As someone, who has lived in Dorset since I was 3 years old, I've always been very attached to Dorset because it is a very pretty place surrounded by lovely countryside and it is a quiet place, so I never understood why so many people were keen to get away from it when they became adults, unless they were tired of the quiet life and wanted more excitement.
However, since taking a gap year I have started to see the distinct disadvantages of living in Dorset, because although Dorset is a pretty place to live in, it is very hard to get a job. I've been looking for a job since late August and the only jobs I've managed to find are very temporary jobs and voluntary positions. Admittedly one of my problems is that I don't have a lot of experience of the world of work but my friends who live in towns/cities have had much more success in finding jobs even if they haven't had jobs before starting their current jobs.
One of the problems you have if you live in a village surrounded by small towns is that the small towns don't have many jobs available, so it means that there are more applicants per job and so they are ultimately more likely to have an applicant with more experience (unlike me).
Another problem though is the public transport in Dorset because in my village, we only have buses that go to our two main small towns every hour between 7.00 and 17.00 and even then they only go in one direction per hour, so this means that if you are a village resident relying on the buses, you can't get a job in the big towns/cities because you couldn't get there on time and you can't get a job in a pub because you need to be able to stay there until midnight.
The other problem I have is that there are some employers who say that you have to go to the store in person to pick up applications for jobs, that have become available and so this also causes problems for me because I can't pay for a bus fare for the sheer purpose of picking up an application form as there is a high likelihood that it could be a waste of my money, given that they could very well select someone else.
Because there aren't enough jobs in Dorset, it is leading to more crime in Dorset because Job Seekers Allowance is often not enough to live on, so Dorset isn't quite as pleasant to live in as it used to be. Admittedly Dorset still has a relatively low crime rate, so it's not as such a dangerous or scary place to live in but I am starting to wonder if that will change given how few jobs there are for everyone in Dorset, especially as the redundancies from the budget cuts are starting to take effect and Dorset was until now a county, in which a third of the workers were government workers.
Although I plan on living in London for a few years because I need to get away from the quiet life, I still love Dorset and I would still love to bring up my children here (if I have any) but taking a gap year has made me see the issue of living in Dorset in a different light.
