Jobs in Thailand – Teaching English
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I don’t have a degree and I don’t have an overly impressive job history to wow anybody by any means. On top of that, I’ve never done a TEFL English teaching course. I have been living in Thailand for over three months now – After my first month of living in Thailand I was fortunate enough to get a job as an Extra and earn a modest sum of money, it wasn’t much but every bit helped. Sadly, work only lasted about two months and since that time I have been struggling to acquire any more jobs in Thailand.
People had suggested teaching English in Thailand to me before but I never gave this a second thought because of my lack of higher education and experience. But desperate times pushed me to apply for a teaching job at the language school I happen to attend in Thailand – I had heard from a fellow student that students at our school have actually been considered for English teaching jobs in the past despite these shortcomings. So that’s when I decided to apply for the job anyway – it doesn’t hurt to try after all.
The Job Interview
I handed my CV in at the school and had a phone call the same afternoon inviting me to a job interview that week. I was so honoured and excited to have actually been considered for the teaching job there that I spent the whole of the next day looking for the perfect interview outfit to wear and after that, planning every key phrase ready in reply to any of his questions. Despite my background being different and maybe unconventional to many other desirable interviewees, I do actually feel relatively confident that I have a very diverse and interesting history behind me.
So after a whole day’s preparation making sure to look as anti-hippy and dashing as possible, I made my way to my job interview in Thailand. I arrived too early and so ended up taking a stroll to a bagel cafe nearby. Then I had a bright idea to get an Thai energy drink from the 7 11 to perk me up a bit for my job interview… Biggest mistake ever. I’ve always found myself to be pretty immune to caffeine in the past, but these bad boys in Thailand… they’re another story. I was waiting for my teaching job interview at the language school 20 minutes later and I felt myself feeling particularly energetic and chatty with whoever happened to be around me at the time. Come the job interview… I don’t know… maybe it was whatever the hell I drank mixed with nerves or something but all I remember is having the biggest grin ever stuck across my face, body twitching, eyes bulging and bullshit streaming out of my mouth at about 100 miles an hour. It went terribly.
I said absolutely nothing to benefit my cause, and yet I had so much planned to say. I was chattering useless rubbish at this poor man while eagerly staring at him and nodding insanely over-enthusiastically like a complete mentalist. I think it’s safe to say I did not get the English teaching job in Thailand. I do not know what is in the energy drinks in Thailand but that is some crazy drink.. just take it from me and avoid Thai energy drinks like the plague if you have an important teaching job interview in Thailand.
Total money made from teaching English in Thailand…
– 697 baht
Teaching jobs in Thailand tips
If you don’t have a degree or any experience teaching English, it is still possible to obtain work as an English teacher in Thailand. Thai state schools will still take on people without degrees and maybe if you are lucky, you may find private schools who will consider you also. You may need to ‘tweek’ your CV a little though… it is actually possible to purchase fake degree certificates on Khaosan Road too.
There are also various teaching agencies kicking around that can provide training as well as find suitable teaching jobs in Thailand for you, but they can charge steep fees and there are some untrustworthy ones around, so it is well worth thoroughly researching them before signing up to anything. One reputable company I have heard good stories about in Thailand is Essential Learning, or Ajarn is also a useful website to find teaching jobs in Thailand.
Other useful websites and agencies for finding teaching jobs in Thailand
www.teachingjobsthailand.net
www.myprivatetutor-thailand.com
www.teachingthailand.com
Time2Talk (credit to Eric!)
Super English
The Language
BFITS
Malthus
….Alternatively to teaching English in Thailand, Extra work requires no qualifications or experience.
If you’re still looking, there are loads of agencies that can – at a push – work around a lack of degree. I’m not sure which can manage this, but the ones in my area are time2talk, super english, the language, BFITS, and malthus. A cool way of travelling around and getting paid whilst gaining teaching experience is to join a dedicated English Camp company. Can’t remember the name of the one the people I was talking to ran, but it seems like they’re always hard pushed for staff so will be more easy on requirements.
Thanks a lot for the useful info and tips Eric, it’s most helpful. I’ve added it to the list!
My partner and I are presently looking after his parents who are dimentia sufferers. When the end of this horrible situation rears it head we plan to leave england and make our home in T hail and.
Neither of us wants to do anything thats going to tire us out; (work wise) as thats the situation were in right now, draining and tiresome. Exhaustion seems to play a large part of our life right now.
My partner is a qualified Social Worker and I have worked in education for 15 yrs.
Is there any hope for us in the job market in Thailland, as we will have to make a living at some point.
any replies will be really appreciated.
Laurie
Hi Laurie,
Sorry to hear about your parents… I’m not much of an expert on jobs in Thailand and don’t know much other than what I’ve written about in my post: http://www.caniliveinthailand.com/jobs-in-thailand/. But if you have 15 years experience and qualifications in education already, then I’m pretty confident you will be able to get well paid teaching work in Thailand very easily, in a good international school.
Social Work on the other hand, I think will not be so easy to acquire due to the immigration laws and restrictions on foreigner’s jobs in Thailand. However, if you’d like to get more of a feel of the sort of jobs for foreigners that people advertise in Thailand, it may be a good idea to join some Facebook groups such as Bangkok Expats, Desperately Seeking Bangkok or Job Seekers Thailand.
You really can get by on little money in Thailand though – it depends on each individual’s lifestyle, but just doing basic jobs online on freelance websites can easily suffice and make you enough money to live in Thailand. Hope this helps!