Working In Thailand

[Prudent_rabbit]

As I run a Recruitment company here in Thailand I get lots (and lots) of requests of help to find work for Non Thais, In all honesty, in the 2 and 1/2 years here, we have had 6 Jobs available for non Thais, (against a backdrop of around 70 jobs per month for Thai's. ) I allways suggest that people come out here and network, and the chamber of Commerce are probaly the best place to start.......therfore please find the web address for all of the Chambers I know and good luck.

American Chamber – www.amchamthailand.com

Australian Chamber – www.austchamthailand.com

Belgian – Lux Chamber - www.beluthai.org

British Chamber – www.bccthai.com

Finnish Chamber – www.thaifin.or.th

Canadian Chamber – no website, email is [email protected]

Danish Chamber – www.dancham.or.th

Swedish Chamber – www.swecham.com

Russian Chamber – www.trcc.or.th

French Chamber – www.francothaicc.com

Singapore Chamber – www.singaporethaicc.com

Japanese Chamber – www.jcc.or.th

German Chamber – www.gtcc.org

Indian Chamber – www.itcc.or.th

Netherlands Chamber – www.ntccthailand.or.th

New Zealand – www.nztcc.org

Swiss Chamber – www.swissthai.com

South African Chamber – www.satcc.net

Hong Kong Chamber – www.thta.or.th

Italian Chamber – www.thaitch.org

Pakistan Chamber – www.thai-pakistanchamber.com

Korean Chamber – www.korchamthai.com

Malaysian Chamber – www.mtcc.or.th

Norwegian Chamber – www.norcham.com

Chinese Chamber – www.thaiccc.or.th

Taiwan Chamber – www.ttba.or.th

Edited January 30, 2007 by Prudent_rabbit

[bendix]

A noble endeavour Prudent rabbit, but I would like to add a caveat emptor to this.

In my interaction with some of these groups, I've found that the senior people in the big multinationals don't really bother with them so those serious jobs might not be so easy to find. The people i have seen at these functions tend to be from small outfits - farang oriented PR companies, dodgy investment companies etc - more keen on business-developing (understandably) than anything else.

[steveromagnino]

A noble endeavour Prudent rabbit, but I would like to add a caveat emptor to this.

In my interaction with some of these groups, I've found that the senior people in the big multinationals don't really bother with them so those serious jobs might not be so easy to find. The people i have seen at these functions tend to be from small outfits - farang oriented PR companies, dodgy investment companies etc - more keen on business-developing (understandably) than anything else.

Much as it pains me to say this, Auscham is actually fairly good and manages to get a fair few senior Aussies along to its functions. I would have thought quite good for networking, and possibly even for finding jobs with other expats.

Pity they are all Australian, but i guess you cannot have your cake and eat it too. :-)

[samran]

I'd subscribe to the Australian Chamber, British Chamber mailing list for starters. You'll get a good run down of events coming up, and can pick and chose the ones that interest you.

I don't have much exposure to the US chamber, but my focus isn't there, so i don't bother.

The EU Young Professionals seem to run some good piss-ups, but I've not had the chance to go...yet.

[dantilley]

Good thread, and has potential to be stickied I think as I know I would have found this very useful when I first arrived here.

To fill in a gap above, the Canadian Chamber web site is http://www.tccc.or.th/.

The best Chamber networking events usually are the Aussie Chamber and American Chamber events. British Chamber events can be OK and have the occasional good venue but it's a bit more stuffy and cliquey. But the European Young Professionals is run in collaboration with the British Chamber and provides some much more entertaining networking with a much younger crowd, and a good alternative to the usual British Chamber events. Web address for EYP is http://www.europeanyoungprofessionals.org/.

The German Open Young Professionals is also pretty decent, although obviously more German orientated and more intimate with smaller venues and fewer people. Web site.

Not sure if the other chambers really have any events of much note. But I for one would be interested to hear about any other good networking opportunities which are around. So please post other suggestions here!

[quiksilva]

AMCHAM also have a young professionals night too, but its a bit smaller but if you join the AMCHAM you can check for the frequency of events on their website

New Zealand Chamber events are often good value as are the South African Chamber events.

It depends what you want to get out of them. Young Professional events are good for developing a social network whereas AUSCHAM, AMCHAM, BCCT, SATCC, are better for business.

Don't miss the next all Chambers Sundowners to be held next week on the 7th, I heard that it was something like over 600 people last time!

Edited January 31, 2007 by quiksilva

[steveromagnino]

The EU Young Professionals seem to run some good piss-ups, but I've not had the chance to go...yet.

Yep, very enjoyable, and I even met some people to talk business with.

I don't know and don't desire to know anything about the US young professionals, but the European events are great fun.

they have a website, european young professionals dot com or something like that.

[Old Man River]

As I run a Recruitment company here in Thailand I get lots (and lots) of requests of help to find work for Non Thais, In all honesty, in the 2 and 1/2 years here, we have had 6 Jobs available for non Thais, (against a backdrop of around 70 jobs per month for Thai's. ) I allways suggest that people come out here and network, and the chamber of Commerce are probaly the best place to start.

Over the years, I have seen very few expats able to hire on locally, similar to your experience. It happens, but is normally a waste of time, unless someone has a lot of time. Instead, I have always advised expats to focus at the head office level, as that is how the vast majority of expats get work in Thailand.

[dantilley]

they have a website, european young professionals dot com or something like that.

Actually it's .org not .com. But the rest is correct.

www.europeanyoungprofessionals.org

Forgot about NZ and South Africa, also good options. But, yes the joint chamber event on the 7th Feb looks like it's well worth attending, and in Siam Ocean World which should be an interesting venue.

Edited January 31, 2007 by dantilley

[Valjean]

I go to the American Chamber of Commerce events and the attendees might not be senior execs of major multinationals (which after all is a small group) but there are a lot of mid-high level managers of major companies or very legitimate companies. AMCHAM has a monthly Marketing Committee meeting that can be good for networking as well as the social events. It’s about half Thai’s working in American companies and half non-Thais. There is also a Young Professionals social group that has big events. Also depending on the sort of job you’re looking for go to that committee meeting. (yes they are members only but accept guests). If you want a job in Marketing go to the Marketing meeting, if you are in IT go to the IT Meeting, etc.