Companies battle for top Vietnamese talents in 2015

Outsourcing company FPT Software's developers work at their office. According to an annual Global Salary Survey launched by recruitment firm Robert Walters, Viet Nam will continue to be a preferred destination for software outsourcing companies. - Photo chungta.vn

The survey showed that employers will have difficulty with recruitment because of the shortage of candidates resulting from the availability of job opportunities in multiple sectors. Therefore, firms have recently turned their focus to attracting Vietnamese professionals working overseas, giving them an advantage over local candidates.

Jon Whitehead, Country Manager of Robert Walters Vietnam, said that compared with other countries, Viet Nam has large gaps in top, middle and entry-level management. He said that Vietnamese people working abroad can break this gap because they have international experience, cultural awareness and professional skills.

"Their international exposure, diverse skill sets and bilingual abilities can create a dynamic workforce for Viet Nam," he remarked.

Whitehead noted that there will be more job opportunities in Viet Nam when the country attracts more foreign investors in 2015.

"The market is not the only thing that I have seen growing in Viet Nam; the people are as well," he said. "A lot of Vietnamese workers want to grow and take jobs. Vietnamese people want to stay in the country, while foreigners are not like that. Localisation is the key issue for businesses."

Figures from the survey indicate that employees who switched jobs last year could command an average salary increment of 10-25 per cent. The trend is likely to continue in 2015, mainly in accounting and finance, human resources, and pharmaceutical sectors.

This year has also seen a rising demand for information technology specialists in cloud computing, mobility engineering, big data, business intelligence and information security. Viet Nam will continue to be a preferred destination for software outsourcing companies because of the country's competitive labour costs.

Besides this, there is a rising demand for procurement, supply chain and engineering professionals due to expansions of factory operations.

Meanwhile, firms tend to hire replacements more often than they recruit for new roles in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector. Last year, Viet Nam saw negative growth for the first time in a decade in FMCG with cautious approach of consumers to the purchase of luxury goods.