Choosing a career amid labor market fluctuations

Finding a way in the new trend

From the perspective of a student facing the threshold of choosing a career, Dinh Thuy Ha - a student at Le Quy Don High School (Hanoi) expressed many concerns about the rapid fluctuations in the current labor market.

I find choosing a major much more difficult than before, because in just a few years, social needs have changed dramatically. There are industries that are considered stable today, but in the next few years, there may not be many more job opportunities. That made me worried about whether my decision was really suitable, Thuy Ha shared.

According to the female student, the pressure comes not only from the information about hot industries, but also from family expectations and comparisons between friends. I often hear people advise me to choose a new industry, easy to find a job, high salary, but I dont really understand which field I am suitable for. There are times when I feel very vague, both afraid of choosing the wrong thing and afraid of missing out on opportunities if I don't follow the trend," Thuy Ha said.

With the same anxiety, Nguyen Gia Binh - a student at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (VNUHHN) admitted that he is facing many concerns about changes and increasingly strict requirements of the job market.

"The emergence of new job models and the impact of digital transformation make my career path less clear. I see many friends who choose to work freely, do short-term projects or switch to other fields in the field of study. That makes me wonder if I should pursue a long-term stable job or be flexible in changing to adapt to the new trend, Gia Binh said.

Need to understand yourself before understanding your profession

According to Ms. Tran Thi Tho - a teacher at Hoang Mai High School (Hanoi), in recent years, career counseling at high schools and universities has been focused on more, with many job introduction sessions, training programs and experiential activities to help students get more information before making decisions. However, the most important factor is still the self-understanding of each student.

First of all, students need to clearly identify their interests and passions, but at the same time, they also need to look directly at their actual abilities. A major that is truly suitable for students is a field in which they have strengths and the ability to pursue for a long time, Ms. Tho emphasized.

From there, Ms. Tho recommends that students should base on their academic performance and strengths in each subject to choose an admission combination, major and school that suits their abilities, instead of following trends or pressure from outside.

Sharing about this issue, Dr. Vu Thu Huong - former lecturer at Hanoi National University of Education - said that the core of career orientation is that students must understand themselves before understanding their profession. They need to clearly identify their strengths, weaknesses, things they love and frankly look at their limitations, from health, personality to the ability to withstand pressure.

Faced with the strong shift in the labor market, Dr. Huong advised students to equip themselves with skills to adapt to all conditions, instead of just stopping at the level of knowing how to do it. Skills must be flexible enough to cope with different situations, from a learning environment to a practical working environment.

Predicting the employment trend in the next 5 - 10 years, this expert said that the fields related to personal development orientation, career counseling, vocational experience and skills training for young people will develop strongly. In addition, industries associated with technology, building a digital world, virtual space and modernizing traditional fields will also attract many young human resources.

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