Why Hiring Fails in Thailand
(A Recruiter’s View From 1,000+ Interviews)**
An international company spent more than a year trying to hire one senior leader in Thailand.
They interviewed dozens of candidates.
They engaged multiple recruitment agencies.
They had a strong global brand.
They had budget approval.
And yet… the role is still not filled.
This is not a rare case.
It is one of the most common hiring failures I see in the Thai market — especially among international companies.
Most leaders believe they have a “talent shortage” problem.
In reality, what they usually have is a decision, design, and expectation problem.
The uncomfortable truth about the Thai talent market
Thailand does not lack capable senior professionals.
What it does lack is alignment between:
- What companies want
- What the market can realistically offer
- And how quickly companies are willing to decide
Senior-level talent in Thailand is highly passive. These people are already employed, performing well, and being actively approached. When they consider a move, they do so carefully — not just based on salary, but on leadership quality, role clarity, and career risk.
When companies move slowly, remain unclear, or hold unrealistic expectations, strong candidates quietly walk away.
That is exactly what happened in this one-year failed search.
Mistake #1: They didn’t know what they were really hiring
The first problem was not candidates.
It was clarity.
Different stakeholders wanted different things:
- One wanted a technical leader
- Another wanted a commercial driver
- Another wanted a regional strategist
The job description kept shifting. Interviews became inconsistent. Candidates received mixed messages about what success actually looked like.
Senior professionals are not confused easily — but they are very quick to spot confusion inside a company. When a role lacks a clear purpose, top candidates assume the risk will fall on them.
They opt out.
Mistake #2: They searched for an impossible profile
The company wanted:
- Deep industry experience
- Multiple languages
- Willingness to relocate to a difficult location
- High leadership maturity
- Strong commercial ability
- And limited salary flexibility
That profile does not exist in meaningful volume in the Thai market.
You can ask for anything.
But the market will only give you what actually exists.
Trying to hire unicorns does not make you selective — it makes you stuck.
Mistake #3: They didn’t believe the market
This is where many searches truly collapse.
There is a quiet belief in many companies that recruitment agencies only push “easy” candidates — people who are convenient to place, not necessarily the best for the role.
So when recruiters say,
“This profile does not exist at this location and salary,”
it is often dismissed as a sales tactic instead of market intelligence.
But recruiters do not invent the market.
We see it — every day — through hundreds of conversations with real candidates making real career decisions.
When companies choose internal assumptions over external data, they are no longer hiring.
They are gambling.
What candidates were actually thinking
The candidates who declined this role did not lack capability.
They lacked confidence in the opportunity.
They saw:
- A vague role
- A slow process
- Unrealistic expectations
- No flexibility
- No clear decision maker
Strong professionals do not fight to enter chaos.
They walk away.
What successful companies do differently
The companies that hire well in Thailand do not chase perfect CVs.
They:
- Decide what truly matters
- Accept trade-offs
- Trust market feedback
- Move with speed and clarity
They design the role before they fill it.
They hire people — not fantasies.
The real reason hiring fails
Hiring failures are not bad luck.
They are the result of:
- Unclear leadership
- Unrealistic expectations
- And ignoring the market
The companies who win at talent are not the ones with the biggest brand.
They are the ones who listen, decide, and adapt.
At APlus Career, we do not just fill roles.
We help companies design them for reality — and then hire for success.
About Nina Phinnipha Suriyong
With over 18 years in executive search, Nina has placed top talent across industries like manufacturing, automotive, electronics, chemical, retail, and life sciences. She founded APlus Career Recruitment Co., Ltd. in 2022, a boutique agency specializing in recruitment and HR solutions.
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