What jobs could I get in a rural/remote setting?
June 26, 2011 8:16 AM Subscribe
Leaving the big bad city *for good*: with my set of professional skills, what jobs could I undertake from home, if I were to move to a very rural setting?
[anon because don't want my current boss to stumble on this question]
For the past few years, I have been thinking about leaving the city and settle somewhere rural, back in France. This will not happen for a few years, but I am starting to think about the kind of jobs which will be available to me in a rural village or very small town once I move.
Me: last 20s. My skills/profile: Have 3 years experience working for a politics website, and 4 years working as an editor for a section of a national daily newspaper. I am fully bilingual, French/English. I am good at editing, writing and translating (and understanding social media, working on CMS, SEO, the works). Keeping my job would sadly not be a possibility.
My partner works as a media analyst.
Apart from this, we'd be open at trying our hands at almost anything, I would guess, from starting a business to run a BnB to telecommute to most jobs involving online work.
One caveat: we're not loaded *at all* (so buying a hotel is out of the question!), and we're working hard to save for a deposit (which is why the move won't happen for a few years).
[anon because don't want my current boss to stumble on this question]
For the past few years, I have been thinking about leaving the city and settle somewhere rural, back in France. This will not happen for a few years, but I am starting to think about the kind of jobs which will be available to me in a rural village or very small town once I move.
Me: last 20s. My skills/profile: Have 3 years experience working for a politics website, and 4 years working as an editor for a section of a national daily newspaper. I am fully bilingual, French/English. I am good at editing, writing and translating (and understanding social media, working on CMS, SEO, the works). Keeping my job would sadly not be a possibility.
My partner works as a media analyst.
Apart from this, we'd be open at trying our hands at almost anything, I would guess, from starting a business to run a BnB to telecommute to most jobs involving online work.
One caveat: we're not loaded *at all* (so buying a hotel is out of the question!), and we're working hard to save for a deposit (which is why the move won't happen for a few years).
Freelance editing, translation, and proofreading! I'm a book editor and our projects depend on freelancers, who often work very remotely from where we are. The fact that you're bilingual is a major bonus; I've worked on a couple of publications where I would have killed for a bilingual proofreader or photo editor, for example.
I would suggest familiarizing yourself with different major style guides so that you can work on as many types of publications as possible. Sounds like you already know AP style, of course; if you don't already know Chicago or MLA style, I would do that next, followed by Oxford (for publishing in Britain). If you think you might want to try to get work in medical publishing, add AMA to the mix.
Also, consider photo editing (a good idea if you have great research skills, knowledge of copyright issues, and understanding of print and digital photography) or indexing (if you know that you are extremely organized and detail-oriented). Indexing, in particular, requires really specialized skills that you can start acquiring in the meantime, if it's something you think would interest you.
posted by scody at 12:35 PM on June 26, 2011 [1 favorite]
I would suggest familiarizing yourself with different major style guides so that you can work on as many types of publications as possible. Sounds like you already know AP style, of course; if you don't already know Chicago or MLA style, I would do that next, followed by Oxford (for publishing in Britain). If you think you might want to try to get work in medical publishing, add AMA to the mix.
Also, consider photo editing (a good idea if you have great research skills, knowledge of copyright issues, and understanding of print and digital photography) or indexing (if you know that you are extremely organized and detail-oriented). Indexing, in particular, requires really specialized skills that you can start acquiring in the meantime, if it's something you think would interest you.
posted by scody at 12:35 PM on June 26, 2011 [1 favorite]
Since you are open to new professions, flip the search on it's head and look for companies operating in rural areas and see what positions they offer. I've seen some companies here in the US that have their headquarters in rural areas and they are always eager to fill those positions.
posted by Paleoindian at 1:14 PM on June 26, 2011
posted by Paleoindian at 1:14 PM on June 26, 2011
I work as a hospital librarian in a rural area, and there are many other professional (non-medical) jobs at the hospital where I work. Perhaps health centers/hospitals may have a webdesign or other office-y type job for you?
posted by brackish.line at 12:34 PM on August 3, 2011
posted by brackish.line at 12:34 PM on August 3, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by COD at 8:29 AM on June 26, 2011