City dwellers opt for tree change to regional centres

WORKERS are being wooed by regional centres spruiking the chance to gain broad experience or set up a new business with small overheads.

Sick of Sydney house prices and traffic? Leave and go west

WORKERS are being wooed by regional centres spruiking the chance to gain broad experience or set up a new business with small overheads.

Recruitment drives are being run by local councils, attracting jobseekers young and old.

Randstad employment market analyst Steve Shepard said all regions differed but retail, hospitality and medical workers were usually in demand.

“Retail and hospitality industries tend to be strong in a lot of regional areas,” he said.

“If you’ve graduated in medical (fields) you will be in high demand.

“In some regional areas there are certain skills that they cry out for. GPs are an obvious one.”

Tamworth Regional Councillor James Treloar said Tamworth was one of seven evocities in New South Wales where relocation and job searching is made easy through an online portal.

Along with Albury, Armidale, Bathurst, Dubbo and Orange, the region lists jobs and housing for prospective movers on the evocities website.

About 350 jobs were listed last month including medical, education and training, trade services, government, sales, hospitality, accounting and retail roles.

Cr Treloar said there were lots of jobs in allied health, particularly for chiropractors and physiotherapists, and people with professional skills like accounting and legal work were also very sought after.

“I don’t believe there is any shortage of employment opportunities,” he said.

“You’ve got good growth rates of industry in regional centres … they’re showing enormous tourism opportunities.

“The internet era has become a very large part of the workforce so much of the work can be done from home or electronically.”

Cr Treloar said new university graduates could get a foot in the door of their chosen industry and gain much broader experience where there were smaller teams than in the capital cities where they might be stuck repeating the same tasks for years.

Appealing ... regional Victoria, including the Grampians, has plenty of opportunities for city dwellers needing a sea change. Picture: Andy Rogers

Southern Grampians Shire Council manager for economic development and tourism Hugh Koch said his area would be represented at the Regional Victoria Living Expo in Melbourne on May 1 to 6.

It will also be part of the Greater Hamilton region’s Open Weekend on June 20 to 21, which will feature a country race meet, art gallery tour, local football match and the chance to be matched with potential employers.

Mr Koch said regional centres were particularly appealing for families.

“There are a lot of people between 25 and 45 who are looking to relocate around families,” he said.

“They could be professionals looking for a change of lifestyle, graduates wanting to get their foot in the door of a particular industry or those who relocate because it’s far more affordable — you can actually pay a mortgage with one income.”

Affordability is also ideal for budding business owners and many areas are in need of new hospitality and retail ventures.

“There is a much lower entry point to develop a business,” he said.

“When people get here they understand while there might be a slightly lesser wage, you’ll find your dollar goes a lot further.”

Originally published as City dwellers opt for tree change to regional centres