AIBU to ask what your job is if you live in a remote place?

[SeamusMacDubh]

AIBU to ask what you do for a living if you live in a remote place, i.e. the Highlands. Do you work from home? If you do, what do you do from home?

I don't myself now, but I did a PHD on enterprise in remote, rural Scotland. I can't remember the stats but...

Lots of people (especially those in small towns) work in bog standard jobs - plumbers, builders, petrol station assistants, mechanics, shop assistants, teachers, classroom assistant, chippy workers, road maintenance, bin men, bar / hotel staff, cleaners, secretaries, child care, elder care, etc. Local councils are major employers in rural areas and job with the Cooncil are sought after as they pay relatively well.

Many professionals choose to base themselves in rural areas ) doctors, lawyers, dentists, and there are many health-related jobs with the local health providers - nurses, health visitors, substance abuse workers, social workers etc etc.

Some people are farmers / crofters / have other jobs associated with land management - estate management, stalkers, gamekeepers, foresters etc Also nursery workers, food processing / manufacturing like smokeries or fish farms. Or are fishermen, fish processors, etc on the coast.

Lots of people work in tourism and related fields - hotel / bar management, chefs, waiting staff, tour guides, tour companies, coaching / training like outdoor centres, diving centres, managing visitor sites and centres etc.

Increasingly, with the development of the University of the Highlands and Islands, positions for academics and PhDs are popping up attached to former FE colleges / research centres in Perth, Lewis, Skye, Oban, Orkney, Shetland, and many other remote locations.

And lots of people do their own thing, either catering to a well-heeled tourist population (artists, sculptors, potters, blacksmiths, soap / chutney /toiletries makers, fabric / textiles / knitwear) or working remotely (translators, teachers, writers, online businesses) etc.

Any of them appeal ;-)? the big challenges are finding work that is a) not seasonal, and b) well paid enough to meet the increased costs of living / transport etc.

Rural Northern Ireland and veg farm here plus take in others Assured Produce Paperwork for extra money

Thanks aweewhile, that was a brilliant list! Very informative.

I'm a primary school teacher but realise that places that are less populated don't demand as many teachers as there are fewer children! Wanted to see if I could turn my hand to something else that would be a realistic means of earning money long term.

I'd love to be a farmer, but I know that it's a lot of work and realistically I don't think it would be for me!

My sisters in law live an hour north of Inverness in a small village. One works in retail and the other is an artist.

Live reasonably rurally, lots of villages and small towns but the nearest city isn't big and is 1.5hrs drive away. I'm a MH nurse. Professional jobs vacancies are available, sure there's less pupils or patients but there's also less candidates for the jobs so I would imagine it's pretty well balanced in most professions.

Where we live is touristy so there are additional jobs in that area, and I have friends who do jobs specific to the area such a climbing instructors.

I'm generally home based and commute all over the country

I work for a government department related to rural issues ..... [Grin]

Most of my team are remote home workers. We have a quarterly catch up face to face for cohesion. Our next is near our most remote workers location and we're doing a day's volunteering in her patch then our team stuff to get value out of the trip. Love it and them.

We all provide a professional service to our department and location is not a barrier.

Not me but my parents. My dad works for the council and my mum works in the private care sector.

Bearberry it didn't occur to me that less people would equal less people looking for those jobs!

Jayho your job sounds brilliant, I'd love to find something similar!

I work in private care, most jobs here seem to be care jobs as most the people that live here are elderly ( though I don't work with the elderly ).

I'm always looking at other ways to make money as there are not that many jobs near by. A lot of people are self employed and make money out of their hobby (art etc...).

I worked with a woman once who's sister lived very remotely, she did lots of things. Drove a lorry, helped with seasonal farm stuff and other more crafty things. It sounded great at the time, kind of romantic.

Just to say, if you are a primary teacher and wanted to move to the Highlands there is a massive, massive shortage of teachers up there. As long as your qualification would be acceptable to the GTCS you'd have schools biting your hand off.

I've got a few friends in teaching in the Highlands and Islands. and my mum taught in a very small school in a wee village for many years. If you are flexible enough to take on supply it can lead on to more permanent things. My friend on Islay is a primary teacher, but to get FT hours she ended up dong a mix of supply covering maternity and sick leave, teaching music and working in 2-3 different schools.

I'm a mental health nurse. I do commute an hour each way to reach a town where I'm based. That said, every year there are developments in remote working for nurses.

You might find more demand for primary school teachers than you think. There are fewer kids and schools, but very few teachers will to be based in the wilds. We are desperate for a teacher for our (admittedly very small) school, and I here other schools around are too.

BIL lives on one of the western Isles. At times he has had up to 3 jobs at a time (primarily when he was a single father with school age children) to make ends meet. A lot of the work is seasonal.

Yep there's loads of vacancies for health care professionals here, where I live is west Wales so it's pretty far away from big cities and I guess unless you have a link to the place you wouldn't think to come here. I think as young people have no option but to go away to uni (there isn't a 'local' one) they don't come back and chase bugger career opportunities in the cities. Leaves lots of professional vacancies back home

Erm definitely meant bigger not bugger!

Im married to a farmer and I'm a land agent specialising in estate management. Couldn't shift to the Highlands without retraining though - bloody Scottish law 😬

That's good to know there's a shortage of teachers, supply suits me better at the moment as I have small children and I'm not planning on having my own class again for a while until they're a bit older. I think my qualification would translate over okay, I have had a quick look at registering with GTCS but would need to look into it more.

I'd love to make a living from a hobby but I don't think I've got the balls to try it out!

As far as I know the only problems you might encounter with the GTCS are if you'd trained through Teach First or one of the other schemes that doesn't involve a post graduate qualification. If you've got a PGCE or BEd you should be fine.