Thai English-skills upgrade is vital

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Thai English-skills upgrade is vital 
Bangkok Post: 11 Dec 2009
English-skills upgrade vital


Thai people need to improve their English-language skills to better compete with Asean candidates, says executive recruitment agency Boyden Associates.

Competition will become increasingly intense from 2015 when skilled workers from the 10 member states will be able to migrate freely within the Asean Economic Community (AEC), said managing director Yupadee Yudhanaraweesak.

Thailand will be disadvantaged by the English-language capacity of its workforce when compared to better skilled Asean members such as Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.

"We might be more skilled in terms of technical abilities, but if our English skills are bad, companies will choose to hire a Filipino who has the same experience and pricing," she said.

The AEC will present greater employment opportunities for citizens of Asean member states within the bloc as they will not require work permits.

Current procedures are burdened by bureaucracy and require work permits to be extended on an annual basis, said Mrs Yupadee.

Finding candidates with strong English skills for sales and marketing positions is fairly easy. But it is a much harder task for specialised positions such as engineering.

Specialists, who account for 7% to 8% of Boyden's customers, are hard to find. These positions include auditors, and corporate lawyers.

"[In the future] Thailand may not be able to compete with other countries. Therefore we need to accelerate our learning in order to improve our competitiveness," she said.

The recruitment industry has been quiet after the economic slump, with organisations trying to downsize or freeze hiring. Candidates are also less willing to change jobs due to uncertainty, she said.

Next year should be better because government stimulus spending should create an increase in demand from various sectors searching for staff for different projects, she said.

The recovery will stimulate all sectors except banking and finance, since the US banking industry has not yet recovered, and the demand in real estate sector is significantly lower, she said.


Writer: NANCHANOK WONGSAMUTH

www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/29055/english-skills-upgrade-vital