Employment and job opportunities in Orkney
Orkney's traditional industries are farming and fishing, but tourism and food processing are increasingly important and Orkney is a key player in the emerging marine renewables sector with a cluster of businesses offering a full range of support for the development of this industry. Vital to the development of marine renewables worldwide, and opened in 2004, is the European Marine Energy Centre where prototype wave and tidal devices are tested.
The service sector is the largest employer with a regular demand for accountants, lawyers and IT specialists, healthcare professionals and teachers.
The unemployment level remains low despite the recession - for example, it stood at only 1% in August 2009. Although the August figure is boosted by seasonal employment, unemployment in Orkney is rarely much above 2%.
Over 8,000 people are employed in the islands, with almost one-third of these working for Orkney Islands Council, NHS Orkney and other public sector organisations.
Oil-related employment is focused mainly on the oil terminal at Flotta, along with several specialist service companies. While employment in this sector is fairly stagnant, opportunities in the renewable energy sector are on the increase, with regular vacancies for environmental consultants and marine renewables specialists and associated opportunities for support services.
Many small businesses have established themselves on Orkney in recent years, and the continuing advances in telecommunications technology mean that Orkney's distance from the mainland of Scotland is no longer a disadvantage.
Vacancies
While a number of organisations advertise vacancies online, and also in the national press, there is at the time of writing (January 2010) no dedicated jobs website for Orkney. If you don't want to miss out on any opportunity, you should subscribe to one or both of the weekly local newspapers - The Orcadian and Orkney Today - details on their websites.
Vacancies in the renewables sector can be found at Orkney Marine Renewables.
Starting a business
The Business Gateway provides advice to people wishing to start up in business, and can also help identify funding sources provided the business is not directly competing with another which is already serving the same local market. For more information on starting a business please contact:
Business Gateway
14 Queen Street, Kirkwall, KW15 1JE
Tel: 01856 886 666
Other useful links:
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