Careers/jobs Avdice For Foriegner In Thailand And Se Asia

[MaxThrustSet]

Hello all....

I was wondering if any of you had advice for me on working and careers in SE Asia,particulary Thailand.

A little background on me...I am 26 years old and have spent probably around a year and a half in total living in Thailand (not working but living off savings) and I have come to realise I am very happy here and would like to look into staying here for good and getting a job. I dont have any degree but I am planning to start University in September to get one which will hopefully enable me to live and work in Thailand and I was wondering if any of you had any advice for me..?

After much web-surfing I get the picture that jobs in I.T and accounting are available for foriengers but I wondered if anyone could give me advice on personal experience and what fields of work they do or even business's people have managed to set up in Thailand...?

Thanks for reading....Any advice much appreciated.

[Soutpeel]

Sorry to say one of the few options you have here is to teach English, I dont really believe having a degree will make things any easier to get a job here, Thailand is very difficult to get a start....You could start with the English and build contacts to get you into something else...

The trick with jobs anywhere is generally who you know, not what you know...

[BWPattaya]

What is your background? Experience? Abilities? Qualifications? Hard to advise someone when so little information is available.

[kuffki]

There is another problem in Thailand-which is wages.

Years ago i applied for a position of National Customer Relations Manager for a chain of 3 hotels

Went for interview, got a call back offering me the job but no mention of a salary.

So prior to accepting i asked about salary and conditions.

They offered 30K per month, i pay my own accommodation, pay visa and everything else and i had to be based in Patong.

They needed a foreigner who can speak 2 different languages fluent plus some Thai but paid less wages then to a qualified Thai.

So even when it is possible to get a job, wages sometimes are so low that its hardly worth it. The only big thing you get is a title.

[richardt1808]

good points in all the posts above.

Thailand must be one of the hardest places around to get a good job; most companies definitely go out of their way to employ Thais, but mostly with good reason. If you cant speak the language, then you are not much use in interfacing with your fellow employees who probably dont speak English. Teaching is certainly the most obvious, but salaries are not great unless you are at a private school.

Basically, if you have significant experience, or have a particular technical skill or design ability, you may be lucky; but if you're a fresh graduate in something, you will probably be beaten every time by Thai graduates who in many cases have superior skills to grads from many Western Countries (especially in the technical and science fields).

Do some searches on the forum and you will find specific stories on positions and salaries. I myself wrote a very long post on this a while back, so you can search for that if you like.

Cheers

[thrilled]

The best thing to do is make your money in another country,save it all,then come to thailand and retire.

[thaibutty]

I am 27, but have been living in Thailand since I was 21. Like you I don't have a university degree, which I first thought would make it very difficult to get a "real" job here.

When I came here I was working for a dive center in Phuket as an instructor,did all the training there. I worked there for almost 4 years, before looking around for another job, as being an instructor is fun, however the salaries for instructors in Thailand are quite low and it is a job you can't do all your life.

What has helped me getting my current job as a Sales Manager at a German company working all over Asia, was personal relations. Once I started communicating that I was looking for a new job, people were coming up with suggestions and job offers, of course I was checking the classifieds in the newspapers as well, however they mostly are looking for people with uni degree.

Once you got a job, even if it is low paying in the beginning you have a reference, get to know a lot of other people and this gives you the chance of getting a 'dream' job.

One thing which is true about Thailand, it is a lot easier to get, even good, jobs without a university degree by knowing the right people.

[sorensen]

Proofreader could be a lucrative business, but that is just my avdice.....

[jcbangkok]

It is my understanding that the law states jobs must first be given to a Thai if one is qualified for the job. In other words, and IT or similar jobs are always going to go to a Thai unless you have some special ability the job requires which would make it difficult to find a Thai to fill the position.

And as for college degree ... you need one to work as a department store clerk in Thailand (at least in BKK).

However, I don't agree with the poster who said Thai Education is good compared to western societies. Cheating is VERY common in the universities here and there is no take and give between teachers. They basically are preached at and taught not to speak up or ask questions. At least this is my understanding from talking to teachers and students.

Edited April 26, 2010 by jcbangkok

[emsfeld]

However, I don't agree with the poster who said Thai Education is good compared to western societies. Cheating is VERY common in the universities here and there is no take and give between teachers. They basically are preached at and taught not to speak up or ask questions. At least this is my understanding from talking to teachers and students.

richardt1808 wasn't referring to Thai Education in particular - at least to my understanding. Having taken science based degrees in the West, I can say that his statement applies to Thai international students. I wouldn't say better or worse, but a lot of Thai overseas students in science degrees are pretty smart and do very well.

From my personal observation, they are quite numerous in quantity as well, so a foreigner stands almost no chance in competing in the fresh grads area. As a foreigner, you will start gaining an edge after five years or so in a reasonably specialised career. That's when there is a good chance that a company in TH would value the knowledge transfer over the value obtained from recruiting locally.

Generally, though, you mainly get jobs through networking. I know of only one farang here in my circle who landed a job twice through applying to job ads directly. All others landed jobs through referrals.

[changnaam]

I would say it depends what your aspirations are?

If you are happy to eek out a en existence here then it is possible, through teaching English or maybe assisting a foreigner in their business which you could get by doing a TEFL course or spending time in a certain area and getting to know the foreign business owners.

If your aspirations are higher than that then you really need to be employed from outside of Thailand and bring a specific skill or experience with you.

The other option would be to start your own business but most of the successful ones have invested heavily in time or capital or both.

Anyway that is my thoughts and I wish you luck.

[MaxThrustSet]

What is your background? Experience? Abilities? Qualifications? Hard to advise someone when so little information is available.

No real qualifications I'm afraid. I left school at 16 with pretty poor GCSE's (not due to lack of ability or intelligence but I had a a really tough time at school for various reasons) and I have been working mostly warehouse jobs since, fork lift truck driver etc....so I know that is of no use to me in Thailand.

So to answer your question no real qualifications or experience at all that would help me get a job in Thailand. Thats why I am planning to do a University degree to give me a chance.

[MaxThrustSet]

Thanks for everyone's advice and imput.

I get the impression that getting a job here in Thailand is quite a challenge indeed!

Will have to do some serious thinking....

[Soutpeel]

What is your background? Experience? Abilities? Qualifications? Hard to advise someone when so little information is available.

No real qualifications I'm afraid. I left school at 16 with pretty poor GCSE's (not due to lack of ability or intelligence but I had a a really tough time at school for various reasons) and I have been working mostly warehouse jobs since, fork lift truck driver etc....so I know that is of no use to me in Thailand.

So to answer your question no real qualifications or experience at all that would help me get a job in Thailand. Thats why I am planning to do a University degree to give me a chance.

How about this option, Use Thailand as a base to live in and work somewhere else, ie Oil & Gas, go and look at something like Rope Access, ROV or similar...Try and get some experience on the North Sea, which can open up the international side of things once you build some contacts.

Do your University part time......Doing it full time now means you will be tied up 3 to 4 years doing a degree and therefore 3-4 years behind in the "game". A University degree will not guantee a job in Thailand.