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Do Trung Nghia (Thanh Tri, Hanoi) is late in graduating from the Economic Law Department at the University of Labor and Social Affairs due to a lack of one subject. Instead of graduating at the end of 2024, Nghia is expected to receive his university degree in July 2025.
Consulting with his friends who went before him, Nghia decided to supplement his missing and weak skills.
“I bought an office computer course to practice basic skills in writing documents. In particular, I signed up for an IELTS course to improve my English. I signed up for 2 courses, lasting about 4 months, with a total tuition fee of more than 43 million VND,” Nghia said.
Sharing more about the reason for studying subjects and soft skills that many of his friends had mastered right after graduation, Nghia said that he did not really focus on studying. It was not until his third year, when an acquaintance contacted him to do an internship at a law office, when he was asked to draft documents, contracts, etc., that Nghia found it difficult.
“I started over from the text format, spelling mistakes, simple business English words… I regret not studying seriously,” Nghia said.
Graduated from Hanoi University of Science and Technology with a major in Bioengineering, Hoang Ngoc Hung was recruited into an FDI enterprise. The dream job with high income but difficulties appeared right after Hung started working in the first week.
“My weakest skills are communication and teamwork. When I was in school, I participated in scientific research with my friends, but the nature of the work is completely different from working in groups at work. My group is in many departments and each person's work is independent. Everyone just connects their own work to the common work. Meanwhile, my student group is a group that works together on the same work, and if there is a division of tasks, they are not too different.
In particular, I am a technical person and an introvert, so I have difficulty communicating. When attending meetings with members from all member companies, I feel passive and very embarrassed when speaking even though I have the knowledge in my head," Hung said.
Hung immediately signed up for a soft skills course. “I will study for 6 months, 3 evenings a week. The tuition is not cheap because I am taking a class taught by a famous human resources expert,” Hung shared.
Many young people lack soft skills
Currently, many universities often focus on educating knowledge but not on the ability to complete work. Young workers and new graduates often have to learn after going directly to work.
A survey conducted in April 2024 by the regional social change and research organization Love Frankie and the research company Indochina Research Ltd showed that many young Vietnamese people lack important skills such as communication, creativity, teamwork, etc.
According to the survey, formal education does not seem to provide the full and necessary skill set for young people to be employable. When asked about the three most important skills for the workplace, survey respondents chose communication skills (78%), along with other soft skills such as creativity (48%), teamwork (35%), time management (21%), analytical thinking (21%) and interpersonal skills, the ability to work well with others (21%).
According to Deputy Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Le Van Thanh, young people are one of the main components of the labor force with about 10.8 million people (accounting for 21.4% of the labor force nationwide), providing an abundant, young, and potential labor supply. The quality of young labor has gradually improved, with over 29.3% of trained young people having degrees and certificates.
However, some limitations and challenges for young workers today are that a part of young people have a weak sense of discipline and industrial style; many students lack soft skills and working skills. Youth unemployment, especially in the 15-24 age group, continues to be a challenge for the Vietnamese economy, with an average of 1 in 10 young people unemployed; the number of young workers currently working is at risk of losing their jobs 3 times higher than older age groups.
Lack of soft skills is an issue that many employers raise at job fairs. They believe that Vietnamese youth today have knowledge and expertise, but those things only determine 25% of success, the remaining 75% is determined by soft skills.
