This month, Coal participated in a Careers Experience Day with students from the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation (AIEF) - providing information about the pathways to apprenticeships, traineeships and direct entry employment.

Almost 40 students attended the session, coming from schools across Queensland including Marist College Ashgrove (Brisbane), St Joseph’s Nudgee College (Brisbane), St Peters Lutheran College (Brisbane), Ipswich Girls’ Grammar School (Ipswich), St Saviour’s College (Toowoomba), St Augustine’s College, St Monica's College, Cairns; and The Cathedral School (Townsville).

Barb Sheehy, Principal Indigenous Affairs, Adam Shaw and Tasha Balharry, Specialist Resourcing, ran a session, chatting to students about BHP and how we innovate to 'Think Big' careers. They also provided information on our Coal operations in Queensland as well as describing our recruitment processes and the types of roles that are offered as part of traineeships and apprenticeships.

To help students prepare for the recruitment processes, teams also participated in a simulated Assessment Centre and a Q&A session.

Barb said Coal's Resourcing team did an excellent job taking students through the recruitment journey as well as providing an understanding of the BHP career pathways that are available to them.

"The session really connected with the students and in turn, they demonstrated a high level of innovation, team collaboration and energy," Barb said.

"I was also really impressed by the collaboration between Indigenous Employment and Coal's Workforce, Acquisition and Enablement's Volume Resourcing teams - putting together a fantastic program to prepare and provide insights into the recruitment process at BHP."

AIEF is one of BHP's Social Investment partners, working to provide scholarships to students and show them the various pathways into our Graduate and Internship programs. BHP also supports AIEF-BHP Tertiary Scholarships for students across a number of disciplines. BHP volunteers have the opportunity to mentor AIEF-BHP students in Perth, as well as AIEF students in Brisbane and Melbourne.

If you are interested in becoming a mentor, expressions of interest will open later this year.

Part of BHP’s commitment to economic empowerment is working with our Educational and Social Investment partners in our Reconciliation Action Plan. To learn more, visit http://www.bhp.com/our-approach/operating-with-integrity/indigenous-peoples