The ‘Thai national’ requirement for HR (and other) roles in Thailand.

Some years ago, after significant change at the company for whom I was working at the time as the HR Director, I started to sniff around speculatively for similar opportunities elsewhere in Thailand.

Few cut the mustard, but when I saw the ‘HR Director Required For Large UK Retailer in Thailand’ post on Linkedin, I decided to give the recruitment company (who had themselves pitched for business from me quite recently) a call.

A couple of paraphrased snippets from my conversation with the very personable and audially sensitive person I was put through to ensue.

After some initial chat about their client..

‘‘Actually, they are only looking for Thai nationals’’, she informed me.

‘‘Oh, do you know why?’’

‘‘I don’t really know’’

‘‘Perhaps I can help you here. There really are only two fundamental reasons why an employer would specify a nationality requirement, whatever the country you happen to be doing business in. One is legal, the other the implied competencies associated with a nationality requirement, such as language, communication style or cultural sensitivity. Which one is it?’’, I enquired emphatically, though not without empathy and patience.

‘‘Well’’…

‘’Because if it’s due to a presumed legal requirement, HR Director roles, if constructed, documented and presented with full cognizance of the letter and intention of the Alien Employment Law, are indeed open to non Thai nationals, with a few riders of course’’.

‘‘I guess they need a Thai speaker’’.

‘‘Ok, could be’’.

I then found myself quietly explaining to her how a professional recruiter needs to fully understand the context of a position, assist in scoping and sizing, and possibly even play a part in the design of the role, if appropriate, by asking, and helping the client to answer, critical questions about it. Phew.

The point, of course, is that there could well be good reasons why an employer might state a preference for a Thai national in Thailand.

Or there may not be.

HR roles can be tricky. The accountabilities for an HR head job at one organization may differ in their entirety from those at another, even within the same industry.

Nevertheless, if the key expectations and deliverables of the role are focused mainly around a legal – transactional – policy – policing set of activities, it is very possible that the employer's preference might be for a Thai national.

At the other end of the spectrum, if the role requires you to build capability through organization wide transformation and business aligned interventions, then it depends.

Unfortunately, rarely are senior HR jobs so easily tied down and clinically delineated. More often they are a complicated mix of the soft and the hard, the strategic and the transactional, servicing and policing, planning and executing, empowering and directing, and much more still.

I have got to know many exceptionally talented HR Directors in Thailand over the years, both Thai and non – Thai nationals, who have struggled in a role or two during their otherwise successful careers. Rarely due to shortcomings in innate ability, but more often from a mismatch with the organization and (by extension) the requirements of the role.

On reflection in fact, I have encountered at least as many Thai nationals as non - Thais who have failed to come to terms with the requirements of more traditionally inclined employers. This is sometimes because the prevailing culture often assumes that, as Thai nationals themselves, he/she is expected to bend to prevailing forces more than a non Thai may be.

Speaking only English may, in some organizations, even give you a pass. Indeed, a ‘progressive’ leader who wants to drive cultural transformation in a traditional environment may quite purposefully hire a non - Thai speaker into a critical role in order to disrupt and challenge the prevailing order.

To take this on successfully though, will require you to have the wherewithal to understand and engage the central paradox: that is, that you will be expected to challenge the very order, power structure, hierarchy (seen and hidden), values (those stated vs those actually practiced) and the complex web of interpersonal relationships that are found in every dimension of life in Thailand, whether family, social or work (with plenty more cross pollination between the three than you would ever encounter in, say, the UK or US) that has given you the mandate to challenge it in the first place.

Whether a candidate can understand, identify, create and effectively engage the strategic levers that such roles call for really depends on the unique experience and ability that he or she brings to the job, not their passport.

So, keeping all of the above in mind:

Recruiters. Engage your clients and add value by dialoguing with them further up the OD chain about the context of the role – the business goals, the culture, the organization, and more. Use this knowledge both to find the right candidates and meaningfully engage with them about whether this is an opportunity that would genuinely suit them.

Employers. Use exec search people who have the ability to add value by consulting and advising you. They can help you configure organizational structures as well as the roles themselves and, ergo, are the ones you should retain to find the right persons to fill those roles. 

Candidates. Ask recruiters the kind of questions I have raised above about role accountabilities, deliverables, expectations, business and cultural contexts before you say yes to speaking to a prospective new employer. Ask them why an employer would specify nationality as a role requirement, for example.