Hiring in Southeast Asia: search, in-country employment, or your own entity

Most first hires in Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand or Malaysia fail the same way: headquarters treats search, the employment contract, and the entity as one task. They are not.

Three paths, one place of work

**Executive search** finds the person — country manager, plant director, finance head. A local consultant maps the market. First shortlist typically in five business days.

**In-country employment** puts that person on a labour contract, payroll and social charges in the country of work, before you incorporate. Your managers still direct the work.

**Your own entity** is the later conversion: the same person, on your company, once the licence exists.

Do not mix them. A search can run while the entity is pending. The contract still has to sit in the country of work. A visitor visa is not a hire.

What to lock at kickoff

1. City and site — Jakarta is not Cikarang; Ho Chi Minh City is not Binh Duong. 2. Local hire or expatriate, and whether the work permit is even available for that title. 3. Whether the entity exists. If it does not, plan in-country employment from week one, not after the offer.

Where this shows up

Indonesia country-manager searches often sit on a local employment contract after work-permit rules tightened. Vietnam plant ramps need the director and the operators on different pipelines. Thailand plant roles follow the province wage grid, not a Bangkok office template.

The public country pages carry the statutory stack and the salary bands. This note is the sequence: find the person, put the contract in the country of work, convert when you have a company.