How Hard Is It Getting Job In Thailand?

[chempatty]

Hello everyone!

Just a question, I'm a recent graduate from the states; I'm here on a tourist visa had have had teh harderst trouble finding a job that does not involve teaching. I just wanted to know what others have experienced how how they were able to work around their visa situation and attain employment in Thailand.

It seems one needs to have connections to get a job here -- or at least a visa other than a tourist visa.

CP

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[Simmo]

Can you speak , read & write Thai?.

If no , why would you expect to get a job here?

Generally large multinational companies source big expat jobs from outside the country.

[fletchsmile]

Think you need to ask yourself a few questions: what have you got to offer that Thai graduates don't have? What's your work experience? Are you prepared to work on THB 15k-25k a month, as Thai graduates would. Some Thai grads will also have overseas experience and study, fluent English. I suspect your main advantage is English - hence the offers of teaching. So yes it will be very difficult.

On visas, you usualy find you job first then get a non-immigrant B visa from outside Thailand.

Good luck

[chempatty]

Think you need to ask yourself a few questions: what have you got to offer that Thai graduates don't have? What's your work experience? Are you prepared to work on THB 15k-25k a month, as Thai graduates would. Some Thai grads will also have overseas experience and study, fluent English. I suspect your main advantage is English - hence the offers of teaching. So yes it will be very difficult.

On visas, you usualy find you job first then get a non-immigrant B visa from outside Thailand.

Good luck

A point well taken. Yes, I am hoping that studying in the US and my English language skills will be to my advantage and I do realize there are plenty of Thai's who speak English fluently. I also speak Mandarin, and Hindi... and am trying to learn Thai (by myself). As for experience, I know I don’t have great deal but I have interned in the US Dept of Commerce. My parents work in Thailand, and I really just want to get some international experience - so I can take the horrid pay for a limited amount of time.

While I do appreciate the input, is there no way one can gain employment in Thailand without, speaking Thai or a having great deal of work experience?

Thanks

CP

[steveromagnino]

Think you need to ask yourself a few questions: what have you got to offer that Thai graduates don't have? What's your work experience? Are you prepared to work on THB 15k-25k a month, as Thai graduates would. Some Thai grads will also have overseas experience and study, fluent English. I suspect your main advantage is English - hence the offers of teaching. So yes it will be very difficult.

On visas, you usualy find you job first then get a non-immigrant B visa from outside Thailand.

Good luck

A point well taken. Yes, I am hoping that studying in the US and my English language skills will be to my advantage and I do realize there are plenty of Thai's who speak English fluently. I also speak Mandarin, and Hindi... and am trying to learn Thai (by myself). As for experience, I know I don’t have great deal but I have interned in the US Dept of Commerce. My parents work in Thailand, and I really just want to get some international experience - so I can take the horrid pay for a limited amount of time.

While I do appreciate the input, is there no way one can gain employment in Thailand without, speaking Thai or a having great deal of work experience?

Thanks

CP

MIght be able to find you something; PM me your CV mate.

You will struggle, that's for sure. Might find it easier to do an internship with the US chamber of commerce or similar; then use that to get contacts; it will be easiest to work for an American NGO or similar; the American organisations tend to be perhaps the most guaranteed to only ever want to hire an American (many NGOs have it written into their charter I am told) so you are only competing against other Americans rather than Kiwis, Aussies and British. Not great pay, but as you say, you are here anyway. Use that and get some contacts and work experience. that will look better on your CV than a year working teaching english at some sweat shop (which is what you will be doing as you aren't actually a teacher, so you won't end up at some hi so private school) or a dodgy boiler room or similar.

If you are Indian, you might find that some Thai-Indian companies to be your best bet, or companies with a Thai-Indian management; they might find your Hindi ability to be somewhat useful perhaps in some way, although most here are not, that I am aware of, Hindi speakers.

[Furbie]

Your current visa has little to do with it, as your visa and work permit are tied together and need to be renewed every year anyway. To apply for a non-im B, you will need papers from the company and to leave the country - a company may or may not be willing to incur the expense.

You already stated you are inexperienced, but that you have a Uni degree. If your degree is in something skill based - such as accounting - then you will have a better shot at a job. Also, some people are natural sales people and you could get something in sales (I know of a few people who handle overseas customers as the language nuances are too important on these large accounts), provided you could convince someone to take a chance - be careful on this route, as there are some very shady jobs out there. These guys seem to have lucked into these jobs more than anything, right place, right time - but the pay is not great.

As stated by a previous poster, it would be unlikely you would find something above 35k given your lack of experience, but it is possible. I see a lot of useless "International Marketers" working for the large Western hospitals and some very annoying insurance guys at events trying to sell in the ex-pat community. I am not sure of the salary level for these folks, and while few appear to be recent graduates, some of them are the youngest "professionals" I have seen in BKK.

[Prakanong]

Think you need to ask yourself a few questions: what have you got to offer that Thai graduates don't have? What's your work experience? Are you prepared to work on THB 15k-25k a month, as Thai graduates would. Some Thai grads will also have overseas experience and study, fluent English. I suspect your main advantage is English - hence the offers of teaching. So yes it will be very difficult.

On visas, you usualy find you job first then get a non-immigrant B visa from outside Thailand.

Good luck

A point well taken. Yes, I am hoping that studying in the US and my English language skills will be to my advantage and I do realize there are plenty of Thai's who speak English fluently. I also speak Mandarin, and Hindi... and am trying to learn Thai (by myself). As for experience, I know I don't have great deal but I have interned in the US Dept of Commerce. My parents work in Thailand, and I really just want to get some international experience - so I can take the horrid pay for a limited amount of time.

While I do appreciate the input, is there no way one can gain employment in Thailand without, speaking Thai or a having great deal of work experience?

Thanks

CP

Good advice from Mangino - if your parents are there try to get some contacts from them too - their friends and employers etc.

I think the american company is the way to go - an Indian girl I am on a course here in singaporeworks 15 hours a day when the course blocks are not on for an Indian company - they do get their blood from a stone and way more than the chinese do who I thought were bad.

[chempatty]

I think the american company is the way to go - an Indian girl I am on a course here in singaporeworks 15 hours a day when the course blocks are not on for an Indian company - they do get their blood from a stone and way more than the chinese do who I thought were bad.

Sorry... I didn't quite understand the last part "...- an Indian girl..."

Well thanks again for all the advice. I have been looking into the NGO's. But once again it seems you either need to know somebody who can open the door for you or you have to keep banging on the 'door'. I have to visa run soon, so probably after that I'm going start banging on some doors.

CP

[naka]

Can you speak , read & write Thai?.

If no , why would you expect to get a job here?

Generally large multinational companies source big expat jobs from outside the country.

I agree, any decent paying Expat job will be sourced from outside Thailand. And that would

be someone with a track record.

Naka.

[bkkmadness]

There seems to be a lot of foreigners working in the real estate business these days. An ability to speak Mandarin will be an advantage there but you had better be fluent because a lot of Thais can speak it too. And yes, you had better brush well up on your Thai language too.

[stament]

MIght be able to find you something; PM me your CV mate.

You will struggle, that's for sure. Might find it easier to do an internship with the US chamber of commerce or similar; then use that to get contacts; it will be easiest to work for an American NGO or similar; the American organisations tend to be perhaps the most guaranteed to only ever want to hire an American (many NGOs have it written into their charter I am told) so you are only competing against other Americans rather than Kiwis, Aussies and British. Not great pay, but as you say, you are here anyway. Use that and get some contacts and work experience. that will look better on your CV than a year working teaching english at some sweat shop (which is what you will be doing as you aren't actually a teacher, so you won't end up at some hi so private school) or a dodgy boiler room or similar.

If you are Indian, you might find that some Thai-Indian companies to be your best bet, or companies with a Thai-Indian management; they might find your Hindi ability to be somewhat useful perhaps in some way, although most here are not, that I am aware of, Hindi speakers.

Anyone know if there are any NGO roles for Brits or how to go about getting one? Is there a website that lists the NGO organisations in BKK?

Thanks,

[chempatty]

Anyone know if there are any NGO roles for Brits or how to go about getting one? Is there a website that lists the NGO organisations in BKK?

Thanks,

You can try a google search, but I do know about the UN organizations in Thailand....

http://www.un.or.th/unagencies/index.html

http://www.unescap.org/

[stament]

Anyone know if there are any NGO roles for Brits or how to go about getting one? Is there a website that lists the NGO organisations in BKK?

Thanks,

You can try a google search, but I do know about the UN organizations in Thailand....

http://www.un.or.th/unagencies/index.html

http://www.unescap.org/

Thanks

[Furbie]

It amazes me where people come up with these ideas – American NGOs only hire Americans (fyi, most US NGOs that have gone oversees have gone international have funding from a diverse donor base - ie, they need a diverse staff to get funding - though being an American may help, it is certainly not the only criteria), the only way to get a good job is to source it oversees. If you can’t speak Thai you can’t find a job. I may stop asking advisee from TV when I have a problem as none of this is true.

I know plenty of people who came here without a job and still don’t speak the language and found a good job; myself included – though I started learning the language immediately.

What all you negative folks are saying is the normal answer for those who can't find a good job because they have experience that is not needed in Thailand or they are not truly looking for a job, they merely want a job. I can not stress this strongly enough - the key to working in Thailand is to have a useful transferable skill; accounting, engineer, lawyer, marketer, economist, medical professional, etc. A degree in humanities and women's studies isn't going to get you anywhere but a teaching job. If you are blue collar, forget it. If you are general office support, forget it. If you are general business, maybe, but you beter back that up with something useful.

Let me put this clearly to all those looking for a job in Thailand - all my Thailand jobs were sourced locally; I came here without a lead or a contact - but I started networking like a madman and got my own connections. Sure, I may not have a car and driver, but I do get a housing allowance, good pay, etc.

If you were a skilled professional in your home country and are willing to get out there and sell yourself, you can get a decent job, even in Thailand. Sitting there and saying boo hoo, I don’t know anyone is garbage. There are roughly 22 Foreign Chambers of Commerce in Thailand. If you are complaining about not finding a good job and are not going to at least your home country chamber and two or three others, you are not looking, you are merely wanting a job. If you are not contacting your Uni alumni network, you are not looking for a job, you are merely waning a job. If you are not contacting professional associations for your background, you are not looking, you are merely wanting a job. Opening the paper and looking on the web is not networking - none of my work has ever in my life has come about through the paper or the web. Stop merely wanting and start looking, provided you have something needed in Thailand.

Actually, please forget all this advise, I have half a mind to delete it as I don’t want too may foreigners finding good jobs in Thailand.

[Seizhin]

Thailand's major weakness is the language.

Unless you can write, type and read in Thai, you'll have hard time finding office works.

[Prakanong]

It amazes me where people come up with these ideas – American NGOs only hire Americans (fyi, most US NGOs that have gone oversees have gone international have funding from a diverse donor base - ie, they need a diverse staff to get funding - though being an American may help, it is certainly not the only criteria), the only way to get a good job is to source it oversees. If you can't speak Thai you can't find a job. I may stop asking advisee from TV when I have a problem as none of this is true.

I know plenty of people who came here without a job and still don't speak the language and found a good job; myself included – though I started learning the language immediately.

What all you negative folks are saying is the normal answer for those who can't find a good job because they have experience that is not needed in Thailand or they are not truly looking for a job, they merely want a job. I can not stress this strongly enough - the key to working in Thailand is to have a useful transferable skill; accounting, engineer, lawyer, marketer, economist, medical professional, etc. A degree in humanities and women's studies isn't going to get you anywhere but a teaching job. If you are blue collar, forget it. If you are general office support, forget it. If you are general business, maybe, but you beter back that up with something useful.

Let me put this clearly to all those looking for a job in Thailand - all my Thailand jobs were sourced locally; I came here without a lead or a contact - but I started networking like a madman and got my own connections. Sure, I may not have a car and driver, but I do get a housing allowance, good pay, etc.

If you were a skilled professional in your home country and are willing to get out there and sell yourself, you can get a decent job, even in Thailand. Sitting there and saying boo hoo, I don't know anyone is garbage. There are roughly 22 Foreign Chambers of Commerce in Thailand. If you are complaining about not finding a good job and are not going to at least your home country chamber and two or three others, you are not looking, you are merely wanting a job. If you are not contacting your Uni alumni network, you are not looking for a job, you are merely waning a job. If you are not contacting professional associations for your background, you are not looking, you are merely wanting a job. Opening the paper and looking on the web is not networking - none of my work has ever in my life has come about through the paper or the web. Stop merely wanting and start looking, provided you have something needed in Thailand.

Actually, please forget all this advise, I have half a mind to delete it as I don't want too may foreigners finding good jobs in Thailand.

I started reading this post in a cynical manner then changed totally!

You make the right points!

[JimmyCA]

Think you need to ask yourself a few questions: what have you got to offer that Thai graduates don't have? What's your work experience? Are you prepared to work on THB 15k-25k a month, as Thai graduates would. Some Thai grads will also have overseas experience and study, fluent English. I suspect your main advantage is English - hence the offers of teaching. So yes it will be very difficult.

On visas, you usualy find you job first then get a non-immigrant B visa from outside Thailand.

Good luck

A point well taken. Yes, I am hoping that studying in the US and my English language skills will be to my advantage and I do realize there are plenty of Thai's who speak English fluently. I also speak Mandarin, and Hindi... and am trying to learn Thai (by myself). As for experience, I know I don't have great deal but I have interned in the US Dept of Commerce. My parents work in Thailand, and I really just want to get some international experience - so I can take the horrid pay for a limited amount of time.

While I do appreciate the input, is there no way one can gain employment in Thailand without, speaking Thai or a having great deal of work experience?

Thanks

CP

It really does not matter if you speak Thai or not as those jobs a thai can do so they are crap pay jobs. Unless you have some unique skills you will not make money in Thailand even if your education is 10 times better and your work habits are 10 times better. People here are quite satisfied with substandard quality of products and services as long as the price is low. I accept a much lower standard in thailand than back in the states.

[blizzard]

how cum nobody said he should try india..............lol.