Eager for “emerging jobs”, young workers disillusioned

Not as glamorous as imagined

Mr. Dang Duy Long (Thuy Phuong ward, Bac Tu Liem district, Hanoi) is a bachelor of IT.

Mr. Long used to work at a famous technology company, as a programmer, with a salary of 28 million VND/month. During his work, Mr. Long collaborated with a company specializing in game programming, earning tens of millions of VND each month.

In 2021, Mr. Long got married and had a child. Because his wife was a civil servant, after her maternity leave ended and she returned to work, Mr. Long's family had a hard time taking care of their young child and balancing work. At this time, the game programming company where Mr. Long worked offered him to work full-time for them, paying a salary of 35 million VND/month with a KPI regarding time that was completely more comfortable than the old company.

In the first few months of taking on the “new job”, Mr. Long was very satisfied because every morning his wife went to work with peace of mind, and he helped the maid take care of the children. He took advantage of his free time during the day to work for the game company, especially in the evening, when his wife and children were asleep, Mr. Long focused more on his work. If he worked productively the night before, he would sleep all day the next day.

“Things have been unstable since the third month, I started to get tired because I worked too many nights. Not to mention, when it came to the progress requirements, the company asked me to go to the office as scheduled to meet with related groups. When the progress and meeting requirements were not met, my salary was noted down, there was a month when I was deducted more than 4 million VND,” said Mr. Long.

These days, Mr. Long is trying to finish his unfinished work with the game company. “After that, I will take a break to take care of my child for a while and then find another job. I accept a lower income to have a stable job, less pressure,” Mr. Long shared.

Pressure

Ms. Lai Thanh Ha graduated from the Academy of Journalism. Due to her bright and talkative appearance, since her third year, Ms. Ha has been collaborating with a beauty salon in Cau Giay District (Hanoi). Ms. Ha's job is to make video reviews of products provided by the beauty salon, from cosmetics, tattoo services, skin whitening baths, etc. For a student, a stable monthly income of 6-7 million VND makes Ms. Ha very happy and excited about her job.

After graduating, Ms. Ha did not pursue journalism or communications but instead worked for a beauty salon as a marketing manager.

“All my friends are happy for me because I got a job right after graduation, with a salary of 15 million VND/month, plus bonuses based on the company's sales. However, in the beauty industry, we are facing unprecedented fierce competition. One is that the number of beauty salons in Hanoi is too large; two is that if we don't have money to invite stars and famous people to promote, marketers must come up with very good and unique content. No matter how creative a group of content is, there will come a day when there are no ideas, while the requirements for increasing interactions, reaching customers, etc. increase every quarter. We are under a lot of pressure,” said Ms. Ha.

After 2 years of working as a content creator, Ms. Ha said that after receiving her Lunar New Year bonus in 2025, she will quit her job to find a more suitable one.