Now that we’ve dealt with some of the general concerns jobseekers have, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of job seeking in Thailand. Later in this book we’ll look at some individual jobs in greater detail, but first let’s take a look at some of the general routes into the Thai job market.
Job Sites
The internet will almost certainly be your first port of call for the latest positions. There are seemingly countless job boards out there, of varying quality. First, the big ones:
JobsDB Thailand is a huge international site, hosting thousands of jobs across a myriad of fields. JobsDB has an easy-to-use interface and an extremely useful search tool that allows you to filter positions by salary, location, job function, career level, education level, and even by specific employer. Due to the size of the site, any search generally brings up hundreds of different positions, which can be a tad overwhelming but extremely useful for those casting a wide net in their job search. Check out more on JobsDB at https://www.thailandstarterkit.com/tools-work.
One of the more useful features of the site is the ability to set up job alerts for any position you’ve expressed an interest in. When a new position in your chosen field becomes available, JobsDB will send you an email directly to let you know. These emails can be extremely frequent, particularly for the more popular fields.
The international behemoth that is Craigslist has a number of positions available on its Thailand page. For a direct link, head over to ouor website at www.thailandstarterkit.com/tools-work. Jobs are separated into broad categories such as “Writing/Editing” or “Education.” And they can then be further filtered into smaller categories such as “Full time” or “Non-profit.”
On the positive side, Craigslist’s fairly informal freewheeling format makes the process of job-searching much less clunky. It’s not difficult to find a promising position, have a brief phone call, and land a job the following day. On the other hand, the near-lack of vetting (anyone can post a job advert for just about anything legal) makes it a notorious hive for cowboy agencies and scammers. Be wary of anything that sounds too good to be true.
Another major international job site with a presence in Thailand is Monster. Monster’s search function is much vaguer than JobsDB’s, allowing you to search positions by job title and years of required experience only. It’s sparsely populated at the moment, with even fairly broad searches like “Teacher” returning only a handful of positions. It does however allow you to upload your CV for the perusal of any potential recruiters. Monster’s small reach makes it far from an essential site, but for those casting a wide net in search of work it does offer some potential openings. Monster’s teaching resources are available at www.thailandstarterkit.com/tools-work.
The Bangkok Post is the most widely-read English language newspaper in Thailand. As a result, it boasts a fairly robust jobs section, with a great deal of positions aimed at non-Thais. Besides the standard search function, the BK Post website’s job section also has a dizzying array of filters through which to seek out positions. You can filter jobs by industry, career field, location, jobs for foreigners only, whether or not the position is high-paying or not, managerial positions, and many more. You also have the option of uploading your CV, and there’s a mailing list you can subscribe to featuring the latest positions.
There are also a number of job-specific sites, as follows:
Teaching
The much-loved Ajarn (ajarn is the Thai word for teacher) is not just a job site, but a focal point for the teaching community in Thailand, with regular articles on points of interest in the field. It’s the first (and often only) port of call for many seeking work in education, and for good reason. It boasts an excellent search function, allowing jobseekers to filter their results by type of employer (e.g government/private), preferred area (covering every province in the country), salary range, and full- or part-time work. With its prominent position in the Thailand education system, Ajarn is often the first choice for many employers seeking to post an advert, so a huge range of positions at just about any level and for just about any kind of applicant are available at any one time. Ajarn also allows jobseekers to create a profile and upload their resumes, which can then be searched through by potential employers via the site’s “Teachers” section.
As Ajarn prides itself on its “by teachers, for teachers” reputation, you can rest assured that many of the positions advertised on its page are from legitimate, vetted employers. Better jobs receive a more prominent place on its “Featured Jobs” section, which is a great place to start for those seeking a teaching position.
Teaching Thailand is more of a straight-down-the-line jobs board than Ajarn. Positions can be filtered by location and type of employer, and there’s the option to search through jobs using keywords. One of its more useful features is its Schools List, which provides contact details and a brief bio for a number of prominent local institutions. As many educational institutions in Thailand prefer not to advertise externally if they can help it, taking the initiative and getting in touch with the schools themselves can sometimes yield surprisingly fruitful results.
Although Ajarn Recruit advertises itself as a teaching site—and the bulk of its advertised positions are in education—its scope is much wider than either Ajarn’s or Teaching Thailand’s, offering positions in non-teaching fields too. There is also a section for teaching positions in several other Asian countries, including Japan, China, Hong Kong, and South Korea. Filters are fairly vague—you have the option to search for positions that pay either over or under 40,000 baht per month, casual jobs, jobs for non-native speakers, or online positions.
For a complete list of teaching job resources, head over to www.thailandstarterkit.com/tools-work.
Development
Reliefweb is a major international jobs board for humanitarian and development work. At last glance, it boasted over 4,500 registered organizations and over 2,500 vacancies, based across the planet, with over thirty positions based in Thailand alone. Its listings cover every level of NGO work, from internships to senior level positions.
Reliefweb boasts a simple but effective interface and plenty of filters with which to navigate their impressive range of positions. You can filter results by job type (i.e internship, consultancy, volunteering etc.), career category, years of experience required, location or region, individual organization, or organization type, and closing date for applications. You can also search via keywords using the search bar at the top of the page. Besides standard jobs, Reliefweb also posts a large number of training opportunities. It also highlights areas currently in need of disaster relief, and provides a quick link to positions currently required in those areas.
For Thailand-specific development work, the Thai site ThaiNGO hosts a number of positions. Although the site is in Thai, most of the positions available are written in English and are open for non-Thais as well as locals. As job sites go, it’s about as basic as it gets, offering a list of unfiltered positions through which you can search via keyword (and not a lot else). However, they’re doing good work hooking local and international organizations up with people on what appears to be a limited budget (there’s the option to give a donation on their webpage), so we can probably cut them some slack in this regard.
These organizations and many more can be found on our website at www.thailandstarterkit.com/tools-work.
Hospitality
Despite ThaiHotelJob’s web-circa-1998 design, it’s the premier site for those seeking work in the hospitality industry in Thailand, boasting around 10,000 positions across the country at last glance. Navigating the site is a bit of a nightmare, with scrolling ads, flickering icons and dinosaur features like visitor counters constantly assaulting your eyes as you attempt to scroll through for positions. Much of the site, including the intriguing-sounding “Tips” section, is also in Thai, with English translations rarely available. However, many of the positions themselves are (mostly) in English. You can filter jobs by region (Central, North, Bangkok and Perimeter, Northeast, East, and South). Most jobs do not specify that non-Thais are able to apply, although some specify the nationality required in the job title (e.g Chinese Sales-Manager).
Marketing
Rather like ThaiHotelJob, the majority of positions advertised on Marketing Oops!’s job board are aimed at Thai nationals. However, those seeking a career in marketing in Thailand who are tenacious enough (or skilled enough) to scour through the predominately Thai-language ads may be able to seek out a few positions open to foreigners in this competitive field. Jobs can be filtered by Job Function or Job Sector, and there’s also the option to search by keyword.
Publishing
The Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Thailand, or FCCT to those in the know, is the focal point for Thailand’s foreign press hawks. Although far from the liveliest of job boards featured here, their website does feature the occasional position, usually in middle- and senior-management, although positions for reporters do pop up occasionally. Signing up as a member allows you to receive a weekly jobs bulletin.
Technology
Blognone is a popular Thai-language tech website, with a fairly robust jobs section. Most of the jobs are aimed at Thai nationals, and are subsequently written only in Thai, with the occasional position aimed at foreigners scattered throughout. As this is a forum and not a jobs board, per se, there are no filters or search bars, so it may take some dedicated slogging through the reams of Thai-language positions before you strike it lucky.
As befits the tech industry, the pan-Asian GetLinks provides a somewhat more elegant approach to job seeking. Rather than messing around with filters and scrolling through irrelevant ads, GetLinks allows you to upload your CV and create a profile, which is then used to hook you up with appropriate job offers. Big tech start-ups like Uber, Line, and Grab are among the companies currently using GetLinks to seek new staff, which makes it a promising avenue for experienced techies.
Diving
Dive-master and instructor work in Thailand tends to be offered on a fairly casual basis. However, a handful of positions can be found on the international jobs board Divezone, where you can also upload your CV. Divezone also features a mailing list, through which you can find out about the latest available positions internationally (including Thailand).
Looking for more on hospitality, marketing, publishing, technology, and diving? Head over to www.thailandstarterkit.com/tools-work.
Facebook Groups
There are a number of Facebook groups which offer job positions in Thailand. Some of the more popular groups include:
Bangkok Expats is a huge group (currently boasting over 60,000 members), which deals with just about anything to do with, well, expats in Bangkok. In between the apartment rental ads, queries, rants, and general bickering are a number of job adverts, across just about every field there is. It’s also a useful group for keeping abreast of Thailand’s ever-fluctuating visa and work permit regulations, as well as other topical issues for jobseekers in Thailand—however, do bear in mind that as anyone can post just about anything, you may have to wade through a lot of hearsay and half-truths to get to the facts.
Thailand Professionals is a slightly smaller page (currently has about 12,000 members), but is more focused on the jobs side of things, with the usual For Sale ads scattered throughout.
Another specialist jobs page is Jobs in Bangkok and Thailand (Non-Teaching), which—as the name suggests—hosts several job positions based in Thailand (none of which are teaching). Positions range from full-time to casual work in a number of fields, including copywriting, bar work, and web design.
For those feeling a little left out by the previous group, Teaching Jobs in Thailand is a large group (currently at over 30,000 members), which specializes in, well, teaching jobs in Thailand. With a heavy focus on the ESL side of things, jobs are available for both native and non-native English speakers. The group also has a fairly lively community, with debates frequent and often quite fractious.
Finally, for those with a more theatrical bent, there’s the Actors Association of Thailand, which covers just about everything to do with the thespian arts in Thailand and beyond, from voice acting to photography. The mods at the page run a tight ship, with ads subject to a number of strict regulations (e.g must be based in Thailand, must include a prospective budget to show legitimacy).
All of these Facebook resources and more are listed on our website at www.thailandstarterkit.com/tools-work.
Agencies and Recruitment Companies
A less common entry point for those seeking work in Thailand is via a recruitment company or staffing agency. On paper, these companies are a great idea. For a fee, they’ll act as matchmakers, connecting employers with qualified, experienced staff, and take a lot of the hassle out of the application process for both parties.
Of course, the reality is a little different. Only a small number of job openings are covered by recruitment companies, so your options are limited. Some third-party recruiters have, in the past, been known to behave in a less-than-respectable manner when it comes to doing business—taking chunks out of employees’ salaries for services rendered, for example (reputable agencies always bill these things to the employer).
Recruitment companies generally differentiate between active and passive candidates. Active candidates are those currently seeking a job. Passive candidates are those not currently seeking a job, but who may be headhunted by the recruitment company if they’re a good match for an opening. Some companies specialize in either active or passive recruitment. Others handle both. 4
Here are a few options:
Manpower is a massive international recruitment company, which focuses predominantly on white-collar positions (banking and finance, IT etc.). Their business model is geared more towards passive applicants. If you’re interested in using their services, email your resume and a cover letter to recruitmentthailand@manpower.th.com, indicate what position you’re looking for, and wait for a recruitment consultant to contact you when any relevant positions become available.
PRTR is a long-established Thai recruitment company, having been operational since 1990 (practically prehistoric by the standards of Thai recruitment companies). Their surprisingly gorgeous website boasts a candidate database of 400,000 people, with 100 candidates placed into new jobs every month. PRTR offers several recruitment services, including database, mass, and research recruitment.
JAC Recruitment is a long-established recruitment company, with branches across Asia. They provide staff for a range of both local and multinational companies, in industries such as sales, finance, and IT. They welcome walk-ins from any interested potential staff, and are currently based in the Emporium Tower (behind the Emporium shopping centre) in Bangkok.
For those looking for work in the hospitality sector, Opus Recruitment offers a range of positions, including Front of House and Back of House staff, management, department heads, and culinary staff. Their website is painfully old-school (what is it with the hospitality industry?) but functional enough. Positions are available in Europe, the Middle East, Far East Asia, and “others” (according to their website). Opus’ Thai staff can be contacted via email, with the addresses included in their website.
True Teaching is an international recruitment company that deals with the education sector. It focuses on connecting qualified teachers and other educators with international schools across the world, including in Thailand.
We have a full list of agents and recruitment companies listed at www.thailandstarterkit.com/tools-work.
Networking
Networking is possibly the most effective means of acquiring a good job in Thailand. Indeed, in some industries, and at some levels, it is essentially the only means of acquiring a job. Part of it is cultural. Like many Asian cultures, Thailand places great emphasis on developing personal relationships in business in order to develop trust. 5 Similarly, the expat workforce in Thailand is notoriously flaky and transient. For both Thai and expat employers, it’s often better to stick with the devil you know than to take a risky chance on an unknown entity who could well jump ship halfway through their first shift to hit the bars.
Of course, this makes things difficult for those who are looking to make a life for themselves in Thailand from scratch, but there are a few ways in which you can start making connections:
This social network for professionals is an excellent place in which to lay out what you have to offer and to start corresponding with the local movers and shakers who could potentially land you that coveted position.
Getting noticed by employers can be a struggle, however. Employers actively seeking candidates will search for specific keywords, which will bring up a list of profiles. In order to be noticed by employers, you need to ensure that your profile consistently crops up in these search results—preferably somewhere near the top. The process of fine-tuning your profile to get to the top of these search results is known as LinkedIn SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and it can get pretty involved.
This article, “An Expat’s Guide to Finding Work in Thailand” by Patrick Limcaco contains a list of extremely useful hints for crawling to the top of the pack. These range from the obvious (flesh out your profile with as much information as possible, attaining the coveted 100% complete All-Star ranking) to the technical (avoid slashes in keyword—LinkedIn’s search technology doesn’t recognize them). 6 There are reams of additional advice pages out there detailing the exact keywords more likely to gain attention, as well as other general advice, such as how to build a successful personal brand.
Getting LinkedIn Premium can give you the edge over many rival candidates. One of its more useful features is that you are permitted to message people outside of your network, allowing you to contact management at your desired company directly. Don’t expect too many responses, but going the extra mile will certainly get you noticed when it comes time to hire new staff.
Events/Meetups
If you’re already in Thailand, networking events are a great way to make contacts (and are often an even better excuse for a few mid-week drinks). Once again, the internet is your friend when it comes to finding out about upcoming events:
Eventbrite hosts a number of conferences, seminars and other events, hosted by some of Bangkok’s established professionals groups. Although many of these events charge a fee for entry, the potential for establishing connections within the city’s business community is huge. Events can be searched through by keywords or top categories, and cover the full spectrum of social events from bar crawls to yoga classes.
While Meetup.com is aimed at a more general crowd, its advertised events are still a good way to make connections. Meet-ups ranging from public speaking classes to chess and Zumba are advertised, so there’s essentially something for every interest. However, as the (mostly free) events tend to attract a crowd of tourists and interns, it can be a little trickier to make those much sought-after connections than at some of the paid, career-focussed events hosted by sites like Eventbrite.
Many of the larger Bangkok-based Facebook pages are a great source for finding out about upcoming network events. The aforementioned Bangkok Entrepreneurs and Bangkok Expats both post frequent events. Drinktrepreneurs hosts occasional boozy meetups for those in the startup community. For those on the Eastern Seaboard, Movers and Shakers hosts a monthly networking event, usually in Pattaya.
The regular networking events hosted by the many Bilateral Chambers of Commerce in Thailand are a fantastic means of getting to know members of the local expat business community. The Thailand Starter Kit article “An Expat’s Guide to Finding Work in Thailand” contains an exceptionally useful and comprehensive list of the various countries with trade chambers in Thailand and their events calendars.
For links to these events and more, visit www.thailandstarterkit.com/tools-work.
Recruitment Fairs
Recruitment fairs are another good way in which to establish connections within the Thai business community. Some, like the frequent events organized by Search Associates (about which more below), tend to be fairly casual affairs, in which it is possible to strike up a conversation with a recruiter and receive a job offer on the spot.
Besides the regular fairs listed below, there are also innumerable one-off events for several fields, which can be found via a quick Google search (or advertised on Facebook pages such as Bangkok Expats):
Search Associates is an annual international jobs fair aimed at those working in education (specifically within the international school circuit). Entrance is by invitation only, which is secured by registering as a candidate with the Search Associates group. Becoming a member is a complicated process, involving the completion of an application form, submitting numerous documents, signing an agreement and paying a registration fee. It is also expected that potential candidates will hold a teaching qualification of some sort (e.g a B.Ed) However, on a more positive note, passing through this process and registering your details in advance means that the job fair itself tends to be a much more relaxed affair.
According to the Search Associates website, a typical fair will have around 600 candidates and around 130 schools in attendance, so the chances of landing a job are fairly high. Even if you are unsuccessful in securing a position, it’s an invaluable opportunity to make contacts with some of the best schools in Thailand.
In a similar vein, ISS (International Schools Services) hosts an annual International Recruitment Conference in Bangkok, once again (as the name suggests) aimed at recruitment for international schools. Like Search Associates, it is necessary to pre-register beforehand, and a teaching qualification of some kind is required. There’s a large variety of positions advertised, from standard subject teacher positions to counselors and librarians, with over 150 schools from Thailand and beyond represented.
Find links to Search Associates and ISS on our website at www.thailandstarterkit.com/tools-work.
The Showing Up Method
Finally, should all else fail, there’s always the classic technique of showering local businesses with resumes. This can be surprisingly effective, especially in some fields (such as teaching). High turnover is common, and many businesses in Thailand that hire expats generally require staff on an ongoing basis, so showing up with a smile and a CV is likely to be doing them a massive favor. At worst, your details will remain on file for potential contact at a later date.
Of course, you need to be smart about it. Rocking up to the head office of a multinational company topless and clad in scruffy cargo shorts to thrust a crumpled, stained CV into the hands of an indifferent intern is unlikely to see you getting a lot of callbacks (although it will certainly get you remembered).
First, determine what organizations are actively hiring expats. As was mentioned at the start of this chapter, there is an intimidatingly long list of jobs that are legally barred to non-Thais, so applying for a job at, say, the Ministry of Labor or as a factory worker will be a non-starter. In addition to this, for many businesses it simply isn’t worth the expense to hire a foreigner unless they can bring something unique to the table. There are minimum salaries set for foreign workers (about which more in The Process section) and they are usually around double what it would cost to hire a local. Unless you’re bringing something unique to the table, it simply isn’t worth it for most employers.
A good tactic for determining what organizations are hiring non-Thais is to scan the job pages in the local press (Bangkok Post, The Nation, Phuket Gazette, Pattaya Mail, Chiang Mai Mail, etc.) and to make a note of any companies that specifically advertise for foreigners. If it’s not featured in the ad itself, a quick Google search should bring up the location of their local branch or HQ.
If you’re seeking work in education, the majority of mid-sized and above schools, from government to private, are open to hiring foreigners (especially Western native English speakers). If you’re not too picky about salary or work conditions, chances are some determined CV distribution will land you an interview fairly quickly. Language schools, which can be found at almost all major malls (e.g Central Plaza), are often hiring, and are usually grouped together in close proximity on the same floor, making it easy to do a clean sweep of six to eight schools in a single visit.
Make an effort to appear presentable. Don a shirt and tie, make sure your hair is neat and you don’t stink of last night’s booze-fueled excesses. Appearance is valued greatly in Thailand. Your resume should be neat, clean and readable, preferably printed on good quality paper. Note that it’s standard practice in many jobs to include a passport photo with your application, so consider getting a professional-looking one done at any of the many photographers across the city to include with your resume. Keep your resumes in individual plastic wallets, preferably sturdy ones to prevent them crumpling up in your bag en route. Although not essential, it helps to get good-quality photocopies of any relevant qualifications (degree, post-graduate certification, etc.) to include with your resume.
When handing in your CV at promising workplaces, it’s a good idea to get the contact details of the company in question in order to follow up on your application a week or so later if you haven’t heard anything. Sometimes resumes get put down and forgotten about, or stuffed in a drawer. It also helps to keep you fresh in the mind of your employer. Don’t overdo it, though—hammering an uninterested employer with calls is hardly going to endear you to them.
So those are the basics of seeking work in Thailand. In the next chapter of the book, we’ll take a look at some of the individual expats currently working in Thailand across a wide range of fields and try to delve into the process behind acquiring and maintaining a job in their respective industries.