Students lack skills to meet job demands

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On April 13, many students in information technology and computing fields attended the Open Camp event held in both Hanoi and HCM City to have career guidance and life skills.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong from the ICT Department of Navigos Search in Hanoi said only 30% of students have the skills to work immediately after graduation, with the remainder requring additional training as they only learn theory at university. 72% lack practical skills, while 40% lack soft skills.

Students lack skills to meet job demands.

According to Huong, employers will overlook those who can't use English or other required foreign languages. "It's old-fashioned to think that IT engineers only need to be good at their job. No matter how good you are, if you can't present your ideas or can't communicate, then you can't grow. You also need the skills to solve problems, adapt to new environment and new technology," she said.

She went on to say that no Vietnamese graduate had been paid USD2,000 without experience. Huong advised students to try different things but should have a steady goal and know what they want.

"If you're good, if you have participated in many projects, competitions and have communication and group-working skills then I can introduce you to jobs with initial monthly salary of USD2,500," she said.

Talking with Zing News, Huynh Mai An Dong, director of Sun Up Media, said she felt tired because many students she interviewed with were very impatient and demanded high salaries but couldn't work efficiently enough. "You should ask yourself what you can do for the company," she said.

Bui Kien Cuong, solution architect for FPT Software, said students must always try to be better, expand knowledge to other related fields and be good at English if they want to work overseas. Pham Trang Phuong Dung, director of Uber in HCM City, said students must learn to be an apprentice before wanting to be a master and that they should follow their passion for choosing careers.