Just receiving her diploma, Minh Anh, a bachelor of Marketing in Ho Chi Minh City, started looking for a job with a state of excitement and anxiety. What worries her is that many recruitment news require experience, while new graduates do not have many opportunities to work officially.
Instead of just sending CVs with transcripts and student activities, Minh Anh prepares additional competency profiles including projects she has implemented, personal communication campaigns and products she has directly implemented.
“I think if you just say you are hardworking, diligent or have the ability to learn, it is very difficult for recruiters to evaluate. Therefore, I try to turn the things I have done into specific products to prove my ability” - Minh Anh shared.
Businesses need young people who can do the job
Mr. Pham Thai Son - Director of the Enrollment and Communication Center of Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, commented that the question "how many years of experience do you have?" is familiar in recruitment but needs to be viewed differently.
According to Mr. Son, experience is still important, especially for positions that require high expertise and responsibility. However, in fields such as: Information technology, AI, marketing, communication, design or digital products, the number of working years is no longer the only measure.
A person with many years of experience but only familiar with the old way of doing things may not create more value than a young newly graduated employee who knows how to build projects, test new plans, read data and create specific results. "The important thing is what the candidate can do" - Mr. Son assessed.
According to him, new graduates can create advantages with portfolios, real-world projects, demonstrable products, the ability to use AI, data thinking and problem-solving skills.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Hong - Director of E-commerce of the 24hStore retail system - said that the business's point of view is that AI supports recruiting people, not replacing people to recruit. Accordingly, AI only supports screening and synthesis, not self-deciding to eliminate or accept candidates. All final decisions still require human evaluation, especially about actual capacity, attitude and level of suitability for the job.
For positions that need to use AI, Ms. Hong said that businesses are not only interested in whether candidates know how to use AI or not, but also consider how candidates use AI to solve work, verify results and be responsible for output. In addition, businesses do not include sensitive personal data of candidates in public AI tools, and do not use AI to speculate age, gender or characteristics unrelated to the recruitment position.
The market needs the right skills
Mr. Truong Duy Toan - Founder and CEO of HRCV Vietnam, analyzed that in the next 3-5 years, Vietnam, especially Ho Chi Minh City, will lack high-quality human resources in industry groups such as AI, data, information technology, semiconductors, electronics and automation. In which, AI, information technology and semiconductors are noteworthy groups, because the market is not only lacking in quantity but also lacking in people with in-depth skills.
According to Mr. Toan, workers need to focus on digital and AI skills, data thinking, foreign languages, communication and adaptability, continuous learning. When businesses transform digitally and restructure, workers must also regularly update skills.
“The current salary level tends to differentiate by skills, not simply by the number of years of experience. Employees with more skills in data, AI, foreign languages or technology will have more opportunities to achieve higher incomes than those who only have pure professional skills” - Mr. Toan assessed.
