Ms. Tran Quynh Trang, born in 2003, from Quang Trung ward (Thanh Hoa), currently living and working in Gia Lam commune (Hanoi), is working as a page operator for customer care for an online business store in Hanoi.
Her job is mainly product consulting, replying to customer messages, supporting order processing and solving problems arising during the purchase and sale process. Ms. Trang's fixed salary is 5 million VND/month, plus revenue bonus and some support costs, total income is 7–8 million VND/month.
My income is unstable because it also depends on the store's sales. Meanwhile, living expenses in Hanoi with room rent, electricity, water, food, transportation and daily expenses are very high. If I only have the above income, it will definitely not be enough to live on," Ms. Trang said.
Wishing to learn another profession to increase her income, Ms. Trang decided to learn a mixing profession. The reason she chose this profession is because it is a highly applicable profession, easy to generate additional income and suitable for her time fund.
Especially, after graduating, after work or on weekends, Ms. Trang can sell drinks such as milk tea, fruit tea, coffee or soft drinks to earn extra income. According to Ms. Trang, the demand for handmade drinks is currently quite large, especially in densely populated areas and near schools, so the profession she studies has many opportunities to develop.
I dream that after graduating, I will be able to do small business or sell online myself, thereby earning about 4–6 million VND per month in addition to my main job. Even if the business is favorable, the income can be higher, helping me reduce financial pressure and have conditions to accumulate for the future, I am willing to quit my job to wholeheartedly focus on this job," Ms. Trang shared.
Ms. Trang also realized that working and learning a trade at the same time will certainly have certain pressures on time, costs and health. However, she is determined to pursue the job and believes that this is a worthy investment.
I will try to arrange my work, study and rest schedule reasonably to both ensure the effectiveness of my current job and be able to learn a new profession well," Ms. Trang said.
Also building a backup plan like Ms. Trang, Ms. Tran Ngoc Nhi, born in 2004 (in Thuong Tin commune, Hanoi City) learned to make cakes in addition to her main job.
My daily schedule starts at 7 am and usually only ends after 11 pm. During the day, I am an office worker in Cau Giay ward with a fixed salary of 7.5 million VND/month. In expensive Hanoi, that number is just enough to "touch the bottom" for minimum expenses," Ms. Nhi said.
Ms. Nhi said that renting a room, electricity and water costs 2.5 million VND per month. The remaining money must be balanced for gasoline, food and expenses arising every time she is sick or has a wedding or funeral. There are months when before the next salary payment period, her account is empty.
Ms. Nhi understands that her current job cannot advance or increase salary immediately, she chooses to learn a side job to earn income. From August 2025, Ms. Nhi will learn to bake at a bakery near her office. For nearly half a year, 3 sessions a week, after work she goes to her study place, and only returns to her rented room at 11 pm.
In return for that hardship, from February 2026, Ms. Nhi has an additional income of about 3.5 million VND/month from cake orders. She works according to orders from 2 familiar customers and sells to colleagues in the same agency.
The money from the second job helps me cover the remaining hidden expenses, and at the same time accumulate a small contingency fund for myself," Ms. Nhi said.
Supporting young workers to learn more professions, even try a few jobs before following an official job, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong - former Director of the Institute of Labor Science and Social Affairs, said that the trend of workers learning more professions to cover expenses, even putting away their university degrees to learn a new profession to have a job and quick income is not worrying.
Previously, only about 30% of high school graduates went to university, now this number has increased a lot. We should consider university only as learning thinking, forming personality to lay the foundation for high-quality human resources in the future.
When graduating, after 1-2 years, workers can drop out of the major they studied to work in another major. Do whatever job has a good income, don't think it's different from the major.
The labor market always has complementarity, even a person who quits a job with the right expertise learned, after many years can return to that job when the market needs it at the right time," Ms. Huong said.
Also according to Ms. Huong, the education market should be flexible to supplement the current very flexible labor market. It is impossible to rigidly and not necessary to rigidly when setting whoever studies what major will go to work in that major.
