How to find work in Thailand...

[marf]

As header, what sort of jobs would be available/suitable for foreigners looking to relocate and work in Thailand? I know there's always the ubiquitous English teacher jobs, but they seem quite low paid in comparison, mostly around just $1,000 US equivalent, I know the cost of living in Thailand is much lower, but surely even by Thai standards you won't have a good standard of life in Bangkok...

 

Currently am on in excess of $3,000/month and would consider a bit less which would still give me an improved quality of life. My background is professional IT training and curriculum development, which is going to be dragging me down the teacher route as a last resort, but I must have transferable skills, perhaps technical writing? I do have a bachelor degree and ironically a few years ago I did a TEFL course which was offered to me for free...

 

Ideally I would get a job with an international company and be placed there, but have no idea how to go about that. Any suggestions?

[FritsSikkink]

What do you train?

 

Have a look here:

 

https://th.jobsdb.com/th

 

Edited November 20, 2019 by FritsSikkink

[sunnyboy2018]

Whats ironic about a TEFL qualification? The better TEFL jobs pay 60k and you can build up private company contracts. If you are an excellent,  experienced teacher who is well dressed.

[marf]

I trained Microsoft networking, infrastructure and security courses and basic software devolopment. As an example - Boss: 'next week you'll need to deliver this course on C# programming' Me: 'I've no Idea about C#'. Boss: There's the book, there's the syllabus...

 

Also specialist software packages - essentially the company (a different one) would give me their bespoke software package and I'd have to learn it, write a manual/training package and deliver it to the staff of clients who'd purchased it...

Looking at that link I guess I'll have to pick up software development, but I'm sure that Thai employers are not going to consider anyone with only the theoretical knowledge and no experience...

[marf]

16 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

What do you train?

 

Have a look here:

 

https://th.jobsdb.com/th

 

Position:                      IT Admin

Job Type:                    Permanent

Location:                     Pathumwan, Bangkok

Salary Range:             20,000 - 28,000 THB 

Benefit:                       Group insurance, Bonus, provident fund, etc.
 

I've also done IT administration. Looks like a teaching gig would be better...

[Pravda]

I used to lolz at people coming to Canada expecting to find a job in 7 days while in reality it takes years, yet Farang expects a Thai to give him a job in IT?

 

Man, just go on expat facebook at look at all the "recruiters" flashing their TIT enticing Indians to send them a resume with is obviously some boiler room scam on commission and no work permit.

 

You only get a good job in Thailand if your company transfers you. Everything else kiss it goodbye.

 

English gig by comparison if you have a degree is actually a godsent.

 

WATCH FOR SCAMMERS!!!!

 

Edited November 20, 2019 by Pravda

[sunnyboy2018]

2 hours ago, marf said:

Position:                      IT Admin

Job Type:                    Permanent

Location:                     Pathumwan, Bangkok

Salary Range:             20,000 - 28,000 THB 

Benefit:                       Group insurance, Bonus, provident fund, etc.
 

I've also done IT administration. Looks like a teaching gig would be better...

Can you teach? How many years experience have you got? Is your TEFL qualification recognised? Who issued it? How long did the course last? How many contact hours did it include? Have you sorted out your police clearance certificate?

[marf]

Can you teach? Yes, I have been teaching various IT courses for about a decade...
How many years experience have you got? See above, no actual English classes other than online IELTS students...
Is your TEFL qualification recognised? I'd imagine so, according to their website they are?
Who issued it? Global TEFL https://www.globaltefl.uk.com/150-hour-tefl-online
How long did the course last? 150 hours.
How many contact hours did it include? If by which you mean in front of class time, it was entirely online...
Have you sorted out your police clearance certificate? I have a DBS from Disclosure Scotland.

[marf]

51 minutes ago, Pravda said:

I used to lolz at people coming to Canada expecting to find a job in 7 days while in reality it takes years, yet Farang expects a Thai to give him a job in IT?

 

Man, just go on expat facebook at look at all the "recruiters" flashing their TIT enticing Indians to send them a resume with is obviously some boiler room scam on commission and no work permit.

 

You only get a good job in Thailand if your company transfers you. Everything else kiss it goodbye.

 

English gig by comparison if you have a degree is actually a godsent.

 

WATCH FOR SCAMMERS!!!!

 

Yes, I'm aware of this, which is why I was asking what other options are there, although I did suspect as much.

[YT3k72Em]

I think the demand for teaching IT courses in English would be quite low. Most of them will be in Thai.  Unless you can get into big IT company with lots of foreign staff.  Try Agoda.

[FritsSikkink]

14 hours ago, marf said:

Position:                      IT Admin

Job Type:                    Permanent

Location:                     Pathumwan, Bangkok

Salary Range:             20,000 - 28,000 THB 

Benefit:                       Group insurance, Bonus, provident fund, etc.
 

I've also done IT administration. Looks like a teaching gig would be better...

There are IT jobs there with well over 100K, just depends on what sort of IT qualifications you have. 

[micmichd]

16 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

There are IT jobs there with well over 100K, just depends on what sort of IT qualifications you have. 

Those jobs are usually for seniors, ie you'll need professional experience. And they are very rare. 

[FritsSikkink]

1 hour ago, micmichd said:

Those jobs are usually for seniors, ie you'll need professional experience. And they are very rare. 

They are not rare, look at the website. Yes, you need professional experience like in every other well paid job. Why would a company pay good money for somebody who is (below) average and just wants to stay in Thailand. There are experienced Thai people to do the job too, you need to add value.

[kevin612]

Many expats want to stay here while I have a job, but most of them unable to seek a job out there unless being an English teacher. Thai government does not want us to steal their jobs.

[hanssna]

I've been working here full time for 18 years now, and no, not as an English teacher, and all I can say is to make a good living here, best is to work in an area that makes money in tourism, revenue from Western Foreigners..  That's where the money is ( unless you want to work in an office for 20.000 - 30.000 a month, no thanks ! ). How many languages do you speak ? Experience in teaching diving, manage a dive center, speedboat or tour company? Travel agent or tour rep experience, or can manage a hotel ? And, no, Bangkok is surely not the place to be here, much more tourism and action going on in the South. 

[MarleyMarl]

I was in a similar situation, working in IT in my home country. When I moved here I tried to find a job and couldn't find much, I found one company that wanted to pay like 25k and no work permit...

 

So I formed my own company, to get a visa and to be able to work for myself legally. Took me a few years but now it has develop into a nice small business.

 

Your best bet is working as a teacher for an international schools, with your background and degree you might be able to get 80k-100k.

[johnnybangkok]

On 11/21/2019 at 4:02 AM, Pravda said:

I used to lolz at people coming to Canada expecting to find a job in 7 days while in reality it takes years, yet Farang expects a Thai to give him a job in IT?

 

Man, just go on expat facebook at look at all the "recruiters" flashing their TIT enticing Indians to send them a resume with is obviously some boiler room scam on commission and no work permit.

 

You only get a good job in Thailand if your company transfers you. Everything else kiss it goodbye.

 

English gig by comparison if you have a degree is actually a godsent.

 

WATCH FOR SCAMMERS!!!!

 

What absolute nonsense.

'I used to lolz at people coming to Canada expecting to find a job in 7 days while in reality it takes years, yet Farang expects a Thai to give him a job in IT?'

The I.T. sector in Thailand is booming. There are plenty of companies out there looking for all level of skills and because many of them are either BOI or already have plenty of Thai staff, they can hire foreigners. If however you are more a trainer than an actual IT guy, your main obstacle will be your lack of Thai language (obviously training people means training ALL people). It makes it harder for you but certainly not impossible. If I were you I'd start looking at western type companies who have large teams of IT staff (IBM, Agoda, Lazada, Accenture etc) and talk directly to their HR teams or better still, if they have a Training Manager, talk to him/her. Secondly I'd get on Jobs DB and start looking at companies who are doing a lot of recruiting (there are currently over 3,000 IT jobs on this site alone) and again, start talking to HR. You can also sign up for their jobs by email service, that notifies you when new jobs come in. Also, get yourself on LinkedIn and also try and link with individuals with similar experience than you. Perhaps they will have an opportunity at their company. You can also get in touch with the recruitment agencies, a list of which can be found at  http://www.thaiwebsites.com/recruitment.asp

'You only get a good job in Thailand if your company transfers you. Everything else kiss it goodbye'.

Perhaps in the old days this may have been true but it certainly isn't now. Demand is outstripping supply and with the advent of Thailand 4.0 (https://thaiembdc.org/thailand-4-0-2/), Thailand is trying to position itself as a cluster for innovation and start ups. This will see an increase in what is known as New Technology (date analysing, data science, AI, blockchain, finntech etc). If you like the idea of IT training then perhaps you could update your skills to include these areas which would make you a much more valuable commodity. Talking of money, you have to legally be paid a minumum of 50k THB per month (non-teaching roles) but with your current skills you should be looking at a salary of 70k to 100k (very max) although product knowledge in new technology would add another 25-30% on top of that (https://adecco.co.th/salary-guide). 

Getting a good job for a foreigner isn't as easy as for a Thai (obviously) but all it takes is a little bit of thought and a lot more work. Don't expect the job to come to you but with a concrete plan and 'putting yourself out there' you'll be surprised.

 

Best of luck. 

 

P.S. If you want to know how I know all this, I'm the MD of one of Thailands largest Executive search agencies. 

P.P.S. I'd offer to help you myself but I'm afraid we only deal with executive level roles.

 

[Pravda]

31 minutes ago, johnnybangkok said:

What absolute nonsense.

'I used to lolz at people coming to Canada expecting to find a job in 7 days while in reality it takes years, yet Farang expects a Thai to give him a job in IT?'

The I.T. sector in Thailand is booming. There are plenty of companies out there looking for all level of skills and because many of them are either BOI or already have plenty of Thai staff, they can hire foreigners. If however you are more a trainer than an actual IT guy, your main obstacle will be your lack of Thai language (obviously training people means training ALL people). It makes it harder for you but certainly not impossible. If I were you I'd start looking at western type companies who have large teams of IT staff (IBM, Agoda, Lazada, Accenture etc) and talk directly to their HR teams or better still, if they have a Training Manager, talk to him/her. Secondly I'd get on Jobs DB and start looking at companies who are doing a lot of recruiting (there are currently over 3,000 IT jobs on this site alone) and again, start talking to HR. You can also sign up for their jobs by email service, that notifies you when new jobs come in. Also, get yourself on LinkedIn and also try and link with individuals with similar experience than you. Perhaps they will have an opportunity at their company. You can also get in touch with the recruitment agencies, a list of which can be found at  http://www.thaiwebsites.com/recruitment.asp

'You only get a good job in Thailand if your company transfers you. Everything else kiss it goodbye'.

Perhaps in the old days this may have been true but it certainly isn't now. Demand is outstripping supply and with the advent of Thailand 4.0 (https://thaiembdc.org/thailand-4-0-2/), Thailand is trying to position itself as a cluster for innovation and start ups. This will see an increase in what is known as New Technology (date analysing, data science, AI, blockchain, finntech etc). If you like the idea of IT training then perhaps you could update your skills to include these areas which would make you a much more valuable commodity. Talking of money, you have to legally be paid a minumum of 50k THB per month (non-teaching roles) but with your current skills you should be looking at a salary of 70k to 100k (very max) although product knowledge in new technology would add another 25-30% on top of that (https://adecco.co.th/salary-guide). 

Getting a good job for a foreigner isn't as easy as for a Thai (obviously) but all it takes is a little bit of thought and a lot more work. Don't expect the job to come to you but with a concrete plan and 'putting yourself out there' you'll be surprised.

 

Best of luck. 

 

P.S. If you want to know how I know all this, I'm the MD of one of Thailands largest Executive search agencies. 

P.P.S. I'd offer to help you myself but I'm afraid we only deal with executive level roles.

 

 

No. It's a bunch of nonsense. 

 

"IT sector in Thailand is booming". 

 

Wrong. 

 

It sector everywhere is booming. The question is how many head offices Thailand had that your answer can even remotely be taken seriously. 

[johnnybangkok]

19 minutes ago, Pravda said:

 

No. It's a bunch of nonsense. 

 

"IT sector in Thailand is booming". 

 

Wrong. 

 

It sector everywhere is booming. The question is how many head offices Thailand had that your answer can even remotely be taken seriously. 

Yeah, what do I know. I only do this for a living.

[Harveyboy]

3 hours ago, hanssna said:

I've been working here full time for 18 years now, and no, not as an English teacher, and all I can say is to make a good living here, best is to work in an area that makes money in tourism, revenue from Western Foreigners..  That's where the money is ( unless you want to work in an office for 20.000 - 30.000 a month, no thanks ! ). How many languages do you speak ? Experience in teaching diving, manage a dive center, speedboat or tour company? Travel agent or tour rep experience, or can manage a hotel ? And, no, Bangkok is surely not the place to be here, much more tourism and action going on in the South. 

But as Farangs we are not allowed any of those tourist related jobs in any form... Yet Russians seem to have found a way 

[Harveyboy]

Just now, Harveyboy said:

But as Farangs we are not allowed any of those tourist related jobs in any form... Yet Russians seem to have found a way 

I've run a tourist company in Europe for 30 years.. Experience and knowledge second to none would love to work here in the tourist industry. But illigal don't want to get the wrong side of the law 

[justin case]

21 hours ago, Harveyboy said:

I've run a tourist company in Europe for 30 years.. Experience and knowledge second to none would love to work here in the tourist industry. But illigal don't want to get the wrong side of the law 

it's all great till someone reports you, got jail, idc, blacklisted & deported

 

????

 

[FritsSikkink]

On ‎11‎/‎22‎/‎2019 at 10:46 AM, hanssna said:

 ( unless you want to work in an office for 20.000 - 30.000 a month, no thanks ! ). 

Add a zero to that

[FritsSikkink]

On ‎11‎/‎22‎/‎2019 at 11:42 AM, MarleyMarl said:

I was in a similar situation, working in IT in my home country. When I moved here I tried to find a job and couldn't find much, I found one company that wanted to pay like 25k and no work permit...

 

So I formed my own company, to get a visa and to be able to work for myself legally. Took me a few years but now it has develop into a nice small business.

 

Your best bet is working as a teacher for an international schools, with your background and degree you might be able to get 80k-100k.

Working in IT, what did you do?

[FritsSikkink]

On ‎11‎/‎22‎/‎2019 at 12:29 PM, Pravda said:

 

No. It's a bunch of nonsense. 

 

"IT sector in Thailand is booming". 

 

Wrong. 

 

You know nothing about IT in Thailand