how does a teenager get a job in thailand.

[moogradod]

1 minute ago, The Hammer2021 said:

We work to survive. We start in the West between the ages of 16 to 21. Most jobs are mundane and tedious and often soul destroying

Not the same for everyone. I entered University at the age of 19 and worked only during holidays in some of these mundane and tedious jobs you mention. But I was lucky for I did not have to stand on my own feet then. My father was a commodity trader and we were rich enough that I did not have to contribute anything. Rather the opposite.

[Iamfalang]

1 hour ago, VocalNeal said:

Most responders have forgotten what it was like to be 19? Not a clue what the world is about and what the possibilities are.

You're exactly right.   I was 19 in 1919 and never had kids.    So I'm great at giving advice online!!!

 

The average age reading this is probably 109.   

 

But he asked us!!!!       There may be some similarities.   19, maybe he likes girls.  So work with girls.  I was a lifeguard.   

 

Or intern at a big corporation.  or at a school.   It's the 711 and Big C jobs that seem horrible, and I would rather play video games than do that stuff.........usually flat-chested girls work at 711.   strange business model.

 

19.....yea, passions.   maybe give him money to trade bitcoin.  joking.   

buy him an iPhone 13 to take pictures......joking again.

 

19.......yea, I really don't remember much except my parents curious if I would ever get a job and finish school.  I did, got a high paying job, and hated it.  rinse and repeat for decades.  haha.

 

life

 

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

2 minutes ago, The Hammer2021 said:

We work to survive. We start in the West between the ages of 16 to 21. Most jobs are mundane and tedious and often soul destroying

I spent my 20's in sales, got sick of the stress, and needed a change of scenery after my long time GF left me. Went back to school, finished my degree, hopped on a plane, now here I am.

 

Here in my moo ban, a grandpa recently kicked out his former BKK bargirl granddaughter who was too good for any other work. In the nearby town, given the pandemic, many of the shops have converted to online sales, and can't get enough people to talk to online customers and pack their orders. That little princess is now plentifully packing. Any other young folks in need of employment should be advised to look in that direction.

[Jotnar]

12 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

All my mob in Thailand are self employed.

Ditto

 

With that, depending where living, jobs, one he'll actually stay with after a month or week, may be a bit thin out there.

 

Here's 2 self employment ventures, that will work, almost anywhere, worldwide.  And they go hand in hand.

 

1.  Buy a quality pressure washer, unless living in condo, you need one anyway, and teach him how to use it.  Print off flyers, and hit the mooban/developments, and advertise mold removal, and you'll be surprised how many people need it done, but don't want to invest in a good machine.  They can scrub all day with chems & hose, or hire someone with a machine.

 

2. Teach him to paint, and can even pay him, to paint the house you're living in.  One of the simplest things, but many haven't a clue, or want to be bothered.  Just don't ever, ever, ever add water to primer or paint.  Teach him prepping the surface is as important as putting on the paint.

 

The pressure washer goes hand & hand with painting, as great way to prep walls, take off loose paint, for painting.  Again, flyers to the developments, and he's on his way to being self employed.  Can work out of a truck or even a car.

 

Tell him if he shows initiative & profits, you'll loan him money for a used truck.  You have the option of bonding, teaching & spending a few 100k baht (truck), or don't, and spend that & more, supporting him till whenever.

 

Just a couple thoughts.

[moogradod]

13 minutes ago, The Hammer2021 said:

Self employment in Thailand is just a step  away  from unemployment.  It's not a real business with a business plan, lines of credit  from the bank, a health plan or tax scheme. Its just scraping  by living hand to mouth with no security. 

I have a friend who introduced one of the most successful coffee chains in Thailand, then Vietnam and Cambodia. Another one operates a succesful business in the same sector. So there are successful farangs. The basis is hard work (and luck).

 

But of course you are right that we always see the successful few and not the many failures. But I do not agree at all that without a Business Plan and the other things you mention you would maximize your success. I would even make a Business Plan for selling Som Tam (for myself in this case) and I am sure that the lack of it is exactly why many businesses here do not flourish.

 

For many Thai citizens, planning and calculation seem to be foreign words.

[Kwasaki]

1 hour ago, moogradod said:

Bingo. That confirms my theory.

My Thai son wanted to be self-employed so went to Uni to do 4 & 1/2 years to get qualifications to present to his clients.

He has his own business and it hasn't been easy getting work in Thailand but he has a reasonable living.

 

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, The Hammer2021 said:

We work to make money to live. Enjoying your work is a rare luxury. That's what work means.

Get up early, go to a place that boring,  be surrounded by people you don't like, have a boss who tells you what to do, leave the place every day dreading your return the next  day. After one month get low wages but enough to eat and drink. Dream of a better job which only come via education and or luck or a natural specialist talent.

99% of jobs are śhìť.

Does this mean you, or anybody you address with this, has 0 talent in anything? That would be very sad.

And what's wrong with education? I.e. if you want to be a programmer then learn programming, or accounting or whatever. These days with internet it is very easy to lean new skills. It takes time and effort but that time is the best investment you can do.

Doing 40 years a job you don't like or learning 5 years and then do a job you like and enjoy makes a HUGE difference. IMHO there is no excuse for not learning. People spend so much time with games, facebook, drinking, whatever. Invest in your life and make the best out of it!

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, moogradod said:

I believe you can only be exeptional at something you really like. Unfortunately it takes time to determine what that is - and at that time you may have already embarked on a specific education. Would I have known what I know now I would have ended up highly successfully now. Without bragging I am actually quite sure about this. Some mistakes of my own on the way have ruined the best opportunities I had.

 

But you are right, to have luck as well does not hurt. I have as well had some business ideas long before others became multimillionaires with the same idea (example: I thought of online-casinos long before there was internet) but then missed the opportunity to implement a business just because I did not saw the opportunity when it opened up. Same with some other projects.

So it seems now you think about how great life could have been if you would have done... And what do you learn from that? Do it! 

And ideas is not good enough. I also had a couple of ideas before a few years later such products were sold. But that doesn't mean anything. Because having a good idea is maybe 10% of success. You also need often lots of money, patients and work 24/7 and all night. 

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, moogradod said:

I have a friend who introduced one of the most successful coffee chains in Thailand, then Vietnam and Cambodia. Another one operates a succesful business in the same sector. So there are successful farangs. The basis is hard work (and luck).

 

But of course you are right that we always see the successful few and not the many failures. But I do not agree at all that without a Business Plan and the other things you mention you would maximize your success. I would even make a Business Plan for selling Som Tam (for myself in this case) and I am sure that the lack of it is exactly why many businesses here do not flourish.

 

For many Thai citizens, planning and calculation seem to be foreign words.

Good post.

I agree that part of success is luck. But what if someone if not lucky? He/she can complain about that and tell others for the next 20 year how life could have been with luck. Or try again something else. And if it doesn't work something else.

Read biographies for successful people. Many of them have one thing in common: First they didn't have success. So they tried again, and again. And maybe then they had success. And maybe they failed again. And then they worked again on a new project. It works, there are lots of successful people out there. Ask them what they did and ask for advice. And do it!

[OneMoreFarang]

39 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

My Thai son wanted to be self-employed so went to Uni to do 4 & 1/2 years to get qualifications to present to his clients.

He has his own business and it hasn't been easy getting work in Thailand but he has a reasonable living.

Good!

I think we should also not forget that in many jobs it makes sense to learn in an existing successful company how to do a job properly. And after learning then maybe doing it yourself - if you have enough money to start a business and survive for a year even if business is not as good as you dreamed it would be.

[Kwasaki]

15 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Good!

I think we should also not forget that in many jobs it makes sense to learn in an existing successful company how to do a job properly. And after learning then maybe doing it yourself - if you have enough money to start a business and survive for a year even if business is not as good as you dreamed it would be.

To get into many companies you have to have connections within the industry as well as qualifications.

As said not easy so my son set up company and self-employment had to put up the money for everything to create and film an ad that the client likes.

The companies or TV stations won't give money first they only pay when the work is accepted and finished.

So in beginning it was hard and when covid came it was tough but he had established clients by then so now has got it sorted and get by doing something he enjoys.

[moogradod]

47 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Good post.

I agree that part of success is luck. But what if someone if not lucky? He/she can complain about that and tell others for the next 20 year how life could have been with luck. Or try again something else. And if it doesn't work something else.

Read biographies for successful people. .........

Thank you.

You seem to interpret that I am not satisfied with my life as it turned out and are prone to complaining. But neither am I interested how "successful" people did whatever differently nor am I not happy. I wish them all well and I am happy for them, too. I find it rather amusing how many times I have had some good ideas only to see others reaping benefits.

 

And "successful" for me is more connected to spiritual development than to materialistic issues which I do not refuse but do not regard as the primary cause of happiness or even it might be the cause of misery. Just look in the newspaper and there it is right before your eyes. The thing here is not to get dependend although you may enjoy them. There is nothing wrong with driving a Ferrari. It is fun if you can leave it at that. The Dalai Lama would (maybe) like it (but he is more into mechanical watches). What is wrong is that you think that the car is the cause of happiness while its decay is only a matter of time and therefore ultimately rather a source of grief.

[OneMoreFarang]

11 minutes ago, moogradod said:

Thank you.

You seem to interpret that I am not satisfied with my life as it turned out and are prone to complaining. But neither am I interested how "successful" people did whatever differently nor am I not happy. I wish them all well and I am happy for them, too. I find it rather amusing how many times I have had some good ideas only to see others reaping benefits.

 

And "successful" for me is more connected to spiritual development than to materialistic issues which I do not refuse but do not regard as the primary cause of happiness or even it might be the cause of misery. Just look in the newspaper and there it is right before your eyes. The thing here is not to get dependend although you may enjoy them. There is nothing wrong with driving a Ferrari. It is fun if you can leave it at that. The Dalai Lama would (maybe) like it (but he is more into mechanical watches). What is wrong is that you think that the car is the cause of happiness while its decay is only a matter of time and therefore ultimately rather a source of grief.

I agree that it is not all about money. Money helps to have a happy life but it doesn't bring a happy life.

 

Maybe I should define what I mean with successful. If i.e. someone likes to repair motorcycles and he does that and he makes enough money with that to live the way he likes that is success for that person.

Personally I had enough opportunities to make more money than I did. I could have worked longer hours and I could have done projects which paid better. But I chose what I liked and what paid the bills and left me enough time to enjoy life.

My main point is that just working to make money (little or a lot) for 40+ years is not a good idea. It is a receipt for unhappiness. 

 

And for anybody who likes reading I suggest this book. Enjoy!

 

 

[Hummin]

From what I have learned in the village the last years, is the boys who get work after primery school, have a male role model who help them. Be it father, uncle or older cousin who bring them to work with them. Also see those who mother care for them, pay them out of army and do not want them to leave home and they become useless. 
 

Always some connections who make things happen for the boys without education, or they have some talent, fixing things, building things and neighbor’s talk good about them and they are picked up by companies, since reliable workers is sometimes hard to get. 

[yeahbutif]

9 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Sounds like mother taking him to try and get jobs means he doesn't want a job. 

If his getting money from his mum and meeting up with other mates why bother with a job. 

As I Said its her little boy ..he can't think for himself she don't push him..he has no friends apart from internet friends .any job that needs doing.his mother has to  tells him to do it and only that job gets done like sweep that up ..means sweep that pile up not the one next to it....then return to computer. She even has to tell him to have a shower. .

[Madgee]

5 minutes ago, yeahbutif said:

As I Said its her little boy ..he can't think for himself she don't push him..he has no friends apart from internet friends .any job that needs doing.his mother has to  tells him to do it and only that job gets done like sweep that up ..means sweep that pile up not the one next to it....then return to computer. She even has to tell him to have a shower. .

Snap!
Little Emperors ... Hard to live with.

[it is what it is]

It seems to me the mothers don’t push the there sons to get a job.

 

you're taking about your specific situation and then genralising... the sons, and daughters, of all my thai friends are either studying at university in thailand or abroad, those that aren't all have good jobs. i dont see any difference between the work ethic of the children of my thai friends or friends from back home. getting a job is easy, all you have to do is want to.

[BangkokReady]

13 hours ago, yeahbutif said:

It seems to me the mothers don’t push the there sons to get a job. (Girls seem less lazy and get jobs easy).

Yes, some men in Thailand are raised to be lazy, entitled psychopaths, while the girls are raised to be happy to basically be in an abusive relationship and have to work to support her family, including potentially a lazy brother that just sits around drinking all day.

 

Is it your kid?

 

Edit: I see it isn't your kid.  This is one of the many reasons that it is a bad idea to marry a woman with children.  They likely will not respect you, but you end up paying for them, then the woman is prioritising them ahead of you.

 

Can you spend time with him?  Outside of the house?  It might not be too late.

[BritManToo]

15 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Read biographies for successful people. Many of them have one thing in common: First they didn't have success. So they tried again, and again. And maybe then they had success. And maybe they failed again. And then they worked again on a new project. It works, there are lots of successful people out there. Ask them what they did and ask for advice. And do it!

Generally I found such people a little stupid, but obsessed with making money.

[BritManToo]

9 hours ago, yeahbutif said:

.......... he has no friends apart from internet friends

Normal everywhere today.

[OneMoreFarang]

58 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Generally I found such people a little stupid, but obsessed with making money.

Not all of them

 

[bbko]

Many here keep saying Big-C, I don't recall seeing teenagers working at Big C.  

 

When my now 14 y/o son is 16ish, I'll see about him owning/working one of those food carts selling drinks or snacks or whatever. I'm already teaching him how to use the lawn mower and string trimmer and tell him of my youth when my friend and I would go around the neighborhood on the weekends cutting grass for money. 

I'm not saying that's going to be his career, I just want him to learn responsibility, work ethics, customer relations, public interactions, attention to detail, etc. 

 

[mtls2005]

On 5/8/2022 at 9:08 PM, yeahbutif said:

She even has to tell him to have a shower. .

Has he been diagnosed with any cognitive disabilities? Is he on the spectrum?

 

It sounds like there are much larger issues here.

 

 

[RichardColeman]

I left school at 16, and just went to the industrial park down the road and started work gluing two bits of rubber together. 

 

Stayed there 25 years, worked hard, became business unit planner, travelled the world, built in computer systems, responsible for millions of $ sales a month, etc, etc. That company helped me buy my house, live OK and retire before 50

 

It's not where you start in work, its the effort you put in and the opportunities you accept.