Higher recruitment demand felt for senior personnel, source:freepik.com

At an online job session held by the Hanoi Centre for Employment Services, Pham Ngoc Anh, head of the Human Resources Department at Fintech Land Group, said that the company is seeking to recruit 100 sales staff, 50 sales department heads, and 10 sales managers due to market expansion. Monthly salaries are about VND70 million ($3,000) for sales managers, VND50 million ($2,200) for heads of the sales department, and VND30 million ($1,300) for sales staff, excluding benefits. Such salaries are attractive, but Fintech Land also sets quite high requirements for candidates.

“The position of sales manager requires experience in managing and operating a team, while business managers must possess certain knowledge of finance, real estate, and the stock market,” Ngoc Anh said.

She believes that the salary offered will be commensurate with a candidate’s qualifications and experience and employees absolutely have the opportunity to salary promotion after recruitment if they meet the job requirements.

Along with the recovery of the economy, the labour market has also recorded positive signals since the beginning of this year.

According to the Recruitment Market Report 2022 published by TopCV Vietnam in February, up to 65 per cent of businesses expect to increase recruitment demand this year to make up for the shortage of workers. 71.3 per cent of enterprises have a need to recruit experienced personnel.

Businesses that do not conduct massive recruitment still need more quality employees to accelerate recovery and growth after a year of continuing to be heavily affected by the pandemic.

Businesses often partner with “headhunting” channels, which are recruitment websites and job exchanges, when looking for talented employees or senior and high-level positions. The average salary offered by businesses for a business manager is VND50-120 million ($2,200-5,200).

Finance is the field with the highest recruitment demand, with more than 80 per cent of businesses increasing recruitment demand, followed by real estate, education/training, retail, fast-moving consumer goods, and e-commerce.

Statistics from the Centre of Forecasting Manpower Needs and Labour Market Information Ho Chi Minh City also show that the demand for trained human resources accounts for 86.39 per cent, of which a university degree or higher accounts for 21.58 per cent. Human resources who are fluent in foreign languages such as English or Chinese and have many years of experience will have an advantage over other candidates.

“It is forecasted that businesses operating in these fields will have to compete fiercely in 2022 because of the high demand in the market,” TopCV Vietnam reports.

The report also adds that the number of employees who are changing jobs in the next three months is mainly at the level of team leader and department head. Therefore, it is highly likely that businesses can recruit potential candidates at these levels now.

Although TopCV’s research results have made positive comments about the supply, representatives of many recruitment agencies still believe that the number of senior personnel wishing to change jobs is still very scarce and the competition in finding candidates for these positions is even fiercer.

“The changing of management personnel often depends on working environment, remuneration, and promotion opportunities. Every candidate who wants to change jobs will study this issue very carefully,” said Nguyen Thi Lan, deputy general director of Recruitment and Training Department of VNPT Building Management and Exploitation JSC.

Like many other businesses, despite offering attractive salary incentives and promotion routes for employees, Lan’s company has not yet recruited 10-15 mid-level management positions. This company is also working with job exchanges, posting recruitment notices through media channels and social networks to find suitable candidates.

Vu Quang Thanh, deputy director of the Hanoi Centre for Employment Services, said that the recruitment activities of enterprises at this time are very dynamic. “We forecast Hanoi’s recruitment demand is estimated to increase by 10-15 per cent compared to the demand from 80,000 to 100,000 workers in the first quarter,” Thanh said.

However, it has never been easy for businesses to recruit management positions that require high skills and qualifications, because “high-quality personnel rarely change jobs, except in the case of force majeure or if the business is affected by the pandemic, leading to layoffs,” according to Thanh.

The centre has received a lot of orders and recruitment requests for higher-quality labour from businesses, but the supply is still limited.

“Besides supporting businesses to find labour sources for production, we will focus more on connecting with a group of highly qualified workers to continue to introduce to businesses in the near future,” he added.