Ma Duc Huy has just graduated from the HCM City University of Technology (HUTECH), but is unable to find a job related to his major, bio-technology.

A job fair at the HCM City Open University. 

“I temporarily work as a motorcycle driver for Go-Viet, which is an instant courier and motorcycle ride-hailing service through an app,” he says.

Huy’s situation is not unique.

"Nearly 15 per cent of university graduates have jobs as workers in factories," Dr Nguyễn Đức Nghĩa, vice chairman of the Association of Việt Nam Universities and Colleges, told a career counselling programme last October.

"More than 75 per cent of high school students choose to go to universities each year," he said.

Huy said HUTECH should tie up with companies to introduce jobs to its students like him.

According to a report by recruitment company Navigos Group, 66 per cent of 1,600 fresh graduates with less than two years’ work experience it polled said universities should partner with businesses to make it easy for them to find jobs.

The report released on December 18 was titled “Fresh Graduates At The Beginning of Their Professional Careers: Opportunities and Challenges”.

A lack of career orientation is the biggest obstacle fresh graduates face in finding jobs. Thirty eight per cent of the participants said their biggest challenge in finding employment was "unclear career orientation."

Both external factors such as low payment and job availability and internal factors like ability to search for jobs contribute to the difficulty in finding employment.

The most common monthly salary is between VNĐ5 million and VNĐ7 million ($214.7-300.5).

Twenty nine per cent said their salaries were around VNĐ7-10 million ($300.5-429.4). Fresh graduates with language skills have higher-paying jobs, often getting more than VNĐ10 million.

With regard to language proficiency, more than 60 per cent of all jobs require knowing a foreign language to a certain extent.

Change jobs

Young workers change jobs more frequently, posing a retention challenge for employers.

When asked about their opinion on this phenomenon, termed as “jumping jobs”, 81 per cent agreed, saying “Quitting early prevents them from wasting time in unsuitable or unsatisfactory positions.”

More than 40 per cent said this helped them “gain diverse working experience and expand networks.”

Interestingly, though young candidates valued high salaries and benefit packages when choosing jobs, 57 per cent disagreed that “jumping jobs is to earn more.”

The answers also suggest that “jumping jobs” shows youngsters’ lack of loyalty to their employers.

With the availability of choices now, young jobseekers show strong interest in their long-term career prospects and learning opportunities at work. These are also important factors that affect their decision to change jobs.

Two factors that respondents said heavily influence their decision to change jobs were “low compensation and benefits” (54 per cent) and "no opportunity for promotion” (47 per cent).

“Incompatible corporate culture" was also a top reason for changing jobs according to nearly a quarter of participants.

Regarding their participation in start-ups, more than half had never run a business before but plan to do so in future. Twenty four per cent has attempted to run one at least once while the rest had no intention to do so.

Young people are gradually becoming more aware of the impact of the fourth industrial revolution, with 46 per cent preparing for its disruption of the labor market. But more than half reported little to no interest and gave neutral opinions.

Gaku Echizenya, CEO of Navigos Group Vietnam, said: "To sustainably transform the young into the core workforce of Vietnamese manpower, businesses need to cultivate a thorough employee journey starting from pre-recruitment and recruitment to on-boarding and probation.

“What is characteristic of fresh graduates is that they are in critical need of training and navigation to build their career roadmaps.”

Throughout an employee’s journey, factors such as employer brand, welfare policies, direct supervision, training programmes, and career roadmaps are of the utmost importance in engaging and retaining young people, he added. –VNS