Rural businesses are struggling to recruit young people
The author of this article describes how she faces a number of challenges with running my rural Indian cookery school in Somerset. So when I had a chance to question George Osborne at the recent Federation of Small Businesses policy conference in London, I asked: “What assistance will there be to attract skilled young people to settle and take jobs in rural areas?” Osborne suggested broadband was the answer, much to our amusement. His response missed the point: we do need better broadband, poor internet speeds are an ongoing problem in rural areas, but it isn’t the solution to attracting young talent. To recruit young people I’m competing with a talent drain into the cities. Many young people who grow up in rural Somerset leave for university in Bristol, Bath and Cardiff and never return. Poor public transport links and living costs put them off. The majority of new people moving to my village are retirees. A few years ago, with demand increasing for my classes, I knew it was time to take on another member of staff. I was desperate to find a skilled young chef who was productive, reliable and who could cope with the workload, but I was struggling to find recruits.
Part of the problem is that my home-based business is two miles from the nearest main road with very limited public transport connections. Since I can remember, we’ve never had a bus come through our village of Clapton. Along the main road there’s one bus from Bristol to Glastonbury every 30 minutes – it’s a four and a half mile walk from the bus stop to where I live. So a prerequisite of the job is a driving licence and being able to afford to run a car.
For me, there’s an added challenge that Indian cookery is a specialist skill and finding someone with that skill, or the ability to learn quickly, hasn’t been easy. I have approached an examination board about my teaching an Indian cookery unit to local chefs, but I was told there isn’t a demand for Indian cooking.
I’ve been lucky to hire a retired police officer, who now helps me with the business a few days a week. But it’s a shame I haven’t been able to find a young recruit. Someone young would be perfect for my business – I’m keen to train someone up to become a manager and to run the production line in the long term.