HCM CITY — As many as 80,000 new employees are needed in HCM City for the second quarter as the city focuses on improving economic competitiveness and quality of growth.

Since the beginning of the year, 5,593 new enterprises have been established, creating more jobs, according to HCM Centre for Forecasting Manpower Needs and Labour Market Information.

Recruitment necessary for the first quarter was 72,000, a rise of 38 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Most of the new jobs in the second quarter are expected to be in sales, services, textile-footwear, and logistics, among others.  

Trần Thị Anh Đào, head of the labour forecasting centre, told the Việt Nam Economic Times that the city has continued to improve its business environment and encouraged the formation of more startups.

Đào said that companies were increasingly requiring more highly skilled and trained employees.

Enterprises in the fields of IT, automation, translation, architecture and construction, for instance, need a large number of highly skilled staff, according to Đào.

Bùi Thị Lan Oanh, deputy human resource manager of Seaprodex Refrigeration Industry Corp, told Việt Nam News that the company was recruiting mechanical and electrical engineers for new projects.

"All positions required experience as well as certificates from vocational schools or colleges," Oanh said.

"The company is working with universities such as HCM City University of Technology and the Industrial University of HCM City to provide internships and training for students."

To cope with rising competition, the company would offer a supervisor trainee programme with a competive salary to final-year students and recent graduates. They planned to have them fully trained and ready to become professional supervisors within one year, she said.

National requirement

Recruitment firm Navigos Search said that in the first quarter, the highest recruitment demand in the country came from the manufacturing sector, accounting for 40 per cent of the total demand.

The manufacturing industry grew by 13.56 per cent in the first quarter, according to data from companies surveyed by Navigos Search. Job vacancies are at all levels, from labourers to engineers to managers.

In the north, industrial zones in the provinces of Hưng Yên, Bắc Ninh and Phú Thọ and Hải Phòng City lack the sufficient number of staff to fully operate foreign-built factories.

In the electronics sector, FDI enterprises have expanded factories, especially South Korean companies, which have created 10,000 new jobs, leading to a shortage of human resources. Recruiters have expanded their employee search to more areas in the north.

Recruitment demand in the manufacturing sector in the south soared, while some enterprises began to recruit more foreigner nationals for top management positions.

Besides manufacturing, the top four sectors with the highest recruitment demand in the first quarter were retail, finance-banking and information technology.

Recruitment demand for executive positions in the retail industry rose dramatically, according to the data.

Beginning in March, many enterprises in the retail industry in the south began looking for more people to fill management jobs due to expansion or restructuring.

The food and beverage sector, as well as the entertainment industry, have seen new brands appear, including franchise stores, which are all leading to dynamic growth in these sectors.

However, the retail industry in the second quarter is expected to see a drop in recruitment as many jobs have been filled.

In the first quarter, retail and fashion enterprises in the north grew after expanding e-commerce activities.

Many companies in the fashion world plan to invest more in R&D and marketing to catch up with new fashion trends and build new brand strategies. — VNS