Due to conflicts with her manager, Ms. Pham Thi Quyen (41 years old, name changed), Nam Tu Liem District, Hanoi, decided to quit her job. This was also the time when she felt stuck because finding a job was extremely difficult. To the point that for 3 consecutive months, she had to do freelance work and receive unemployment benefits.
“I interviewed at 5 places and was rejected because I did not meet the company’s criteria. In fact, the main reason I was not accepted was because I was too old, not dynamic or enthusiastic enough to work, or could not afford a high salary,” said Ms. Quyen.
Ms. Quyen said that the biggest obstacle for her when applying for a job at the age of 41 was work experience. With more than ten years in ordinary positions, Ms. Quyen's personal profile was not outstanding enough to convince the recruiter.
The female employee shared that companies only accept hiring older people when they have held many important positions or reached a management position or higher. Otherwise, they are willing to hire younger people for training and also pay them easier because young people do not require a high starting salary like middle-aged people.
Finally, Ms. Quyen had to accept a job at a small company with an initial salary of 8 million VND/month. She herself also determined to try to stick with it for a long time and persevere, completing the job well to receive a higher salary in the future. Because if she quits her job again, she doesn't know if she can find another job or not.
Giving advice to those in their 50s, Ms. Quyen shared that they need to have extensive experience and save a large amount of capital if they want to quit their jobs at this age.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Tinh (45 years old, Nam Dinh, character name changed) after giving up her job as a construction worker decided to apply for a job in a company to have stability, not worry about the sun or rain. However, at this age, Ms. Tinh was rejected by many companies. If accepted, it was a job with a fairly low salary.
“Although companies are still recruiting workers, they only need experienced and skilled workers. At my age, I can only do simple jobs with quite low salaries,” said Ms. Tinh.
According to Ms. Tinh, companies believe that it is difficult to train people over 40 to work as effectively as young people, so they only hire skilled workers. In addition, when they start working, they are prone to making mistakes, which affects the quality of the whole team's work.
Therefore, after nearly 3 months of unsuccessfully searching for a job, Ms. Tinh decided to work as a packer and thread picker. These jobs do not require much, just perseverance and meticulousness. Ms. Tinh revealed that her income ranges from only 4 to a maximum of 6.5 million VND/month.
With that income, the female worker shared that it is almost impossible to save any money after deducting daily living expenses. The only provision for old age is the social insurance book she is participating in. Ms. Tinh said that she will try to work for 15 years and then continue to pay voluntary social insurance to receive a pension.
