Millennials in Vietnam:

Career Insight Reports

2020 Edition
A collaboration between
Outline

S t u d e n t
1. A generation of “multitasking”

C a r e e r
2. Millennial career influencers
3. Career decision-making factors

R e p o r t
4. Millennials’ “ideal” jobs and managers
5. Millennials 1st job Wishlist

V O C F
6. Design a Millennial-friendly recruitment process

&
F M T
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A generation of “multitasking”
Millennials: who are they?
Millennials included in the survey were born January 1995 and December 1998. 68.4% of them are from economics
background such as business administration, finance, commerce, international economics. Meanwhile 24.6% are from STEM
background (science, technology, engineering, mathematics). The rest (under 10%) are from other background: education,
linguistics, hospitality.

Proactiveness & never miss a chance to shine

These are bright young students, possesses high GPA average
around 7.7 (equivalently to 3.1 on a scale of 4). Students in this pool 7.7 83% 91%
are active with extra curriculum and part-time jobs. Interestingly, Average GPA Join student clubs Took internships
/Part-time jobs
those with outside-lecture activities have slightly lower GPA (7.2)
than those who have none (8.1).

Readiness for future job market

34%
In ASEAN, Thailand has made coding essential for schools within next year. 50%
Interested
Singapore’s education ministry is making it compulsory for all upper primary students
52%
to take a 10-hour coding enrichment in 2020. Under circumstances education in Experienced
21%

Vietnam hasn’t taken any steps further, the enthusiasm are relatively high. It reveals
that more than 52% STEM students have experience with coding, while surprisingly No interest
21% economics students have.
STEM Econ
Q8. Do you have any experience (learning/doing)
with writing codes or conducting data analytics?

Mentors are our top career influencers
“STEM students are attracted to
work-life balance and become
recognized technical experts.”
Become an expert 1%
9%
3
Families play almost no influence on millennials
When asked which influence you to choose career, their answer varies yet there is a
strong connection with non-school environment. Chief among the influencing factors is
mentorship. Consequently, they carry this mentor expectation to 1st job (discussed in
next slides). Internships is also a popular factor chosen by slightly less than 30% students.
Finally, university major and peer pressure complete the list by 11.38% and 9%
respectively.

Purposeful career 11% Mentor (n.) An accidentally-bumped-into brother/sister who has success
13% at young age, in-demand skillsets with even more appealing salary
packages, and basically someone I want to become in the very near future.
International career 12%
12%
Career Aspirations: An Ambitious Generation
Work/life balance 13%
13% Every generation is shaped by its circumstances, and millennials are no exception. They
are no less ambitious than their parents: they have multiple goals and no goal dominant
Become independent 14% by taking up to 25%: finance stability (16%) top the list. Traditional adulthood
11%
obligations are replaced with ambition to becoming independent (14%) and to

Become a leader 15% oversee business (14%). Work/life balance (13%) also play an important role where
14%
the career success must allow them to spend time and resources for personal life. They
17% are attracted to a global career (13%) and driven by purposeful work (12%) where
Financially stable 15%
they are serving a greater good and making the world the better place.
This is a “multitasking” yet ambitious generation who would like make an impact in
Econ STEM
society, to leave a legacy at work and at the same time, achieve personal satisfactions
Q11. Below is a list of 9 possible career goals. from other aspects of life.
Which are most important to you?
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How do they decide to apply?
We care about the culture fit than money
Most millennials in the survey take one month to prepare for the application and research companies. However, they don’t
equally evaluate five critical aspect of a recruitment campaign: company, job nature, manager, remuneration, and recruitment
process. Their preferable rank order are revealing for the first time as below:
Career decision-making factor (most important to least important)
1. Company incl. people and culture, public image, market position
2. Job nature incl. skillsets, qualifications, training opportunities, personality fitness
3. Management/leadership incl. profiles, leadership stories, coaching skills
4. Remuneration incl. salary, bonus, insurance
5. Recruitment process incl. right-time openings, recruitment timeline, easy application process

What Millennials look for in a company

Millennials in this pool are representatives of first-jobbers class, therefore their expectation for the company mainly
determined by this generation’s dominant characteristics: proactive, dynamic and purposeful. They also prioritize
personal growth – lack of opportunity to move up the ladder in an organization will be a reasonable cause to quitting.

Dynamic & creative Inspiring purposes Performance Fast career Innovative

workplace and values recognition progress
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“I would describe my ideal job as…”
Learning after college is never a wrong thing to do
Millennials in Vietnam seek for professional learning opportunities (22%) where they are equipped with set of tools and skills
in order to progress faster in their career ladder. They also pursue jobs with various types of assignments (17%) especially
ones with international exposure (12%). Flexible working time (11%) and challenging works (10%) are their top priorties
too. For STEM Millennials, they prioritize the application of technology in and from their job.

“We look for mentors, not friends at work”

Millennials view their managers at someone who can provide them knowledge and mindset to enhance their career growth.
They look up to leaders with strategic mindset (21%) whose visions translate into an inspiring workplace (16%). They
expect their leader to lead with justice (14%) and show respect (13%) for his/her subordinates. To them, “supportive”
doesn’t mean micromanaging but help when necessary and delegate when they are in need. They will be happy to have
senior leaders of the company to be mentoring them.

Millennials’ definition of remuneration

Millennials prioritize purpose as much as rewards. However, they perceive numeration much different than just fiscal value.
Besides clear career advancement, leadership opportunities and earnings, they seek for education after graduation.
Overtime, generation constantly show their thirst for knowledge and personal growth.

21%20%
16%16% 16%14%
10%11% 10%
7% 9% 6%
8%
6% STEM
Econ

Clear path for Leadership High future Education Good Rapid Overtime
advancement opportunities earnings sponsorship reputation promotion compensation
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Millennials’ First job Wishlist
A humble start
Generally, Economics students (11.91M) require a larger numeration package than
STEM candidates (10M) despite the huge amount of technical knowledge and efforts
students put into complete a STEM degree in Vietnam. However, for technology sector
11.76M VND
Average monthly salary
they expect around 20M range, which reflects their in-demand expertise in modern days.
expectation for 1st job
Hanoi millennials expect a slightly lower salary than their Ho Chi Minh City counterparts
(11.5M vs 12M). This is explained by the fact that job market in HCM are more promising
and active than Hanoi – where the power mostly lie in job supply parties. 28.14MVND
Average monthly salary
Interestingly, 3-year salary expectation from 1-2nd year students are expectation after 3 years
highest, following by 3-4th year students and finally fresh graduate (7M
VND difference). Apparently, the “reality slap” hit those graduate hard!

STEM candidates are more loyal amongst short-term planners

Generally, candidates expect to stay in their first jobs for 1.7 years with a third of candidates expect to stick with their 1st
job from up to 2 years (33%) while 24% of them stated the commitment for under 1 year. STEM candidates expect to stay
longer in their first job need more time to focus on their competencies, explaining by their goal to become an expert
goal from previous slides.
34% 35%
24% 26%
18% 22% 19% 15%

2% 5%

< 6 months 6 mths - 1 year 1-2 years 2-3 years > 3 years

STEM Econ
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How Millennial would like to be recruit?
Regarding recruitment process, Vietnamese millennials favor convenience, speed and digital; similarly to how they
perceive anything else in life. The survey does reveal some interesting facts:
• Application round: the most ranked method is uploading prepared CVs, and then filling forms provided by
recruiter. Only 8% link to their digital portfolio like LinkedIn.
• Aptitude assessments: Millennials surely prefer online tests over paper tests. Their most favorite are aptitude
online tests (37%) and personality MCQ (37%). Personality gamification tests are not so popular (11%) despite
their interesting and millennial-friendly features.
• Interviews: a far cry from assessments, Millennials prefer take face-to-face interviews (74%) rather than
video/phone call (15%). 77% millennials voted self-recording as the least favorite form of interviews.

STEM Econ

33% 34%

12% 15% 23% 16% 5% 1% 16% 42%

Application Aptitude Personality Assessment Center Interview

Q16. Which step you spend most of your time when preparing?

Career fairs Website for

Channels for job search 12% students
Online platforms such as career websites and digital career-oriented 30%

communities play as the reliable resources. Interestingly, STEM Company

candidates emphasize the importance of career fair (25%), though they website Career-oriented
21% groups
are assumed to be on the Internet all the time. 29%

Q33. Which channel you use to conduct job search & relevant career information?
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Our Last Tips

Toolbox Improve Recruitment process: Millennials Wishlist

20%
1. Easy-to-access recruiting platform: 15%
2. Shortening time (< 1 month): 14%
3. Switching functions after applying: 13%
Directly meet & greet 4. Organize open house/info sessions: 13%
with companies
5. More non-expertise requirements: 10%

No one can deny that Millennials are a breakthrough generation, similar to the era they grew up with. As they are
becoming the largest workforce in Vietnam, we have some pieces of advice for employers:

1. Balance economic profits with helping to solve the most difficult problems in society in you long-term visions.

2. Create a mutual culture that encourages steep learning curves, training, flexibility, with minimal supervision.

3. Provide Millennials with various promotion opportunities, encourage action with their financial support. Don't
forget to help them train and learn skills to meet the future.

4. Last but not least, show Millennials what they're doing to will make the world a better place, or in other words,
allow them to build a legacy.
About Future Management Trainee
FMT Group is an independent employer
branding agency in Vietnam covering a wide
range of recruitment communications services
from EB development, creative content marketing
to digital & cross-channel activations since 2018.

Contact FMT Group

Truong Ha Trang Employer Branding)

(Ms.) 0986652435
trangtruong.fmt@gmail.com

Quyen Thuy Linh (Headhunt)

(Ms.) 0848226010
linhquyen.fmt@gmail.com