This document discusses unemployment among recent graduates in Vietnam. It presents stories of graduates who were unable to find jobs or found jobs unrelated to their majors with low pay. It identifies causes like the economic downturn, outdated university curricula, and lack of connections between universities and employers. It proposes short-term solutions involving improved career services and partnerships between universities, employers and students, as well as long-term solutions around vocational training and workforce planning. Implementing these solutions is projected to reduce graduate unemployment rates by 30% within 2-3 years.

1. Global Unemployment:
A case study in Vietnam
Represented by Sai_Gon360
Bich Thanh Ngoc Nguyen, Tuan Tran,
and Yen Hai Tran
Vietnam
LOGO

2. Here comes the true stories…
We were close friends while studying at the top
colleges in our country. We had great GPAs,
impressing social activity record & good internship
experiences. Nonetheless, after graduating, we could
not find a job. We became unemployed. I had to do
off-the-market private tutoring. My friend decided
to study abroad with hope of finding job abroad.
I graduated from one of the best local
universities, used to be nominated for Top
Students every year. Besides, I am fluent in 3
languages. I found a job after graduating, but
it did not relate to my major and I got very
low salary, no other benefits.
*The stories were taken from our interviews with our peers while the
images were only for illustration.
Pictures sources : www.chicagonow.com/unemploymentyoga/

3. The facts of Vietnam

4. Our discoveries
• Economic downtrend was reinforced with credit crisis  cut down
workforce
• Ineffective tertiary: out-of-date course book (some from late 90s),
theoretical education, no ranking system leading to the raise of
untruthful institutions, insufficiency of qualified professors.
• No connection between the suppliers (institutions) and the
customers (companies)
• No career services in most universities.
• Youngsters become too value-driven, "enjoy" university life which is
quiet easy more than go preparing themselves with soft skills and
updated knowledge.
• Gap skills - students have been unemployed for so long, meaning
any job openings are rarely going begging for applicants as
employers doubt their experience.

5. Solutions
In Short-term: “The three” model
The combination of efforts driven by institutions, firms & students
Process 2 Process 1
Process 3

6. Solutions – Process 1
• Schools – Students
– Offer updated courses which is close to the reality.
– Recruit qualified professors.
– Conduct workshops about soft skills
– Establish career services which helps students in
career orientation, consultant, resume writing, market
information…
• Students – School
– Feedback about the quality of courses.
– Suggest in-need skills and courses

7. Solutions – Process 2
• Firms – Schools
– Offer more internships through schools’ career
services.
– Organize seminars at schools to present the firms, the
criteria in recruitment.
– Support capital in training courses.
• Schools – Firm
– Recommended candidates for vancancies, especially
part-time and temporary jobs.
– Feedback about internships and seminars.

8. Solutions – Process 3
• Firms – Students
– Build up a job portals so that students can easily get
to know the recruitment information.
– Conduct workshops in terms of specific skills needed,
for exam audit firms can have workshops to update
students about current regulations and introduce the
company.
• Students – Firms
– Feedback about recruitment process and how firms
can easily get students’ attention.

9. Solutions
In long-term:
• Open more vocational schools to serve the need of technical workers
(Right now, the number of institutes for executives is higher than those for
workers).
• The government should have a project to survey companies’ predictive
talent demand, then pass down the results so that institutions know
what courses to open or update.
• Business should collaborate with Unions; investing into benefits and
trainings for talented students during college years; this way builds
strong relationship for both and avoid the risk that employees, once
trained, will leave, or saves money as this way helps students gain more
experience than only be trained in short-term courses.

10. Planned results & outcomes
• Within 2-3 years, short-term solutions is
expected to have effect on 50%
undergraduates and reduce 30%
unemployed graduates.
• Our estimation for spending time on
solutions is about 20 hours/week and
2080 hours in 2 years.
Data taken from http://databank.worldbank.org/data/views/reports/tableview.aspx#