Rural professional jobs

[NicolaDunsire]

Not sure I’m going to make sense but going to try…

We live rurally but DH is in a standard middle class professional role. Our eldest DC is very bright & academic but ‘doesn’t want to work in an office’. She rides & has a boyfriend who is from a farming family - very agriculturally adjacent interests… at the moment we have convinced her to stay on at college for A levels rather than do an equine apprenticeship.

DH is concerned about her having a job that earns enough money to have a comfortable lifestyle. We both come from urban professional backgrounds eg doctors, lawyers, academics, civil servants etc etc. I think we are not very clued up on ‘good’ jobs that lend themselves to rural lifestyles. I am trying to convince DH not to get worked up about it all & that it is possible to have rural focused roles that are comfortable money wise - that life isn’t simply that you’re either a barrister or a freelance groom…

I would love ideas about what those roles might be! Not sure if this makes any sense, as I’ve said…

What does your DD think?
Both myself and DH have well paid professional jobs but DD wants to study something she is passionate about but will probably never pay a lot
Of course we don’t want our children to struggle but it’s their decision at the end of the day and luckily it sounds like neither your dc or ours need to contribute much financially to the household right now. I think planning to earn a lot of money later when you are only 17/18 isn’t the right focus

Look at agronomy, basically act as consultants to farmers. Look also at NFU for opportunities and careers advice

Estate management
Town Planning and Surveying could both have rural specialisms.
Vet
Must be lots of equine specialisms too?

Vet is super obvious one...
Ferrier isn't truly professional yet makes a lot of money.
Horse physiotherapist (it's a thing!)
Anything to do with training horses.

Farm manager, agronomists in general.
to be honest, farming requires every skill there is, and it's highly professionalised nowadays.

Pharmacist if there are some pharmacies in commuting distance.

Depending on how far away the local hospital is OT, podiatrist, radiographer.

What level does she ride at? Could she supplement income with lessons in dressage etc

Do you/ she have land or stables. Could she offer livery?

Equine dentist, physio, farriers also in demand although not considered professional

She is still very young if she is just about to embark on A levels. You don't need to decide just yet what her career will be.

Surely your DD gets to decide? Have a look at the courses offered by places like royal agricultural University in cirencester for ideas

Land agent

"I dont want to work in an office" is the refrain of every horsey girl I've ever known, including myself. I spent my late teens/early 20's not working in an office, working with horses, etc not making any money and scraping by. Eventually, it sunk in that I would need a "proper" job to pay the bills and for the horses.

Vet or vet nurse is the obvious one . Farming, farm secretary, is there an agricultural college locally?

I wouldn't be so hasty to push her into A levels if she has found a good apprenticeship she'd like to do. If she did A levels what are the likely subjects? It might be that the equine apprenticeship will open the doors in the direction she actually wants, whereas A levels wouldn't so much.

Also, beware of creating a restriction to "professional " jobs- this is your DDs life to live, not yours.

All the professional jobs you list require specialisation, so let her specialise now in the direction she wants.

My parents made it very clear to me when I was younger (and very horsey and rural) that I could either earn a decent wage so that I could afford someone else to muck out my horses, or I could spend my life with horses and end up mucking out everyone else’s.

It was great advice at the time and I’ve never forgotten it.

Vet, pharmacist, farm manager, estate agent, accountant; if the UK government ever wakes up there may be opportunities in alternative energy and climate change roles, and there should already be opportunities in areas like cybersecurity.

The probability is that by the time your daughter graduates there will be jobs that don't even exist now while some traditional jobs will have faded into oblivion.

If she’s dead keen on working with horses, then maybe something like this?

https://www.rau.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/bsc-hons-applied-equine-science-and-business

https://www.hartpury.ac.uk/university/courses/undergraduate/bsc-hons-equine-behaviour-and-welfare/

Would you prefer her to be an unhappy city lawyer or a happy rural groom? Genuine question.

Many of the jobs above do involve working in an office to a reasonable degree. Perhaps your daughter should decide how much of an office environment is acceptable, to avoid reducing her options.

It might be better to come up with a prioritised list. What are the most important things, in order? Minimum £75,000 salary? Maximum 40 hours? Outside in the fresh air 20 hours plus a day? Working with horses, directly, physically, day in, day out? Minimum commuting? Variances, driving around the county meeting new people?

If she can provide that list in order or importance, different jobs can be applied against that criteria. You will have some that will match that better than others - eg land agent is more likely to hit this criteria than an accountant. If working outside 20 hours comes in at No8 on the list then being an accountant or rural solicitor might be better particularly as earnings may be higher. But if working with horses, directly, every day, come rain or shine is No1 there needs to be an acceptance that her standard of living will unlikely exceed basic subsistence.

The rural sector demonstrates a very important principle. Most people can own a farm or an equine businesses because of significant inherent capital, whether it is 200 hectares of land passed down or £5m of cash from a business sale to fund an event yard. As @Internationalwomendayheadquarters says, a working life with horses means looking after someone else's, for the basic minimum of pay.

I think your DH is right to some extent. To be self-sufficient will stand her in good stead. Wide and firm foundations are important. EG - going into the IT industry, then specialising later in areas such as AI in agronomy, will keep her options open. Some sacrifices now to get those foundations in place will enable her to make easier downward choices later.

Or marry a rich farmer with some spare paddocks and hope they never divorce.

I don't think that is a fair question though. One can be a happy city lawyer and have a work life balance that supports equine pursuits. I know a few people in exactly that situation. I do not know any rural grooms that are sound financially (savings, average homeowner or above, decent pension etc) with no worries about their future. It is possible I suppose.

There are middle grounds also. A happy rural lawyer for example.

Speaking from my personal experience
at 20 and even 30 you are invincible but gradually mud, rain & cold etc etc are not as pleasant day after day so please suggest that she has some qualifications that are transferable for a good career later should she need it

Exactly what I told my DD. Working with horses in pretty much any capacity is a mugs game.

She needs qualifications of some sort but focusing on STEM subjects may be worth looking at. Is it just office jobs she wants to avoid or work directly in rural communities? Engineers (electrical) will be in high demand, BT telecoms, etc and they have an outdoor job. Otherwise agricultural college would be better than an equine apprenticeship. Absolutely no money in horses - and usually very little job in making your hobby your job.

Oh and there's also the British Horseracing Board Grad scheme.

If she is into horses, she may be better off doing a job that pays well and doesn't have anti social hours, so she gets the rural life outside work. That frees her up to choose what she would love to do, subject to it paying enough.

Thanks for your posts! Been a busy day.

to answer some questions/expand more! - the apprenticeship is a Level 2 equine groom thing with Bicton. I feel that she’s better off taking A levels & keeping her options a little broader at this point. I’m also not keen as the apprenticeship would be at the stables she rides at currently, I would rather she spread her wings a little at this point.

she is predicted grades 7-9 in her GCSEs which probably isn’t sufficient for vet (DH would be happy with vet, she’s never talked about that one!) but good enough for most other things at uni if she progresses to similarly good A level grades.

I actually don’t mind what she does! I would absolutely rather she were a happy groom than an unhappy city lawyer (although an extended family member is an extremely wealthy city monkey who has retired age 50 in order to ride & have racehorses!). I think we work long lives & there’s lots of time to change paths & try different things.

As far as uni goes I don’t see much point in masses of debt to get the Eng Lit degree I got & for various reasons have never earned more than £24k p/a with. DH however is much more cautious & (dare I say it) conventional & is struggling with the idea that his fairly academic daughter currently doesn’t want to go to university. I guess I was looking for ideas for him as well as her!

thanks - you’ve given me things to think about.

I did my A-levels, (because I thought should) hated it, didn’t do great then went on to be an apprentice groom. Had a great time, got to travel a lot because of it, worked very hard for not a lot of money but fantastic experience. Then decided I needed a proper job to earn a living, but not wanting to leave horses, got a job at a riding school, they paid for all my qualifications to become an instructor. Not amazing money but I lived comfortably and had a horse of my own.

Now with DH who is a farm manager, there is a lot more money in farming than horses and we have a great lifestyle because of his job. Although he does work a lot of hours!

My sister also left school to become an appreciative groom. She is still is a groom now, 15 years since she first started. She is well looked after where is, she’s well paid and her job includes her accommodation and bills. Good grooms with experience are actually pretty hard to come by.
Her OH is a farrier, he’s very well paid and chooses to work part time, but he does always have a bad back!