Can I get a job in Scotland?

[DalekJaas]

Hi, I need some misconceptions of mine corrected.

I am an Australian, a bartender (not a particularly great bartender but I can pour a beer and your basic drinks)and will soon have completed a degree in Multimedia Journalism. As soon as I finish uni in 2013 I am going to take a tour of Europe with Top Deck or Contiki for a month or so, but what I really want to do is get a work and travel visa and go to Europe for a year.

Ignoring my money issues for this post, where I really want to go for some reason (I don't know why)is Scotland.

I have this idea of rolling hills and a small town where I can work in the local pub or tavern for a while before moving on.

But I honestly have no idea about Scotland, other than some basic history and that its looking for independence.

Does anyone know what the people are like, how they treat Aussies, how difficult it is to get a job or any other info like that?

Should I go there? Does Scotland have the small towns and rolling green hills that have taken over my imagination?

Any advice from Europeans?

 

[Da Orky Man]

I live in Wales, rather than Scotland, so my knowledge is limited. However, I can confirm that Wales does indeed posses hundreds of small towns and rolling green hills. A town nor far from me, Aberystwyth, as a population of 22,000 including students, and has more than 50 pubs. In general, Aussies are quite liked around here.
From what i know, it shouldn't be difficult to get a temporarily job as a bartender, though I'm not sure how visas work.
What You should try is Google Maps. Have a poke around, tour a few towns in Street View.

 

[SpiralDots]

I think you're a bit mistaken about the idea of rolling green hills. I mean yeah we do have some, but it's mostly mountains that we have.

If you want a small town surrounded by mountains, I'd recommend Aviemore - it's a popular destination for tourists and a lot of people that work there are foreign. I lived there briefly for a while and it really is lovely, and it's right in the highlands so great for exploring and you can get a train to pretty much anywhere else (like inverness, glasgow, edinburgh etc) from there so it's a really good location.

Since you're Australian you shouldn't have to worry about how people treat you, other than perhaps bad attempts at your accent.If you want to work in a bar (rather than a pub) then you shouldn't have too much difficulty as (at least in my city) a lot of them have a high turnover rate. I don't know how difficult it is to get a job in a pub, especially if you want to work in a small town, but you won't know until you try! If you maybe time it to arrive just before August as you should find a job in Edinburgh rather easily then because of the fringe festival) and then on days off you can visit small towns and try and find somewhere to work. Careful though, as accomodation can be quite expensive and so you're probably better off staying in one of the cities (or in a university town) so that you can find people to flatshare with.

 

[Wadders]

I live in Wales, rather than Scotland, so my knowledge is limited. However, I can confirm that Wales does indeed posses hundreds of small towns and rolling green hills. A town nor far from me, Aberystwyth, as a population of 22,000 including students, and has more than 50 pubs. In general, Aussies are quite liked around here.
From what i know, it shouldn't be difficult to get a temporarily job as a bartender, though I'm not sure how visas work.
What You should try is Google Maps. Have a poke around, tour a few towns in Street View.

Aber is great! Spent 3 years there as a student, so I can second this! It has no shortage of pubs, a greatnight life and lots of friendly students. And the sea, to add to the rolling hills

Cant help you much regarding Scotland as I've only been once to a place called St. Andrews. From what I recell there were plenty of pubs there, but I'm guessing your best shot at bar work would be a city, Edinburgh or Glasgowfor instance, as bar work in places like that would probably be easier to find than outin the sticks.

You can still get out and visit the hills and mountains though

 

[nifedj]

There are certainly plenty of small towns here in Scotland. SpiralDots' suggestion of Aviemore is a good one, I've been there a few times and it's a great place. As I said there a lots of possibilities, It depends exactly what you're looking for. I grew up in Perth (Scottish Perth, not Australian ) which recently became a city but would be considered a small town by a lot of people seeing as Scotland is a small place generally. It's at the Southern edge of the highlands and there are plenty of hills nearby if it's hills rather than mountains that you're interested in.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Well, we do have plenty of small towns, but you're much more likely to find work in one of the various cities (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, etc)

And as is well-documented us Scots do like a drink, so you should have no trouble getting bartender work anyway!

And the only problem that you should have being Australian is that people may say "G'day mate" in a horrible Aussie accent =P

Although I can't speak for any of the other cities, Dundee is a generally friendly place to live.

 

[DJjaffacake]

Scotland rolling hills

Unless this:

is your idea of rolling hills, then I think you might be getting Scotland mixed up with England and Wales.

 

[TimeLord]

Seeing as I live in Scotland, I can comfortably say that it isn't just rolling hills and tiny villages. At the very least you could go to Glasgow or Edinburgh (second largest city and capital city respectively) or Aberdeen, where I live! It is a pretty decent size and has plenty of oil and granite to throw around for money.