maybe this has been on the forum already but I wonder:
"Would you pay up to 500,000 baht!! for your son or daughter to get a good job (goverment or other) that pays about 10,000 baht a month, just because it is the custom in Thailand??????? A government job comes with a lot of secondary benefits (healthcare for familymembers, bank accounts, garantees for borrowing money, easy mortgage etc etc)

NO if the children are not qualified they should not get the job. hence the problem Thailand has. Money does not mean intelligence just greed and corruption . So the wheel turns.

I'd be curious to know just how the money is disseminated, and no I'm not supporting it, just curious.

and then you have people who are qualified (by education and by test) for the bureaucracy who pay money to get the assignment location of their choice. I know of a young lady who graduated from Udon Rajhabat with teaching credentials who wanted to stay in Udon Province. Her folks paid a goodly piece of change to make that happen.. The Ministry of Education could have assigned her anywhere.. Just another way for bureaucrats to make money.....

Just as FrazeeDK posted, Khun Paul, what if she is qualified; educated and tested; but still has to bid against parents who have the money to spare? What then??

if you cant beat em, join em..
Its just the way things are.

I am always one for morals, but I am learning fast that the fact is in this ever changing world of ours, is if you dont pay, someone else will, ( as shown above) and that wont put food on your table. Indeed, even those that dont pay, are not right for the job when they do get it..you either play the game, or sit on the sidelines..the decision is yours..

I have applied for 150 jobs of late, and only got 1 interview, and then I was the most experience of the 2 candidates, and they still gave the job to the other bod, because they were in the firm..

if you think that by not paying you are going to change the world off its corrupt axis, sorry, the tree is already dead at the core, and no amount of pruning off the deadwood is going to save it. Only planting a new tree will change things IMO. of course there is no guarantee that if you do pay, your job will last, and you will get your 500,000 baht's worth. need some guarantee there..

Geez I only got my big job back in the day because my dad was in the Union. Only Union members sons got the vacant jobs..Thats how it was, and everyone knew that..we didnt pay money. it was like jobs for mates.

My oldest step-daughter is just 26 and is a university graduate who has been working for a few years in Bangkok. She now wants to return to Udon and is applying for jobs in Udon. You guys now have me worried I'm going to have to put my hand into my wallet. I guess I would pay. The reason - she's the one who stresses education most in my family and would help her nephew and niece focus on their education more if she was back in Udon. but I'm not paying 500,000 baht. Pigs might fly first.

As a ''falang parent'',I would never pay that much money for my daughter to receive a ''job'' appointment!IMO,it is a sure bet that she would not get to keep the job anyway because ,caste and social standing would eventually prevent her success!

I am of the thinking that the money could be better spent on helping her set up an ''online business ''of her own,where she could compete semi-anonymously.

I am presently spending about 2Mil baht for her International University experience,hoping that she will find some cultural diversity experience amongst her new classmates and associates and will find some new direction that will give her more potential opportunities for her future as Thailand has to many traps and barriers in relationship to ''jobs''.

I'm certainly not convinced that this money is well spent ,but I see no alternatives at this time.Playing the corruption game is absolutely not the answer,IMO.

There has been a slow but progressive growth in her ''thinking'' and ''ideas'' maturation after 2 years.Something that would never have happened for her if she was to stay emerged in the Thailand education system and Thai associations exclusively,IMO!!!

The implication of the original post was, it was a Thai custom????? More a question of is it a custom.

Not much come back from posters if it is a custom or not, has anyone had the experience of family members being asked to pay the money and did they. 500k should get you a good job and much more than 10,000 bht a month. 4+ years work just to get your money back. Although it was stated up to 500K.

I am curious now and will now over a beer tonight be able to ask some thai's what they think of this?
I live with 35 thais in 1 house for work purposes, some well educated engineers, some electrical technicians. From all parts of Thailand.

have to agree with Stan, on the caste / social standing thingy, as thats plays a huge part in the realm of things too..

you may be able to buy your way in, but being accepted by your follow workmates is another matter all together..an ex of mine who was No 2 in a hospital, learnt the BKK thai lingo, which is slighty different to Isaan Thai, just to help her up the ladder, and then when she did reach No 2 she would live in the poorest looking house of the three she had, and it was rough, just to fit in with her parents low class neighbours..she lived a sort of double life, pretending to be Hiso at work, and Lowso at home..weird..and when she caught me chatting to the lowest of the low living in the concrete pillbox / dog box of a shed down the road, she couldnt understand why I would be talking to such people, She said she could never be seen to chat to them types...so there is more than paying or not paying the money...I think overseas work experience , and a taste of the world could go alongway, when finally back in BKK looking for a job..I would be learning Chinese too

I stand by what I said, it is the system that has created the situation and those who ARE NOW at the top will not change it as they would like their money back and what better way than perpetuating the system.

A teacher friend of mine was asked for 150,000 baht to get the job she was applying for at a Udon school. She had been teaching for over 10 years, but in a rural school. She didn't have the money, so didn't get the job. Instead she has to work her way up year by year and test by test in her old school, but she is resigned to the fact that she will never get that job in Udon she wanted.

May be the rural schools win on that one.

I'm an optimist on this crap. It will diminish. On a personal level, I'm not keen to pay for my step-daughter to get a job in Udon as she changes what she wants to do too often (as young people often do). She's also in the wanting a baby age range.