FIFO tickets: what to buy first and what to leave until you're hired

The rule we'd follow

Buy what every entry-level application asks for. Wait on anything that's specific to one site, one role or one state. Employers often pay for or run their own inductions, and a ticket gathering dust costs the same as one you use.

Prices and course lengths vary by provider and state, so we haven't put numbers on them. Get three quotes, and ask whether the course is nationally recognised before you pay.

Buy these first

• White card (construction induction). Commonly a one-day course. It comes up on a huge share of labour and trade assistant ads.
• A clean driver's licence. Not a ticket, but employers treat it like one. Fix any demerit issues now.
• Basic first aid and CPR. Cheap, quick, and a regular tick-box on applications.
• A recent national police check. Most employers ask. It's a different thing from a ticket and worth having ready.

Often asked, depends on the role

• Working at heights. Common on trade-assistant, scaffold and shutdown roles.
• Confined space entry. Shutdown, tanks, vessels, plant maintenance.
• Forklift licence (LF). Stores, warehouse and laydown yard work.
• Traffic control. Roadworks and site-road crews. Rules differ by state.

Wait until someone asks

• HR (heavy rigid) and other heavy vehicle licences. Genuinely useful for truck work, but a lot of money before you know what you need.
• BOSIET and offshore survival training. Only needed for offshore oil and gas roles. Expensive. Don't buy it on spec.
• Site-specific inductions. Employers run their own. Queensland coal sites, for example, have their own safety training requirements.
• Trade tickets and operator tickets. These are career moves, not entry tickets. Talk to the employer first.

The part nobody budgets for: the medical

Expect a pre-employment medical with fitness checks that vary by role, plus a lab drug and alcohol test. Both are normally arranged by the employer once you have an offer, but know what you're walking into. A positive drug screen ends the process, and so does the lie you might tell about it.

If you want to see which tickets show up most for the jobs you're chasing, the Get Hired guide walks through reading an ad.