Working Overseas: Thailand
So you want to experience life in Thailand? Usually when people consider living in Thailand, they immediately think they must take up an English teaching job to pay for their time there. While there are lucrative English teaching jobs in institutions like Thammasat or Chulalongkorn, most English teaching positions are often poorly paid.
As a matter of fact, don’t expect a leading wage for any job requiring skills, teaching or not. It sounds like bad news, but in reality if you mean to live in Thailand for an extended period of time, such poorly paid jobs aren’t any trouble because Thailand is a cheap place to live, the infrastructure is perhaps the best in this region of the world, it’s a safe country, and there’s nonetheless every chance to advance your career and acquire some useful work experience.
Yet there’s an obscured problem that only presents itself over time: you’ve been living in the Land of Smiles for 1 or 2 years, and you’ve gained decent work experience, your wage is low, but then again the cost of living is low so no problem. HOWEVER, here’s the rub : You haven’t had the opportunity to actually BANK money while working in Thailand. The cost of air tickets look ridiculously over-priced compared to your salary in Thailand. The price of things back home gets to panic you when thinking about your Thai wage slip. This dilemma troubles many non-Thai nationals in Thailand a year or two after arriving there. Long- term future plans are often delayed because you don’t have the nest egg of money to realise any ambition like purchasing a home, buying a car, or getting married.
Consequently, key point : when considering staying in the Land of Smiles, also consider that it is very difficult to bank meaningful quantities of cash when thinking about the prices of “back home”.
However, it’s not all about money is it? You can gain a wonderful experience in Thailand, perhaps learn the Thai language, make friends, go travelling around Thailand when you have time off work, and get yourself some invaluable overseas work experience.
So what variety of job positions can you obtain in Thailand? Looking at jobs-quality.com – a website listing positions in the Chonburi and Bangkok districts of Thailand – they have listed HR work placements, Administration job placements in Thailand, sales executive work placements, safety officer work placements etc. Essentially the types of positions you’d find in your home country. While the majority of these jobs may be looking for a Thai speaker, you will still find English-speaking prerequisites for placements inside many international companies located in Thailand.
