Every year, Vietnam has thousands of students finishing universities, and many of them become redundant. The race for looking for jobs has become stiffer than ever, when a lot of businesses have got bankrupted.

What do bachelors do to earn their living?

Van’s bachelor’s degree has been lying in the drawer for more than one year. She once felt so excited and happy on the day she received the degree and she kept looking at it for hours on the first days after the graduation.

However, the bachelor has not helped Van find a good job. Van applied for different jobs over the last year, but she was refused. Van has been working as a receptionist, marketing officer and assistant to a tie shop owner at a market to earn her living and waiting for the right moment.

“Some employers promised to contact me again after the interview. I many times hoped that I could find a suitable job. However, I finally was not chosen,” she complained.

Unemployment is the biggest threat to the new university graduates like Van. They spend most of their time reading newspapers to seek job opportunities, sending curriculum vitas to businesses and hoping. However, they understand that there are not many opportunities for new graduates with no experience.

Nguyen Van Dat, who has finished the Hanoi Transport University, has been working as a tinman to earn his living. His main work is binding iron wires which are used to build the foundation or pillars of houses. Though he works very hard, he can earn 50,000 dong a day. 

Sometimes Dat sits idle because he is not hired by construction projects’ contractors. Therefore, he goes working on the rice field to assist his parents. He spends evening to access to Internet to read newspapers and seek job opportunities.

“The biggest barrier for new graduates is the lack of experiences. Meanwhile, experience is the top requirement set by employers,” Dat said.

Continuing studying because of no job to do

A lot of students, who feel tired of looking for jobs, decide to continue studying to get master degree, which they hope would help them find jobs more easily.

Since the number of job candidates with university degree has been increasing rapidly, new graduates believe that they should have many degrees in different majors, or higher education degrees in order to have privileges over other candidates. Therefore, they decide to take the entrance exams to the training courses for master degree.

Nguyen Anh Tuan, a postgraduate of the Hanoi University for Social Sciences and Humanity, said 60 percent of his classmates have not found jobs. Some of them are running online fashion shops to earn their living. Meanwhile, many others have decided to return to school to continue studying.

“It sounds good to follow higher education. However, in fact, we continue studying just because we still cannot find jobs,” Tuan said.

A lot of graduates feel regret that they studied the finance and banking. This was a very hot major some years ago. However, things have become quite different. Therefore, many of them have to continue studying to obtain degrees in other professions which promise more opportunities.

Nguyen Anh Duc, Deputy Director of CCIC, a construction consultancy and investment company, said that a lot of students have been staying unemployed because they did not receive good career guidance when they were at general schools. Meanwhile, some of them believe that with university education, they need to take important positions in businesses. Therefore, they feel discouraged when they cannot fulfill their dream.

Source: VNN