Unemployed at the end of April 2025, Mr. Phung Duc Tien (from Hung Yen) was increasingly aware of his shortcomings and quickly built a roadmap to supplement the skills he lacked.
Graduating from a vocational college in 2023, Mr. Tien was hired as a technical staff in the refrigeration mechanical department of an electromechanical supermarket in Lang Ward (Hanoi). After more than 2 years of working, Mr. Tien was let go by the company with the reason "enrolling as a university graduate engineer, the salary is not much more than what is paid, and the staff has many soft skills".
Not discouraged by losing his job, Mr. Tien determined to save his savings after 2 years of working to add soft skills, learn English and register for university-level contact training. Mr. Tien's decision was supported by his family. "My parents told me to continue to study extra classes to improve my skills, find a job to study and work well, otherwise my family will support additional living expenses," said Mr. Tien.
Currently, Mr. Tien has a specific schedule to balance his extra study. To save time and improve learning productivity, Mr. Tien also enrolls in online classes.
Mr. Tien said that he aims to find a new job and earn more than his old job by the end of 2025, but at the same time, he still maintains interdisciplinary studies to standardize his degrees.
Losing her job in June 2025 due to the company's personnel cuts, Ms. Bui Ngoc Lan - an administrative employee of an educational service provider in Ha Dong ward (Hanoi) immediately reviewed and took the high school exam in education management. Ms. Lan said that after 4 years of working, she once wanted to extend her work or transfer to another company to reduce the pressure to have the opportunity to study at a higher university. As a result of the company's staff cut, she is determined to take the high school exam and find a suitable job while improving her qualifications and skills.
I want to return to the labor market with a new mindset, more confidence, stability and more options, Ms. Lan shared.
Talking to Lao Dong reporter, Mr. Le Quang Trung - former Deputy Director in charge of the Department of Employment said that it is very necessary for workers to determine that studying and improving professional skills to meet market requirements, especially under the influence of digital transformation and automation. This is also an opportunity to reorient my career, helping to maintain a more sustainable job in the future.
In the context of the rapidly changing labor market due to digital transformation, automation and restructuring of occupations, the labor force, especially the middle-aged and simple laborers, people working in the informal sector are facing the risk of job loss as well as skills loss. We have unemployment insurance policies, job consultation support, vocational training participation, and vocational skills improvement for unemployed workers, but mainly still focus on unemployment benefits. This is just an effort to solve the problem, while there is no mechanism to encourage workers to proactively improve their professional skills, reorient their careers regularly and continuously to maintain jobs," said Mr. Trung.
According to Mr. Trung, currently, policies on social insurance and unemployment insurance are playing a fundamental role in ensuring social security and supporting workers in difficult times, but the most important issue is still creating stable and sustainable jobs for workers.
To achieve this goal, it is necessary to help workers find a profession that suits them; link vocational skills training with the actual needs of businesses. International experience also shows the need for technology to connect employers and human resources to increase opportunities for workers to access, find jobs and meet new requirements of the job market in the digital age, Mr. Trung emphasized.
