Vietnam is attracting plenty of foreign investment in many sectors thanks to new achievements in technological evolution. The advancement of technology, as well as the higher requirements of some fields, has created essential sets of skills that job seekers should have in order to boost their value and own competitive advantages with other candidates. Hence what are career prospects and skill trends in Vietnam? The article will help you find out the answer.

Vietnam current labour workforce and demand situation

Vietnam is a country that has a young workforce. Nevertheless, according to research conducted by Navigos (2018), international companies found it difficult to hire competent employees in Vietnam. There was a mismatch between the skill level of employees and employers’ requirements. The shortage of qualified workers was the biggest hurdle.
Under the circumstances of the lack of skilful employees, the remaining talented candidates tend to seek for vacancies in foreign businesses, which is another drawback for domestic companies. Hence, it is required that Vietnamese enterprises need to change their policies to attract and retain talents. 
Vietnam’s quality of human resources was 3.76 out of 10, ranking the 11th out of twelve Asian countries. 

Human resources quality remains challenges

Chung Ngoc Que Chi of Ho Chi Minh City Technical and Economic College has said that Vietnamese workers are not only lacking in quantity but also quality as well. The level of foreign languages, IT skills and the ability to utilize technology do not meet the requirement. 
Nguyen Xuan Binh, head of Central Economic, has stated that it is essential for Vietnam to make a significant change in the awareness of human resource quality to achieve practical results. 
Prime Minister Nguyên Xuân Phúc pointed out three things that Vietnam should focus on improving human resource capabilities. First of all, vocational education had better follow market trends. Moreover, policies should be enacted to promote the connections between two entities to encourage cooperation and contribution to training. Second, vocational training should meet international standards so that students can be equipped with the most updated knowledge, necessary technical and soft skills. The last point is that we should predict the demands of businesses and the economy.

Factors that influence the labor market in 2020 

According to a report by HR insider, the two most influential factors are technological and socio-economic factors. 

It is forecasted that in the next five years, robots and automation will have a strong impact on the labor market, followed by mobile internet, cloud technology, big data and the internet of things. These sections are believed to have higher demands of workers, hence investing in these skills is beneficial for students.

The changes in the nature of work, flexible work, the increase in elite labor and young demographic will influence greatly the labor market in 2020 with 66%, 55%, and 54% respectively. 

Trending skills for employees and HR specialists

When the labor market changes, which are sets of skills essential for employees and HR specialists? 

Trending skills for employees

In the next five years, technology is believed to be applied in a lot of fields in the economy. For instance, the application of automatic machines in car manufacturing or farming. Besides, the competition among candidates become more fierce, candidates who have better abilities will have chances to work in desired enterprises. So what are the abilities and basic skills needed in the future?
Regarding to abilities, problem-solving skills, creativity, cognitive flexibility, and logical reasoning are the four most important skills. Problem sensitivity is ranked the most needed skills with 86%, followed by creativity with 86% and logical reasoning with 51%. Meanwhile, physical abilities and mathematical reasoning are considered not to be essential. The development of technology may be a vital cause. 
In terms of basic skills, active learning is the most significant skill (87%) then ICT learning, monitoring self and others and critical thinking. Moreover, people do not work alone, but they work in a team. Consequently, cross-functional skills are also vital. To have a teamwork spirit and express yourself, coopering with others, people management, emotional intelligence, decision making and complex problem solving are highlighted. These sets of skills are skills that robots or technology are unable to assist people in working.

Trending skills for HR specialists and employers

1. Employee experience over employee engagement

By focusing on the experience you provide to your employees, they will find the meaningfulness in their work. This personalized experience can be gamified, challenges, learning or upskilling to help them improve their skills. 

2. Evidence-based working

Employers can have a fair assessment to employees by using solid metrics and analytics thanks to digital tools. The capabilities of analyzing, assigning work and measuring the work efficiency with the assistance of analytics allow employees to be free of bias and subjective working.

3. Invest in team and business growth

When you help your employees develop skills and train the skills that are needed in their work, staffs will feel motivated because they are learned and willing to contributing to your business more. 

In addition, you can look for the salary standard for tech talents in Vietnam at Viettonkin’s blog.

To sum up, equipping yourself with needed skills is important in the labour market today because you will have more competitive advantages than other candidates. Not only employees but employers also ought to own some skills to attract, engage and retain talents. No matter who you are, employees or employers, we hope that you will find the article helpful.