Should I move home?

[Sunflower8092]

Hi Everyone,

I am looking for a bit of advice as I’m unsure what to do. I moved away from my hometown (a small village in Ireland) about 6 years ago – for job opportunities and basically wanted to experience new things.
I now live in a busy city in Scotland and have a great life. I have a fulfilling job that I enjoy and trained hard for. The downsides being quite a long commute and it can be very stressful.

My partner and I are currently trying for our first child and were planning on having a baby where we are currently. We have talked about moving back to our hometown in the future, i.e. 5 years time maybe. FYI my partner is also from the same village I am from.

However I have just spotted a perfect job opportunity in my hometown, and am unsure if I should apply for it. The job I do is quite niche so job opportunities like this don’t come up very often. This is pretty much the only business in my hometown in my field. If I were to move back, the next nearest businesses would be 2 hours away at least.

I am just unsure if I would regret leaving a busy city that I love, and going back to a much quieter life. However all my family are in my hometown, and I like the idea of having family around, especially if we were to have children.

Basically I am just looking for some advice – I don’t want to have regrets!
I need to weigh up the pros and cons, my current job is very stressful and I worry that the new job may be even more stressful or I may not enjoy it! I guess everyone has these worries when applying for jobs.

Any advice would be appreciated!

You can always apply, there's no guarantee you'll get it (sorry, of course I am sure you can and hope you do if that's what you want!) having a child near your families cam make things a lot easier as it can be hard to raise children with no family support around although equally you may want to keep them at distance if you think they may be too much! What does your partner say?

Yes, definitely apply, and go for interview if invited. You may find the process itself strongly helps with making a decision either way.
Though obviously what your partner wants matters equally. What does he think?

Exactly this OP!!

Thanks both. My partner says he will support me on whatever I choose to do. He is very laid back and doesn't mind either way. Which makes the decision even more difficult!

Hmmmm

What happens if that business folds?
What will husband do for a job?

Having family near is great. Would you have competitive granny syndrome? Would they be suffocating? Would there be enough of your peers locally at the same stage as you that you can engage with - you don't want to be talking children all the time.

Essentially, if it wasn't for this rare job opportunity, you wouldn't be considering a move back so is the job worth it.

Good luck in whatever you decide but applying for it may just inform you.

Akso worth checking if you need to have been employed for a minimum period before you can get paid maternity leave

Go for the interview. See what kind of vibes you get, you aren't pregnant yet, so have time to evaluate, I think we have better maternity benefits than the UK, might be wrong though. Check what others working there think. What's for you won't pass you as the saying goes.

You don't have a decision to make until you have a contract in front of you. It's worth applying if only to test what the company is like if they are the only potential employer that you can work with now or in the future.

Are you from the most remote parts of Donegal or Kerry as there aren't many jobs so niche that the nearest one in 2 hours away?

What are partner's chances of a job in his industry. What other industries could you switch to? You could both look at jobs to see what's available elsewhere right now. Plenty of jobs going give extremely low unemployment rate.

Housing & accommodation would worry me more than anything else in a relocation to Ireland. Properties to buy are in short supply and properties to rent are in even shorter supply. Start looking of myhome.ie and daft.ie

A lot if Irish people left Dublin during Covid 19 and moved to more rural areas. Based on my friends and colleagues,only 20% returned because they found it too rural or too quiet.

Thanks all. The deadline is tomorrow so I need to make a decision quickly. I think I will apply for it and see how it goes. As others have said, I may not even get the job, or if I did, I don't have to take it. I will have a better discussion with my partner about it and see how it goes. It's the fear of the unknown is the worrying part!

Go for it OP and best of luck. I'm also irish but in London and dream jobs back home rarely come up x