Attracting graduates to careers in mining

What is shaping mining

Mining operations depend on a social licence from nearby communities as much as on permits. Safety culture, workforce welfare and transparent CSR shape how companies are seen locally and by regulators.

• Community trust can make or break an operation
• Safety culture is measured by behaviour, not policies
• CSR spending is increasingly evaluated for real impact

A mining industry association, working in Australia & New Zealand. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.

Organisation

A mining industry association

Sector

Mining

Team engaged

Digital Marketing

Services

Quantitative research, Social media advertising, Content marketing

Enrolments in mining engineering and related degrees had fallen, and companies struggled to recruit graduates. The association wanted to understand students’ perceptions before launching a careers campaign. Industry leaders worried that negative perceptions about environmental impact and remote lifestyles were turning students away.

• Deliver on the brief: attracting graduates to careers in mining.
• Design around the real needs of students before.
• Set measurable targets and a tracking baseline before launch.
• Improve results through structured testing, reported in plain language.

The work focused on 2,000 students before.

• students before2,000

Audiences we typically reach in mining

Host communitiesMine workers and contractorsLocal leaders and officialsRegulatorsCSR beneficiaries

Coverage: Australia & New Zealand. Markets: Australia and New Zealand.

• Australia
• New Zealand

A test-and-learn programme: a clear baseline, focused campaigns and weekly optimisation against agreed targets.

1. 1Brief
2. 2Student survey
3. 3Career campaign
4. 4Insight

We surveyed university and senior school students about career interests and perceptions of mining, including concerns about sustainability and remote work. The findings shaped a campaign featuring young engineers and technicians working on automation, environmental management and rehabilitation. Content was distributed through social channels students actually used and through university careers events.

Quantitative researchSocial media advertisingContent marketing

students before

2,000

• Audiences were defined from the client's customer data and platform targeting, with test and control groups where possible.

• Campaign, website and CRM data were tracked daily through analytics and ad platforms.

• Conversion tracking tested end to end
• Consistent UTM tagging on every link
• Numbers reconciled between ad platforms and analytics
• Two-person check before anything goes live

• Funnel analysis from impression to lead or sale
• A/B test results on creatives, keywords and pages
• Channel and campaign attribution

• Students who saw the campaign were more aware of technology and environmental roles in mining and more likely to consider related courses.

Showing modern roles changed perceptions shaped by outdated images.

• Build on the core insight: showing modern roles changed perceptions shaped by outdated images.
• Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: students who saw the campaign were more aware of technology and environmental roles in mining and more likely to consider related courses.
• Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.

• The association extended the campaign to school career advisers.

What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.

• Insight report and management presentation
• Cleaned data file and data tables
• Campaign assets and landing pages
• Monthly performance report

• Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
• A natural follow-on question: how do communities see the operation?