University graduates carry rice, retail goods to bide their time | Look At Vietnam

University graduates carry rice, retail goods to bide their time

June 13, 2012

LookAtVietnam – 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.
Thu Thao