Jobs for young Thai people

[GT93]

Quite a few Thais seem to me to be in paid work more than 5 days a week. In other words, they need or are required to work Saturdays too.

They also look after the elderly in their own homes. This can be very onerous. My 93 year old mother-in-law broke her hip and leg earlier this year. It looked like she might die but she seems to be going well now. She can't stand and needs a lot of care. She's passed around the family as they take turns caring for her.

[parrot]

I think 6 day a week work here, 10-12 hour per day, is more the norm than exception. That seems to be the standard (not ours.....theirs).
So, my wife and I were yakking over our morning cuppa (macchiato now more than cappuccino). We know 3 people who work with the US embassy or through the embassy. One has a masters in English, one a BA, one an equivalent of an AA. All speak excellent English and make very good to excellent pay/benefits. Another girl who speaks good English has worked for Air Asia for 3 years and makes decent pay/benefits. Another works in the Japanese eyeglass store in Central.....went to Ohio for a year (nanny). She's making good money at her job in Central. Another ban nohk girl graduated from ABAC (all English) with a degree in English. The school paid her way to a masters in England. Another ban nohk girl, speaks excellent English, is now a computer lab teacher in a school near Bangkok. Another ban nohk girl who speaks excellent English got her degree as a pharmacist and works in Wattana Nongkai. Another girl, stepdaughter of an American (now passed away) went to ABAC, then to a Swiss hotelier school for a year. Landed a sweet job in Germany and married a German guy. Another ban nohk guy with pretty good English skills went to the high school near the airport, then a tech school course in computer work for a year. He landed an excellent job at Suvarnaphumi helping a ?Dutch? company install a guidance system for the A380, then started his own transportation company in Bangkok with a single pickup, then two, then four. He still has that company and works for Securitas in Bangkok as a upper level manager. He speaks excellent English. A ban nohk guy from Udon has worked for Novotel in Phuket for several years. He speaks excellent English. Two girls we know graduated from KK University, don't speak much English. One sold big bikes for a few years in Bangkok while her sister sold clothes at Bo Bae. Now both sell lottery tickets. Only the one girl who had an American stepfather had any advantage over the others in English. But English seems to be a common denominator for the people we know who are successful.

[AlexO]

I think 6 day a week work here, 10-12 hour per day, is more the norm than exception. That seems to be the standard (not ours.....theirs).


Your post is spot on Parrot.
Don't know how many times I have sat with the 2 stepdaughters (16 and 10) and told them that learning to be fluent in English opens up so many more doors to success than just speaking Thai or piggen English. The 10 year old also goes to private English lessons for 4 hours on Sat and Sun. The basic problem I see is that most of them are just too shy to make a mistake when speaking. Example, the 10 year old understands every word (nearly, I am a Jock!!) that I say but still wants mum to translate her Thai to English when she is speaking to me. They are missing out on so many opportunities.

[GT93]

My oldest step-daughter chucked in a good job in Bangkok to help care for her grandmother (who I mentioned earlier) for a few months on the family farm. I wasn't happy as I was concerned how easily she would find another good job. I'd arbitrarily say "good" is over 35,000 baht a month. In the past she's managed to jump between jobs pretty easily. She's a Mahasarakham graduate.

When she returned last month to Bangkok she got a job in a call centre for 45 baht an hour. She's paying off a car so she can't sit around doing nothing. The hours were odd so it probably gave her time to apply for other jobs. Anyhow I just learned that she started a new job at a hospital today. It will be something in admin. Perhaps in quality control. She knew someone at the hospital.

She's a confident and determined person. I think Thailand is great for that kind of youngster. When she was younger I encouraged her to go to Bangkok to make her life better. She'd still return to work in Udon if she could find a well paying job but they are difficult to find.

[Khun Paul]

Seems that 36 million+ lazy, indolent and workshy Thais didn't get your memo, KP.

https://tradingeconomics.com/thailand/employed-persons

Just gotta love these broad-brush, and border line racist, generalisations about the native population of the country we choose to live in.

I speak from my limited experience here, many people I know work extraordinary hours for just about a living wage, as well as take care of family, so the youngsters feel that working is a waste of time, they can pick up cash from very temp work to survive , true there may well be workers working hard but a friend of mine working 12 hours a day ( 6 days a week ) at a factory in Samut Prakan earnt about 11000 a month ands that was with overtime , so the inducement to work hard is not there as the bosses and owners treat their staff badly . She was telling me that another factory she had worked at, all the staff petitioned the boss to increase wages in line with minimum wage. he just shut the factory and moved it to Laos, cheaper so we was out of work for 3 months just because . So you tell me where the inducement for young people to work when they can be treated like cattle`.

[semperfiguy]

I have some uneducated relatives back in Tennessee who lost their jobs during the recession around 2007, and rather than take a new job which was outside their skillset and paying lower wages than they had before, they sat on their butts and collected food stamps and other government handouts. Most young kids have no idea what kind of career path they are best suited for, so rather than sit on their lazy butts and get into mischief that might destroy their lives while waiting for the perfect job to fall into their laps, I suggest they take a job that may be beneath their expectations just to get them in gear. You'd be surprised what doors will open once they begin to display good work habits, dedication, responsibility and honest character. Someone will take notice and they could easily work their way into the perfect job which could afford them more than they ever expected. Idle hands are the playground of the devil!!

​
Proverbs chapter 22, verse 13, reads, “The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!”” In chapter 26, verse 13, the sluggard again says, “There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!”​
This suggests that that a sluggard person will do anything possible to make excuses for not going to work.

I agree 100%, the problem is this 19 year old boy has no drive. He did not want to come to live with us in Canada 10 years ago so we put him in a very good private school with the understanding he would learn English so that if he decided to move to Canada he would have a good start. Of course he didn't so now if he did move over here it would be a long time going back to school, learning a trade and then finally finding a job to support himself. I envision a very long time having this kid hanging around our house. Of course his mom is upset and wants to bring him here and hold his hand some more which is exactly what he does not need. I want to thank all of you for your thoughts and comments and I think the best solution is a trade school than cut off his free income to force him to get motivated. Hopefully I don't end up divorced over this. LOL.

Jai Yen Yen, sounds like you are in Canada and getting ready to send money back to Thailand to help this young man through trade school.

While living in America my former Thai wife convinced me to send money to Thailand to send her daughter to a two-year trade school. I insisted on some accountability in the form of copies of report cards or tuition receipts, but the wife got upset that I wouldn’t trust her daughter with the funds, so I gave in and sent the money each quarter anyway. When graduation time came I asked for a copy of her degree or certificate, and in the end we discovered that she never attended school at all but gave the money to her uncle with whom she was living at the time and he spent it all. I learned a huge lesson the hard way from that experience.

I paid for my current wife’s son to attend a 4 year university and gave him school and living expenses every month, but this time I expected and received a report card at the end of each semester. I gave the money to his mother each month, and she passed it to her son monthly. When he finished school I gave him two months to get a job before I cut off the free ride. I then required him to COME TO ME directly EACH WEEK (not monthly as before) and I, not his mother, would personally give him his living allowance but only if he presented to me a form that I had prepared which when completed would have the name, address and phone number of every company that he had contacted for employment and with the results of each call/interview. I let it be known that I would be randomly contacting these prospective employers to confirm his results. Of course I knew that he would feel intimidated to come to me for his weekly allowance, and I knew that he had to be micromanaged in order to ensure that he was indeed making a concerted effort to find employment. After only two weeks he had landed a good job at a retail computer shop and he is now the manager of the largest brand name shop in Udon.

I hope that these two stories might be of help to you going forward with your stepson. The bottom line is that it is wise to be cautious and demand some accountability.

[Shado]

But English seems to be a common denominator for the people we know who are successful.

I think that speaking, reading and writing English is certainly a distinct advantage. Our niece is a third year student at Mae Fah Luang University in Chiang Rai. Her basic English skills were developed while in high school in Sawang Daen Din and, of course, those skills have been polished since. She is interested in a career that involves tourism or perhaps as an airline hostess.

Once enrolled at the university she was intent on learning Mandarin. It has been a difficult study but just this past week she was selected as one of ten students who will participate in a student exchange and will be going to Kunming, Yunnan China next month. If all goes as planned she will be fluent in three languages (not including Lao/Esaan).

This girl is definitely khohn ban nohk and grew up without a father in a small village in Sakon Nakhon province. She just wants something better for herself and her family than what she witnessed as a child. I believe her selection of "role models" has been a very positive influence in her decision making. She has seen what others have accomplished and understands that setting goals and working to achieve them is the way forward.

It seems to me that many young Thais are now exposed to a broader spectrum of possibilities and are willing to work to improve their lot in life. Village kids are living in a much bigger world than did their parents and grandparents.

[jai yen yen]

I have some uneducated relatives back in Tennessee who lost their jobs during the recession around 2007, and rather than take a new job which was outside their skillset and paying lower wages than they had before, they sat on their butts and collected food stamps and other government handouts. Most young kids have no idea what kind of career path they are best suited for, so rather than sit on their lazy butts and get into mischief that might destroy their lives while waiting for the perfect job to fall into their laps, I suggest they take a job that may be beneath their expectations just to get them in gear. You'd be surprised what doors will open once they begin to display good work habits, dedication, responsibility and honest character. Someone will take notice and they could easily work their way into the perfect job which could afford them more than they ever expected. Idle hands are the playground of the devil!!

​
Proverbs chapter 22, verse 13, reads, “The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!”” In chapter 26, verse 13, the sluggard again says, “There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!”​
This suggests that that a sluggard person will do anything possible to make excuses for not going to work.

I agree 100%, the problem is this 19 year old boy has no drive. He did not want to come to live with us in Canada 10 years ago so we put him in a very good private school with the understanding he would learn English so that if he decided to move to Canada he would have a good start. Of course he didn't so now if he did move over here it would be a long time going back to school, learning a trade and then finally finding a job to support himself. I envision a very long time having this kid hanging around our house. Of course his mom is upset and wants to bring him here and hold his hand some more which is exactly what he does not need. I want to thank all of you for your thoughts and comments and I think the best solution is a trade school than cut off his free income to force him to get motivated. Hopefully I don't end up divorced over this. LOL.

Jai Yen Yen, sounds like you are in Canada and getting ready to send money back to Thailand to help this young man through trade school.

While living in America my former Thai wife convinced me to send money to Thailand to send her daughter to a two-year trade school. I insisted on some accountability in the form of copies of report cards or tuition receipts, but the wife got upset that I wouldn’t trust her daughter with the funds, so I gave in and sent the money each quarter anyway. When graduation time came I asked for a copy of her degree or certificate, and in the end we discovered that she never attended school at all but gave the money to her uncle with whom she was living at the time and he spent it all. I learned a huge lesson the hard way from that experience.

I paid for my current wife’s son to attend a 4 year university and gave him school and living expenses every month, but this time I expected and received a report card at the end of each semester. I gave the money to his mother each month, and she passed it to her son monthly. When he finished school I gave him two months to get a job before I cut off the free ride. I then required him to COME TO ME directly EACH WEEK (not monthly as before) and I, not his mother, would personally give him his living allowance but only if he presented to me a form that I had prepared which when completed would have the name, address and phone number of every company that he had contacted for employment and with the results of each call/interview. I let it be known that I would be randomly contacting these prospective employers to confirm his results. Of course I knew that he would feel intimidated to come to me for his weekly allowance, and I knew that he had to be micromanaged in order to ensure that he was indeed making a concerted effort to find employment. After only two weeks he had landed a good job at a retail computer shop and he is now the manager of the largest brand name shop in Udon.

I hope that these two stories might be of help to you going forward with your stepson. The bottom line is that it is wise to be cautious and demand some accountability.

I hear what you are saying, I have supported my Thai wife and her son for about 10 years. Paid for everything including a good private school for the boy in Udon, he wanted to stay in Thailand. We moved back to Canada about 8 years ago and since then my wife has gone to school, upgraded her English and completed a course to be a Care Aid in care homes. I am retired now and she is making good money and now pays her share of our living expenses and she is paying for her sons education. That was our plan all along. I have suggested a similar tactic as you have done, it looks like trade school for my stepson then 3 months support to give him time to find a job. After that it will be planting rice for 200 baht a day. LOL.

[Khun Paul]

To put it in a nutshell, it is attitude and a willingness to work to achieve aims and goals , hard in out our own home countries doubly hard here .
We all klnow Education here is not the best, but there are success stories , part of the problem I feel, is that the Family expect help in all things including a cash handout when required, I know on e Foreigner who states his wife comes back for avisit with no money as she does not like being used as an ATM. Now that is a Thai stating it as it is, harder for children to go and get a job, knowing that a portion of their cash is required to help even if they are not living at homed anymore. sure is the expectance the family requires , while some are happy to do so, too often I hear of Mothers telling their children to go and get a job to provide cash. So hence why bother to work, just get enough to live by and the family can look after itself . Not true of all but some, often the old adage to be Kind you have to be cruel, constantly feeding the need, makes it more and more likely they will never be able to take care of themselves, sometimes it does not work out like that but so often it does and the parents are left thinking what could I do.
That gentlemen is the conundrum, on the one hand you have a happily married couple now arguing about whether they should or should not and the child is blissfully unaware of the problems they are causing , sometimes a dose of reality and truth is required`.

I leave you all with that a decision, luckily I no longer have but trust me I did make it and now the child thanks me, some 15 years later but thanks me.

[Doodoo]

Read about a Family in Ottawa Canada where the daughter cam home one day to find a For Sale sign on the lawn of her house.

The Parents had moved leaving her to fend for herself
Sink or Swim

[GT93]

"Recently, I've been hearing more and more reports of young graduates finding it difficult to get a job. Some have been forced to rely on their parents for financial support, or else take a master's degree just to keep them busy. This not a good sign for the Thai economy or job prospects for young people. Last week, the Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation raised concerns that fully half of new graduates are likely to go jobless due to the economic slowdown."

https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opi ... 9#cxrecs_s

And: "Suvit Maesincee cited a survey showing that some 370,000 graduates are currently unemployed. When about 300,000 students leave university in March next year, the number of unemployed young graduates will rise to more than 500,000."

Not good news.

[Khun Paul]

Years ago you found Young graduates filling the jobs as Cashiers in Supermarkets, I do not suppose for one minute that will change , sadly as highlighted by the Thai Education Authorities themselves , University degrees do not actually mirror the skills required by Thailand and those students that may have skills that Thailand requires seek to work elsewhere , where they get better rewards .
In many cases Vocational training is better suited to Thailands skill requirements but judging by the antics I see daily in town by these students one really wonders .

[Doodoo]

"In many cases Vocational training is better suited to Thailands skill requirements but judging by the antics I see daily in town by these students one really wonders ."

Once again KP you have us sitting on the edge of our seats waiting to hear what is it that these Students are doing for antics? Please enlighten us with the additional details

[Barney]

"In many cases Vocational training is better suited to Thailands skill requirements but judging by the antics I see daily in town by these students one really wonders ."

Once again KP you have us sitting on the edge of our seats waiting to hear what is it that these Students are doing for antics? Please enlighten us with the additional details

Agree with your question Doodoo,
I'm not on the edge of my seat, although I was during my early morning coffee yesterday when the surfing waves were going across my pool, but, to continue a discussion I to would like to know what is the list of despicable antics the Thai student are getting up to??
When at home in Udon from work, which I am now, I am always outside the main schools morning and after hours 5 days a week, and also outside private learning facilities on weekends.
Please explain what are the antics.

[GT93]

Flaunting their youth? That can make me envious.

[Khun Paul]

"In many cases Vocational training is better suited to Thailands skill requirements but judging by the antics I see daily in town by these students one really wonders ."

Once again KP you have us sitting on the edge of our seats waiting to hear what is it that these Students are doing for antics? Please enlighten us with the additional details

Come on guys you see them daily riding around caring little for those around them,l descending on Big C and other places en-masse, just drive past the P:ost Office daily and see them sitting around smoking ( not drinking I hope ) instead of in lessons. Plkus look at the skills learnt, I had an Electrrican a few years ago who came to fix something I was a little wary of, he came with his boy just out of College, guess what the BOY twisted the wires together jusat like his boss, although I asked them to use connectors. Boss not like so I not use. ERven though he knew it was better, Nope.

[Doodoo]

Here we go again ONE example and the whole country be damned
We see this kind of attitude all over the world, Canada, USA , UK, Britain etc men, boys sitting around doing nothing constructive
There is no reason or reasons to condemn Thais over one person
The boy may have been just out of College taking an accounting course and not an Electrical one.
Jobs for Thais are best sorted out by Thais as this is what is best understood

[tamada]

Maybe one example... and TBH, the Thai electrician is a the low-hanging fruit when it comes to trades ridicule in LOS but if your defense is that the kid may have trained as an accountant before becoming a sparky's mate, then maybe there's no hope for the system if indeed there is one. My experience with vocational training in the UK is one trained to be a sparky and then gained employment as as trainee sparky. Plumbers became plumbers and brickies will always be brickies. Just because CP All places more BSc's in Social Science as cashiers at 7-elevens doesn't mean it's the smartest utilization of the paltry higher educational opportunities here.

But agree, unless it is close family and you have a firm handle on the lingo, it's better to let them sort out their own existential angst. Lord knows we have enough trouble interpreting or own place in the layer cake here.

[maaka]

Hell I slopped around as a high school kid, hair down to my shoulders, smoked ciggys and even dope at lunchtime, others sniffed glue. We did everything humanly possible not too accept school authority, but hey I went on to become a top Environmental law advocate, criminal investigator, author, and much more, so I never judge a boy because hes sitting around smoking fags, looking lazy..dont worry I have met afew lazy bastards in my time..

as for letting thai's do it their way..well I have a new problem, re my 14yrs old thai boy, his teacher and the thai way..

I noticed my boy has changed since my last visit 3 months ago..once he was full of beans, ideas, laughter, and talking, now he doesnt talk much at all, and mopes about the house looking like a sad sack..

I told the missus to ask the boy that papa want to know if anything ok with him and why he no talk much anymore..he just say is normal and hit the bedroom..I told the missus there was trouble at school of something..

sure enough he lets her into a little secret..his english teacher tell him to stop talking because he like a girl, and thai men do not talk...his grandfather tell him the same, to stop talking so much because you be a man soon, and men are supposed to be quiet...WTF...so my son does as his peers tell him..it has killed his enthusiasm, his vitality, his happiness, his passion,, everything...

now when I get home tomorrow from the city, I have to wade thru this nonsense..I might teach the english teacher a thing or two, and have ago at grandad..

[Khun Paul]

A long time ago in the UK a Professional Children's educator told me that up to the age of 12, Children will always listen to their parents and they have a great influence on them, however after that, Peers at school, and others have more input as the child becomes his own person.

Be that as it may, if the constant drip as mentioned by you is having an effect then you probably need to say something to the people offering bad advice as it will and seemingly is having an effect on him, to his disadvantage.