Job Opportunities In Thailand - Your Advice Ladies/gents...

[Gallardo]

Hello all,

My first topic here so be gentle, however, I am posting because there is no doubt a wealth of experience on this forum...

I am coming to Thailand later this year (from the UK) and have been scouring online vacancies for jobs.

Now I hold a LLB (Hons) in Law and a BSc (Hons) in IT. I currently work in the City of London for a law firm. I am not a qualified solicitor (yet) as I haven't obtained a training contract. I will be taking a year out to visit Thailand, naturally I want to work to keep me afloat. Especially interested in legal jobs to broaden my experience and knowledge.

Question I have for you all is:

1. How do Solicitors qualify in Thailand?

2. What are the chances of me being "employed" over local talent?

To the floor...

[fobuff]

Forget it....

Thais come first... you are stealing their jobs...

Do you speak Thai.... No Forget it...

[Gallardo]

Ah so they are a helpful bunch!

Thanks for the reply, noted...

[AlexLah]

I found a very nice job opening for me and for sure more than qualified for the job. Knew a few people in the company and my Thai is not too bad.

I am reasonably well know in the industry I used to work in, in Thailand as well as the rest of Asia.

And for sure I could support this company extremely well.

Send all my documents by mail, e-mail to HR heard nothing, then I send to BDM, nothing then direct to the GM, nothing not even a reply that it was received.

Now they hired a local who I happened to have met a few times and he is a total moron, knows extremely little but has apparently "The Looks"

In the current economical environment I believe it will be hard to get hired by a Thai managed company.

Unless you have some special skill like moving a mountain with the snap of your fingers.....

[Deke]

I would start asking some of the international law firms here (there are a lot). As a foreigner, you would not be allowed to practice law as such but could work as a consultant.

If you have some background in M&A work or contractual stuff, I'd think you might be able to find something.

There are a lot of foreign lawyers working in Thailand.

[monkfish]

Don't think you will get much useful feedback on this forum.

Myself i can only tell what I've heard which may be wrong, but hope it helps.

Can't answer the first question 100% but a Thai law degree will probably help.

Second question, you (probably) won't ever be able to practice as a lawyer in Thailand even with a UK degree. (unlike doctors)

Reason I believe it is a protected profession in which no foreigner is allowed to work....others include Taxi driver, and PM

You may however have a very good chance working as an ADVISER in a law firm, as most foreigners prefer dealing with westerners who

seem to be a magnet for problems and have lots of money!!! Many western lawyers have set up here and use Thai lawyers to do the footwork.

Just raking the money in as it were.

Anyway I would advise looking into Thai law before you start applying for jobs.

Good luck anyways

P.S. if you are an honest lawyer you probably won't last long here

[PattayaParent]

Visiting Thailand for a year and working here don't mix.

If you work her you don't have the time to do all the tourist stuff and see the sights and explore the country.

And if you try to mix the naughty nightlife with a career you won't last long in your job.

[Soutpeel]

Visiting Thailand for a year and working here don't mix.

If you work her you don't have the time to do all the tourist stuff and see the sights and explore the country.

And if you try to mix the naughty nightlife with a career you won't last long in your job.

PP, know your comments are made tongue in cheek, but I have managed to work here and survive for nearly last 8 years, agreed it takes a lot of self disipline and focus not to mix in the naughty nightlife and work at the same time, a lot of employers will accept in the first 6 to 8 weeks working in Thailand people are in kid in the candy store mode and give a bit a of latitude, but you have to get back to reality very quickly, otherwise as you have said the job will not last too long

[Indo-Siam]

Compared to anywhere in the West, within Thailand, a foreigner is much less likely to be hired by someone who will create work for that employee, and then pay him.

As a foreigner, what makes you valuable is your ability to "bring work with you" - meaning your ability to bring customers to your employer, in such a way that your work with that customer will pay your salary, plus contribute to company profitability.

Example: I run two different companies in Bangkok. Each company is presently able to sponsor one additional work permit, plus long-term entry permit extension. I would not hesitate to employ a foreigner - with work permit and entry entry permit - at any salary that the foreigner specified - so long as that foreigner can convince me that his/her efforts will immediately begin contributing sufficient revenue to pay his salary, plus contribute an additional 20,000 baht per month to my company's profitability. I'm not in a position to create revenue-earning work for a foreigner - but if that foreigner brings customers with him/her, I will give that employee a job and all associated infrastructure.

I presently have one foreign employee well into his second year operating under this program - I think that he is well satisfied with how things work.

My "employer of record" approach is probably the extreme version of employment "sponsorship" - but the underlying concept applies in general - foreigners who come looking for a job in Thailand - wherein someone will hire them at a lucrative salary, and the employer will create the work to leverage the employee's talent - will generally not find such a job. In Thailand, the employer's attitude is: Tell me how employing you will increase my net profits next month - over and above what I will earn if I don't employ you.

There are obviously exceptions - but that's what they are - EXCEPTIONAL cases.

Steve Sykes

Indo-Siam Group

Bangkok

[meom]

Visiting Thailand for a year and working here don't mix.

If you work her you don't have the time to do all the tourist stuff and see the sights and explore the country.

And if you try to mix the naughty nightlife with a career you won't last long in your job.

PP, know your comments are made tongue in cheek, but I have managed to work here and survive for nearly last 8 years, agreed it takes a lot of self disipline and focus not to mix in the naughty nightlife and work at the same time, a lot of employers will accept in the first 6 to 8 weeks working in Thailand people are in kid in the candy store mode and give a bit a of latitude, but you have to get back to reality very quickly, otherwise as you have said the job will not last too long

It's not really clever to bring your latest Isaan flame to company functions but other than that what you do with your free time at night is your own business and as long as you do your job there is no problem.

[Soutpeel]

Visiting Thailand for a year and working here don't mix.

If you work her you don't have the time to do all the tourist stuff and see the sights and explore the country.

And if you try to mix the naughty nightlife with a career you won't last long in your job.

PP, know your comments are made tongue in cheek, but I have managed to work here and survive for nearly last 8 years, agreed it takes a lot of self disipline and focus not to mix in the naughty nightlife and work at the same time, a lot of employers will accept in the first 6 to 8 weeks working in Thailand people are in kid in the candy store mode and give a bit a of latitude, but you have to get back to reality very quickly, otherwise as you have said the job will not last too long

It's not really clever to bring your latest Isaan flame to company functions but other than that what you do with your free time at night is your own business and as long as you do your job there is no problem.

...where in any of these posts is anybody flaming Isaan ??

[meom]

Translation:

It's not really clever to bring your latest BG to company functions but other than that what you do with your free time at night is your own business and as long as you do your job there is no problem.

[Soutpeel]

Translation:

It's not really clever to bring your latest BG to company functions but other than that what you do with your free time at night is your own business and as long as you do your job there is no problem.

My apologies, never read your post correctly, what you are saying is very true, In my experience in Thailand the problem expats have here working is the combination of BG's and booze which usually leads to their down fall...

[meom]

You mentioned latitude in one of your posts and it's true that farangs get a lot of latitude. I cannot speak from my own experience since I don't work in Thailand but some of my friends do and often I see working people come over for lunch in the pub, have a few beers, then a few more and then they're back to the office half pissed at 4pm

Always makes me wonder how they get away with this.

[Soutpeel]

You mentioned latitude in one of your posts and it's true that farangs get a lot of latitude. I cannot speak from my own experience since I don't work in Thailand but some of my friends do and often I see working people come over for lunch in the pub, have a few beers, then a few more and then they're back to the office half pissed at 4pm

Always makes me wonder how they get away with this.

Some of these guys may in fact own the company they are working in,therefore they could basically do what they wanted, but not very professional in my opinion.

Certainly in the industry I am in, you can not get away with this, you would be shown the gate very quickly, if you came back from lunch tanked up, long gone are the days of pub lunches.

But certainly in my experience when someone arrives to work in Thailand for the first time, the boss usually expects and "allows" a blow out for the first few weeks in Thailand, assuming the reason is... the boss did the same thing when he first arrived as well..but have seen first hand were this carries on too long and within 3 months parties concerned have been fired, so think its a bit of give and take

[Gallardo]

All, thank you for your replies!

Read with interest, will let ya know how i get on.

Ta

[gtm2k]

I found a very nice job opening for me and for sure more than qualified for the job. Knew a few people in the company and my Thai is not too bad.

I am reasonably well know in the industry I used to work in, in Thailand as well as the rest of Asia.

And for sure I could support this company extremely well.

Send all my documents by mail, e-mail to HR heard nothing, then I send to BDM, nothing then direct to the GM, nothing not even a reply that it was received.

Now they hired a local who I happened to have met a few times and he is a total moron, knows extremely little but has apparently "The Looks"

In the current economical environment I believe it will be hard to get hired by a Thai managed company.

Unless you have some special skill like moving a mountain with the snap of your fingers.....

I am in a Sales Function and it requires me to do a lot of communication with Email. My experience in Thailand, is that there is no email culture here. Its the telephone call and the relationship that matter more than anything else. Till data, I have barely received any replies to my email whether they are written in english or thai. So if you dont get a reply, dont be surprised. I'd say rather pick up the phone and get to the person directly and do your talk.

[Soutpeel]

My experience in Thailand, is that there is no email culture here. Its the telephone call and the relationship that matter more than anything else. Till data, I have barely received any replies to my email whether they are written in english or thai. So if you dont get a reply, dont be surprised. I'd say rather pick up the phone and get to the person directly and do your talk.

Dont fully agree with the statement "there is no email culture".....it depend which enviroment you are working in, in the business I am in the "email culture" is completely over done and is used an an excuse if something is not done properly....."but I sent you an email" or issues go round and round for weeks cc list getting bigger and bigger because noone can be bother to pick up the phone to resolve something which would take 5 minutes over the phone...this of course is just not restricted to Thailand..

I think what you are getting at...if you send a Thai company an email you dont get a response ??...yes this is very true, as regards sending emails/CV for jobs in Thailand, on the whole a company will generally ignore emails like this....You have to understand for a company to employ a farang, there is a whole lot of hassles, costs involved with WP etc etc and a lot of companies just will not do it..so even picking the phone up and talking to person direct may not do you any good