Amy Lefevre Joins to Talk Careers, Cliques and Finding Your Level in Bangkok [S6.E9]

With interest in Thailand returning to pre-pandemic levels and the podcast getting an increasing number of emails asking for advice on living and working here, Greg interviews old acquaintance Amy LeFevre, a half-Thai American woman, on her unique career journey in Asia and what they’ve both learned about finding (and keeping!) a job in Bangkok. 

The two begin with the importance of language skills and the difficulty of competing with educated Thais who typically have decent English, and then segues into an interesting topic: Is it easy for foreigners to get jobs inside Thailand outside of the cliched fields of teacher, IT staff, NGO staff and digital nomad? Amy argues that in Bangkok, foreigners who work in these fields tend to socialize together, almost creating cliques that can be difficult to break into (or out of). Further, expats often hit a ‘ceiling’ in their late 20s or early 30s where they feel they cannot advance their careers without leaving Thailand.

Greg notes that the Thai bureaucracy that governs expats in the end closes the off to the energy and creativity of thousands of foreigners who could be boosting the economy, employing locals, and injecting Thai society with new ideas that could really catapult the country into true first world status along with Singapore and Hong Kong. 

Listen in for an in depth discussion of the pros and cons of trying to make your career in the Land of Smiles. 

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