Quitting office work as a freelancer
Ms. Trinh Trang Anh (O Cho Dua ward, Hanoi), born in 1991, used to be a saleswoman for a stationery company in Cau Giay ward (Hanoi).
After 3 years of working, in August 2024, Ms. Trang Anh decided to resign. The reason given by Ms. Trang Anh is boring work, sales pressure and strict working hours.
Although I basically achieve sales, ensuring a salary and bonus for company holidays and Tet is quite high, I am tired of the " harsh" reputation, not to mention that if I meet customers, I have to report to the leaders in advance. Meanwhile, we can't decide whether to meet with customers or not when we can't have them from the previous day to report. I felt too pressured by administrative management so I quit my job, said Ms. Trang Anh.
Right after quitting her job, Ms. Trang Anh worked as a collaborator with a quite famous event organizer company. The company has many tasks, from organizing music shows, seminars, etc., so Ms. Trang Anh's work is quite busy.
Initially, Ms. Trang Anh was satisfied with her new job, her income was not inferior to the old company, and her working hours were much more comfortable. However, after about half a year of collaboration, Ms. Trang Anh was discouraged because of the same reason as at her old company.
"I am often assigned to contact the State management agency to request a license to organize events of the company. Many events have changed artists, the program content or integrated sponsors' orders too close to the time, the pressure to complete the license for the program to run makes me tired. In June 2025, I quit my job as a collaborator with the event organizer, said Ms. Trang Anh.
Also quickly "disillusioned" with being a freelancer like Ms. Trang Anh, Ms. Nguyen Quynh Hoa - an employee of a publishing company in Khuong Dinh ward (Hanoi). After 4 years of working, Ms. Hoa quit her job as an English translator.
"My income when I quit my job was 17 million VND/month, not including holiday and Tet bonuses and revenue bonuses for popular publications. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in English Language, I worked for a publishing company. The work has been done continuously for 4 years, I felt bored and wanted to change, so I decided to quit my job and work as a freelancer, Ms. Hoa shared.
In April 2024, Ms. Hoa quit her job at a publishing company and spread her application to work as an English interpreter to travel agencies. With good academic performance and 4 years of editing experience at the publishing house, no employer doubts Ms. Hoa's English proficiency, but her biggest limitation is her limited communication skills.
Ms. Hoa said: After 4 interviews at 4 companies, I was criticized because they asked an overseas and cheerful interpreter. I was criticized as being quiet and introverted. I have switched to applying for an interpreter and collaborating with notary offices.
For more than a year, Ms. Hoa has collaborated with 3 notary offices. Total income is not equal to that of the old company, unstable work and no working hours are the comments of this worker about his current job.
Can you trust me?
Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong - former Director of the Institute of Social Labor Science said that many young people are quite dreamy when thinking about working as freelancers.
Ms. Huong pointed out that the first difficulty when working as a freelancer is that the job will not be stable, even the income will decrease significantly compared to the old job. Second, freelancers have little or no dependence entirely on social relationships, while the majority of young people lack this factor. Third, freelancers demand to work independently, many young people will not be able to prolong this situation, wanting to return to the office environment.
Another difficulty Ms. Huong pointed out is that the market is increasingly competitive, freelancers are constantly reducing prices to get jobs and maintain jobs. Not to mention, companies have many options, they also have another channel, which is media companies that provide all types of services as required.
freelancer is a truly harsh job, to survive, workers must have enough experience in knowledge and relationships. I see that both of these factors are lacking in a significant number of people who want to quit their current job to become freelance people, said Ms. Huong.
