Wissanu Rebuts Allegations of Assisting Thaksin's Hospital Stay

[rushdentillidie]

Sorry that this is the wrong forum, but i am not having much looking with any other forums on the net. In the past i have got lots of useful information from here so i am hoping you can point me in the right direction again.

My questions is does anybody have any ideas for the best way for Thai women to get work in the UK. My wife has been in the UK now for over a year, and i guess given the current climate has been lucky in been able to find work. But so far she has only been bale to get work as a kicthen assistant in a restaurant. While we are grateful for the work and money, and i dont want to sound pig headed we feel this leave of work is below her. Before she left Thailand she got 2 degrees from one in sport science's from Chulalongkorn university and International relations from Ramkhamhaeng University. So really she is hoping to find a office job or a position so she can start a career. But when ever she applies for jobs even via agency's there very relaying get back. She would be willing to start as admin to get experience of that type of work, and has very good English and computer skills. So i am at a lose really to why she is finding it so hard. She will be starting a master degree hopefully next year also part time, so we are hoping that this will lead to more positions, but i feel her education background is comparable with most post grad students in the UK.

Although she is happy and a very hard worker, i do feel that the constant rejections are starting to get her down, so i am trying to help in anyway that i can. We have talked about moving to Thailand in the future once she has a UK passport. But i still worry then that we would be the in same position with me not been able to find a good job. Seems to be catch 22 at the moment.

Does anybody have any ideas or experience with there partners working in the UK?

Thanks for you help.

[rocketmanbkk]

• hello Mate
  

My wife came in 2003, we then had a child but she also found it hard to get a job, we live just outside London and she also has a degree.

She was offered a position in Primark, base rate money but possibilities, she worked Sat & Sun and within 6 months was a dept supervisor. In 18 months she was offered a dept manager position but decided not to take it, if you work hard in a store you can get promoted easily as 'most' of teh staff are young just wanting beer/socialising money.

M ywife now works PT in another job term time only which suits us down to the ground.;

Getting a start is the hard thing but take anything within reason in my mind and if there are prospects then great, it's then down to her to show her worth and prove herself over the others but having 2 degrees from Thailand doesn't really cut it here, has she tried gyms? Rubbish money again but may be of more interest to her?

Where are you based?

[rushdentillidie]

Thanks for the reply,

We live in the near york, so there are plenty of jobs about it is just getting one. Where she works at the moment she has been moved up to a supervisor position, and the money is not bad to be honest. But i know that is not the kind of work that she is looking for. We have been trying the agnecys just try and get data input roles or admin so she can prove herself. This is how i first started off, but for some reason even the agency work seems to be hard to get, i guess partly could be due to the current job situation everyone is facing. I think it is just a case of keep trying and working hard. Although it does seem to be harder for her than i would have thought. I know that her education would not be classed as highly as a top UK university. I still feel that it should hold some weight when you look at the likes of universitys (over rated colleges ) around now adays.

Regards

[RKASA]

sport science's - she needs a busuness not a job.

Edit add: My wife could only find work like kitchen more then 30 years ago and the pay was bad - so she opened her own and th pay was much better.

Edited January 9, 2012 by RKASA

[lumply]

I wish your wives all the luck in the world with their wanting to better themselves.. My long term g/f went back to the UK after 17 years as an expat. She's a Brit. with a first class honours degree she couldn't even get a job as a waitress! So after two years she decided to go back to college to do a Masters. Now most of the money she saved working abroad is going on further education-I have my doubts as to whether this is the right thing to do in this day and age, but who knows.

Her Agency told her that a good degree is perhaps not what one should put on her C/V. It has an intimidating affect on prospective Employers apparently. What an absolute farce. Thank God I grew up in a different era where a good education was valued, with or without a degree. Now, sadly, it isn't.

[FalangBaa]

Massage. Could easily make 20 pounds an hour (for non-special massage, I mean). For special, the sky's the limit in the UK.

[RAZZELL]

A friend of my wife's has tried for about 3 years or so to get a job, first of all near Holyhead and now Chester. No joy.

She speaks and writes good English and has a degree from St John's which isn't a bad University.

Whereas my wife got a job within 3 months of arriving and has been working for 6. (She was lucky she'd worked abroad on a cruise ship). Her manager has recently talked about getting her a promotion, and she's just had two recruitment consultants offer her new positions. She's lucky she works in retail and has language skills which are in demand in London.

The hardest thing is getting a chance. Keep on plugging away and I wish you and your wife all the best

RAZZ

EDIT - My advice would be to do a recognised short course here...maybe languages (English?) or sports science. What does she want to do? What about selling memberships in a posh gym?

Edited January 9, 2012 by RAZZELL

[rushdentillidie]

Thanks for the replays guys,

We have been thinking about setting up a business for massage/sports science but this is not something that she really wants to do, and the costs involved is not something we can do at the moment. Ideal for her would be to work at the Thai counsel or embassy she would also like to do translation. But for the time been she is pushing ahead with a master degree from York uni, although this is costly hopefully it will pay off in the long run.

Other than that i think like most people say it is just about trying your best and hard work, and with many cases been in the right place at the right time.

Hopefully she will find the job that she wants in the end. But think it is right about been over quilifed nowadays, for where its seems jobs that you be be able to get hands down you get rejected for. That's why i recommend that she do some agency work, only to get experience as the money is bad. But even this seems to be a hard to do.

Thanks again for your help.

Edited January 9, 2012 by rushdentillidie

[kennkate]

Well it's not easy that's for sure. My wife was in the UK for 2 years all the time trying to get a job. She got ILR and went to the job centre to sign on. No dole money but stamp paid.

She got a job after the first week of signing on. It's only food factory work and 30 hrs a week. She does get the odd sat and sunday overtime if she wants it.

Money wise she gets more for her Sunday than she was earning in a month in Thailand. So she is one happy bunny.

No university education just the village school and left at 14 to work for mum and dad Washing up in a kitchen. There are people with UK degrees that cant get good jobs and are working at burger King

It's just a matter of pluging away at the job market. And you may have to lower your sights for the time being

[RAZZELL]

I think a lot of Thais have an obsession with degrees, MA's, MBA, Phd's...all to do with status and face

The first thing to ask is why does she want to do an MA and what would it be in?

I'd say do a vocational course - because you might shell out thousands and in a years time be £10-20k out of pocket with the end result being her still struggling to find a job.

If she is that bright and good at English get her to do a translation course. They pay good money at courts, police stations, councils etc etc.

EDIT - Leeds has an East Asian Studies Programme...They might know of some Thai/English courses.

http://leeds.wreac.org/news

RAZZ

Edited January 9, 2012 by RAZZELL

[WilliaminBKK]

Set her up with a small hobby business to keep her mind active until something comes along - import something from Thailand- spices, silk, jewellery, sport uniforms. You can test it out and if it makes her happy maybe it can lead to something greater-I've seen a Thai lady in the local market and at a local boot sale she is selling Thai linens and says she is making more than her hubby LOL

Best of Luck

[theblether]

There are quite a few multi-language schools around these days. Get your wife to approach them and offer her services as a Thai teacher. These places work primarily on supply and demand however the ones I know about will consider every option.

Primarily they operate in the evening, so that may help. A lot of the people that use them are business / executive types too so if she can get in front of them she may find job opportunities arising with their companies. In effect, call it networking.

Another idea that may work is to get your wife to advertise on Gumtree.com as a language tutor, the rate tends to be a minimum £15 per hour and can be higher. The advert is free. I am not suggesting that she will make enough from that to make a full time living however its a start.

The reason I say the evening part may help is that it would allow your wife to work full time during the day and to build a new business or income in the evening without hitting your family finances too hard.

So lets combine the two ideas, your in a quite densely populated area, ( compared to Scotland, I am from Glasgow ), after you have tested the water a little bit, consider renting a cheap office area, ( very cheap remember ) and start probably the first Thai language school in your district. As long as the overheads are rock bottom you wont have much to lose, but by using Gumtree to build a basic client list you should have enough business coming in to cover the overheads from the get go.

Also dont forget there are several Thai kids scattered throughout the area that could be doing with tuition on the Thai written language etc. Normally speaking their mums will have them sharp and perfect on the spoken language. That is another source of potential income.

Naturally your wife could offer Thai translation services too, once again another source of income. The list goes on. At some point in the future she could add on organizing specialist holiday packages to Thailand etc. Things that look complicated at the moment end up being surprizingly easy once you look into them. I know of one travel agent in Glasgow that uses small specialist companies like this to organize tour guides and the like.

The first rule of business is always do what you know best, are your lady is educated and will handle this no problem. An additional benefit though is that she will get the experience of starting and running a business in the UK, that will be good for her self confidence and may lead to bigger things in the future.

The trick is, to get started.

ps. I run my own business in Glasgow and I take Thai language lessons from a tutor...............that I found on Gumtree.

Edited January 10, 2012 by theblether

[meatboy]

my wife left the uk after working there for 20years,at first she took a what y call shit job but worked hard met diff.people then an offer came her way woking in a coffee shop for a big concern,after 12months she got promortion to assistant supervisor,then one year later supervisor,with a team of 12.she worked hard to get where she was and earned the respect of fellow workers,was also well liked by customers.her job sometimes was to interview applicants for jobs and i can tell y that over 15years what y said or who y choose meant nothing it was always staff that had no experiance who was taken on[management decided].one thing i would say is forget about going through agency's my wife knew this and always had the impression they sent anybody for interviews.since she left she still keeps intouch with all her freinds and they tell her its the best move she made leaving the uk.allthough she earned on average 30 to 35k baht.a week.so good luck and let your wife look for herself.

[GuestHouse]

I'd suggest your wife looks at taking a job in the volunteer sector, they are always keen to have qualified and motivated people and as a general rule the sector is staffed by people are very willing to help others find work in the private sector.

Certainly if the alternative is sitting around waiting for something else to come up then work in the volunteer sector is a good way to make contacts and demonstrate to other prospective employers that she is motivated to work.

[psmith]

Where near York? - I knew a Thai girl that used to belong to a group of working Thais and they used to exchange job info - maybe they could help find something

[fletchsmile]

Sounds a little like you may be focused too much on education. The quality of Thai degrees is usually below a UK degree, particularly somewhere like Ramkamhaeng. Many Thai university students haven't actually picked up much that would be useful in the workplace, but have simply crammed to absorb knowledge to pass a test. Application of the knowledge is often particularly weak from Thai degrees. A potential employer at an interview would probe as to how what they have learnt in studies would apply in the workplace.

More important though is work experience and work ethic. So I'd say hang in there on the job she has, and show dedication and professionalism even tho' it's not what she wants. A potential employer will respect that more than certificates.

I have to be honest and if I were interviewing your other half, I'd see little value in her Masters. I'd be more interested in work experience. In the UK it's more common to get experience in work and do MBAs later, in Thailand people doing BA,MA,MBA etc are of little extra value in the workplace compared to the one who has the simple undergraduate BA. In the UK there's also the question of being overqualified for roles - adding further qualifications can increase that risk.

Stick at it, show commitment and professionalism and keep looking around for something better.

Something else to consider may be interview technique. Some form of training may be useful for that. A Thai interview is often very different, and as we know Thais do like certificates, names etc. Passing a Uk interview is a whole different ball game and mindset.

Good luck

Edited January 10, 2012 by fletchsmile

[rushdentillidie]

Thank you for all the help, it has given us some things to think about. I understand that education is not always the best, and experience is highly valued. But getting experience is the hard part, as many jobs need experience before you can get them. So hopefully that is why we are thinking that the master degree may help as it will be from a UK university. The course that she is interested in would be a management course, so hopefully this would be useful in the end.

But we will also look into the translation options that have been discussed, once again thanks for all your help.

Regards

[RAZZELL]

Thank you for all the help, it has given us some things to think about. I understand that education is not always the best, and experience is highly valued. But getting experience is the hard part, as many jobs need experience before you can get them. So hopefully that is why we are thinking that the master degree may help as it will be from a UK university. The course that she is interested in would be a management course, so hopefully this would be useful in the end.

But we will also look into the translation options that have been discussed, once again thanks for all your help.

Regards

Without being funny, what could she manage in the UK with no experience?

My wife was a manager of a retail shop in Thailand which turned over nearly a million quid a year.

Here she's a humble shop assistant. A mate of hers with a UK Masters degree has worked in Starbucks for 4 years!

I'm afraid like a lot of educated Thais she need's to come back down to earth with regards to working in the UK and the value of "Thai qualifications" - which in most UK employers eyes are not worth the paper they are written on.

Please don't take this the wrong way...but perhaps your Mrs need's a "dose of reality"...Just tell her to start at the bottom and work her way up.

All the best

RAZZ

Edited January 10, 2012 by RAZZELL

[RAZZELL]

Probably a bit far away, but Etihad are recruiting Multi-lingual contact centre staff in Manchester (use the link below and search for jobs in UK and Manchester):

http://careers.etiha.../JobSearch.aspx

My wife's friend might have an interview

RAZZ

Edited January 12, 2012 by RAZZELL

[thaimate]

My sister in law also went to university in Thailand ,she has been stacking shelves in Tesco at night for 4 years in England and loves it . I also had a friend who was married to a girl from a humbler background but she was very attractive ,they split up and she got a job miles away ,she now lives in a big house drives a new BMW and wears the latest fashions , she runs her own buisness and has a lot of female staff ,not sure what they do ,but they do not seem to work long hours.