Japanese firms promoted themselves to Thai students at a job fair in Bangkok.

As foreign companies expand their business in the country, it's been getting harder to secure good employees, especially since Chinese and South Korean companies are also among those competing for human resources.

The fair on Wednesday was held at a Bangkok university established to teach Japanese industrial technology to Thais. Officials from more than 70 Japanese firms spoke with students, mainly those set to graduate this year.

They explained their business and benefit programs to some 800 participants. A student said, "I am interested to work as a design engineer. Throughout my 4 years spent in university, I have been exposed to Japanese culture and I can utilize it."

Hirate Hisanori, the executive chairman at one of the Japanese firms, Hirate Technical, said they were recruiting engineers and wanted people eager to take on new challenges.

With thousands of Japanese companies operating in Thailand, competition for employees has heated up especially for IT engineers.

The university program teaches Japanese industrial and business management studies, and includes internship programs at Japanese factories.

Rungsun Lertnaisat, the president of the Thai-Nichi Institute of Technology, said that Japanese firms allowed for more stable work compared to European or American firms.

He added he hoped they can expand the student body in the future to include those from China, India and other ASEAN nations, and encourage them to work at Japanese companies.