Young" or "old" in the labor market also have risks
Ms. Tran Thi Mai (25 years old, residing in Tu Liem ward, Hanoi) said that after graduating from university, she worked as an administrative staff for a private enterprise. However, due to the company's reduction of operations, Ms. Mai lost her job and began her journey to find a new job after 3 years of attachment to the company.
Young, dynamic and trained, but when looking for a new job, Ms. Mai feels the great competition in the labor market. Many businesses require candidates to have many years of experience or simultaneously meet many skills.
I used to think that just trying to study hard would soon find a suitable job. But reality is harsher. There was a time when I submitted dozens of applications but only received a few interview invitations. Some places immediately refused after knowing that I did not have much experience. I felt very pressured, especially when I wanted to soon have income to help my parents and take care of the future," Ms. Mai shared.
Young people like Ms. Mai aspire to have the opportunity to work, self-improve and accumulate experience. "Everyone must have a first job. If only people with experience are recruited, new people like us will find it very difficult to have the opportunity to prove our abilities and develop ourselves," Ms. Mai expressed.
Ms. Bui Thi Thu Nga, 39 years old (Thanh Xuan ward, Hanoi), has 16 years of experience working as an accountant but still lost her job because of... AI software.
“16 years of experience, a formal university degree, proficient in all skills from balancing books, tax finalization to compiling complex financial statements and working through all kinds of businesses... I think it is the "golden pawn" to ensure my general accounting position. However, the appearance of artificial intelligence application software at the company has changed everything. I lost my job at the age of 39 because it cannot be as fast and cheap as machines,” Ms. Nga said.
According to Ms. Nga, immediately after the old company where she worked applied the new enterprise resource planning software system integrated with AI, the daily work of the accounting department was automated up to 70%. The accounting department from 8 people now only needs one young employee to check the system.
Business has no choice
Sharing about the digital "storm" that changed everything in the business, Mr. Tran Long Giang - Director of Thang Long Architecture Company - TAA (Ha Dong ward, Hanoi) said that the decision to cut staff always gives him a heavy feeling.
However, facing the wave of digital transformation and automation sweeping through at an extremely fast speed, we have no other choice. If businesses stagnate and do not improve technology, we will be strangled by competitors and go bankrupt; if workers do not upgrade themselves, being eliminated is an inevitable rule of the market," Mr. Giang said.
Also according to Mr. Giang, in just the past two years, his company has replaced nearly 40% of personnel in manual operating positions with automatic machinery and artificial intelligence systems. This change directly affects the working group aged 25 to 40 - a force considered the core of many of the most important stages/processes.
From the reality at the company, Mr. Giang pointed out that digitalization has polarized labor into two groups very clearly. The adaptive and breakthrough group is personnel who actively learn and master new technologies to switch to high-quality technical labor positions. They know how to operate complex machines, know how to manage automated systems and become invaluable assets that the company must find every way to retain with worthy remuneration.
The group that fell behind and was eliminated were those who were only used to working in the beaten path, refusing to change their thinking or not meeting new technical standards.
We do not criticize 35 or 40-year-old workers as "old", we reject old thinking and stagnation. This automation race is extremely fair and cruel. To avoid being eliminated, workers are forced to upgrade their skills," Mr. Giang said.
