make about where to live and their perceptions of the liveability of places”

“The influence of accessibility to services and facilities on the liveability of places”

Career learning content sits alongside, not inside, the mandated curriculum.

Source: SCSA, Humanities and Social Sciences — Scope and sequence of the mandated curriculum content, P–10, For implementation in 2026.

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