Nice work if you can get it

Six months on the Isles of Scilly? A year in Australia? As seasonal jobs get longer, Charlotte Johnstone asks: who needs a holiday?

The savvy way to see a place is to pack your bags and work there. Pre-pandemic, you may have serviced a ski chalet, taught English or picked fruit somewhere hot and exotic, taken to the seas as a waiter on a cruise ship, served cocktails in a European resort … the list was infinite and the skill set broadly accessible.

Nowadays, holidaymakers – and employers in the hospitality industry – are having to get a little more creative. According to Booking.com, eight out of 10 of the most searched-for destinations are now based in the UK and with many of us staycationing over the summer, honeypot Britain is very booked up. Add to this the current shortage of hospitality workers and the situation is untenable.

Or is it? Tresco, a family-owned island on the Isles of Scilly, and Hell Bay Hotel on Bryher, have found a grist to the mill. They are offering seasonal paid work for the entire summer and autumn this year. With holidays there long booked-up, their job advert very much highlights the benefits – free digs, competitive pay, travel to and from the islands, a discount in the restaurants and shops, and the opportunity to enjoy life on a subtropical island – in return for some graft.

They are looking to fill roles in catering, housekeeping, gardening and more in peak time July to early September – when temperatures average a balmy 15C (60F). And with your days off you can visit beaches, go kayaking, cycling or island hopping.

Though this isn’t anything significantly novel in terms of recruitment, it highlights a new and emerging trend for both tourists and businesses. The worlds of working and holidaying have completely changed – even since last year, when governments and hotels were offering incentives and packages to lure digital nomads.

Even more recently, as part of a new trade deal with the UK, Australia plans to extend its 12-month Working Holiday Maker visa for UK citizens under 30 to those under 35. Not only will this allow more Britons the chance to live and explore the other side of the world, but those on the WHM can stay for up to three years without having to complete obligatory farm work or labour (previously this was a require

ment for people wanting to stay longer than a year – and, we imagine, put a fair few off ).

In May, an offer for a couple to manage a wealthy family’s private island in the Bahamas hit the news as another way to enjoy tropical bliss.

The exchange warranted basic housekeeping tasks such as bed-making and cleaning bathrooms, with a host

of sigh-worthy benefits such as private jet travel, cars, a salary and healthcare.

Meanwhile in Scotland, hearts were beating over the recent request for a couple to own and run the only hotel and pub on the isle of Colonsay, aka Sunshine Island, famous for having the longest hours of sunshine in the UK, as well as sandy beaches.

Time for that career change?

iBondi Beach, Australia. Under-35s qualify for a 12-month Working Holiday Maker visa