Mining companies in Western Australia will look to hire on short contracts for a while, with employment experts claiming a lull in resources recruitment continues.

The quiet period has been highlighted in international recruitment company Hays’ 'Quarterly Hotspots' list for mining jobs in 2014.

The report says when a couple of iron ore project get underway in coming months, recruitment should pick up as well.

Until then, miners do not want to risk taking on too many full-time workers while there is still some sluggishness and volatility in the air, according to Hays' WA state regional director Chris Kent.

“The permanent recruitment market in mining has been certainly affected and certainly a lot slower and it just depends on the skill set,” he said

“As we've moved from expansion into production phase in iron ore, there's still a rush for talent.

“In areas like process engineers, crusher operators, mining engineers and supervisors all those areas are quite in demand at the moment.

“People who can specialise in efficiencies, such as reliability engineers, business improvement, mechanical and electrical engineering are also in demand in some of the other commodities,” Mr Kent said.

He also says that fly-in fly-out arrangements are likely to remain common in Western Australia at least, while companies in Queensland move away from the practice.

“In Western Australia with there being less prominent cities all up the coast, it tends to be more accepted to fly-in fly-out from Perth and the surrounds,” he said.

“I think if you asked any of the major mining companies their preference would be for regional candidates who live in the area, such as Karratha, Port Hedland or Kalgoorlie.

“But equally so they still compete for talent and they have to remain competitive and some candidates don't want to live regionally full time,” he said.

The Hays report covers virtually every professional industry or field, and is accessible here.