I’m a fresh mining engineering grad; after last week’s campus talk I grabbed a 12-minute hallway coffee with a geotech lead, and he said referrals beat portals, so I spent this morning tightening my resume and project bullets. If you were me, would you prioritize cold LinkedIn notes to superintendents and alumni over applying on company sites, and is it worth paying to get to PDAC or SME when cash is tight?
I landed my first pit rotation by DM’ing the superintendent with a 3‑line note (who I was, one quantified project win, ask for a 10‑min chat); he forwarded me and had me apply on the portal so HR could track it. > on company sites, and is it worth paying to get to PDAC or SME when cash is tight? Don’t pay — volunteer for a student shift to get a pass and quieter booth time; that got me two screeners in a day.
Prioritize alumni and contractor PMs on LinkedIn; what finally worked for me was a note that led with “available for 8/6 FIFO, med passed, relocatable” plus a one‑pager, then I filed the portal app the same day so they could pull me in ATS. If you can swing it, one month of Premium + the alumni filter is worth it, but cap yourself at 5 tailored notes/day; @timothy2584’s approach is great — add a concrete start date.