The impact of employability skills on fresh graduates job opportunities in hochiminh city

The research model includes dependent variable “Job Opportunity” and independent variables “soft skills, technical skills, foreign language, work experience and computer skills, which ar

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY

International School of Business

MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours)

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2014

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY

International School of Business

Dr Nguyen Quynh Mai

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2014

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background 1

1.1.1 Overview of Vietnam’s Economic Growth 1

1.1.2 Overview of Vietnamese Education and Employability for Labor Market 2

1.2 Statement of the Problem 3

1.3 Objectives 3

1.3.1 General Aim 3

1.3.2 Specific Aim 3

1.4 Research Question 3

1.5 Significance 4

1.6 The Scope and Limitation 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEWS 5

2.1 Concepts and Definitions 5

2.1.1 Employability 5

2.1.2 Soft Skills 7

2.1.3 Technical Skills 8

2.1.4 Foreign Languages 9

2.1.5 Work Experience 10

2.1.6 Job Opportunity/Employment Gaining: 10

2.2 Role of Employability Skills toward to Job Opportunities 12

2.2.1 Technical Skills Impact on Job Opportunities 13

2.2.2 Importance of Work Experience toward to Job Opportunities 14

2.2.3 Impact of Soft Skills on Job Opportunities 15

2.2.4 Impact of Foreign Languages on Job Opportunities 17

2.3 Conceptual Framework 18

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 22

3.1 Research Method and Procedure 22

3.2 Measurement Development 23

3.2.1 In-depth Interview 23

3.3 Questionnaire Design and Pilot Test: 26

3.3.1 Description of Questionnaire 26

3.3.2 Pilot Test 27

3.4 Sampling Method 28

3.4.1 Population and Sample 28

3.4.2 Sample size and sampling 28

3.4.3 Data Analysis Method 29

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 31

4.1 Sample Demographics 31

4.2 Reliability Test 34

4.3 Exploratory Factor Analysis 34

4.4 Revised Model and Hypothesis 36

4.5 Correlation and Regression Test 38

4.6 Model Test 40

4.7 Influence of Background study 42

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND LIMITATIONS 45

5.1 Implications of research 45

5.2 Limitations and Directions for Further Research 47

5.3 Conclusion 48

Reference 50

Appendix 56

GRATEFULNESS

I honestly thanks to Dr Nguyen Quynh Mai who always help me to carry out this study I highly appreciate her comment and support because it gave me a chance to learn how to do an academic research By the way, I would like to thank to all lecturers of ISB who taught us master program, especially some subjects for carrying out research such as research design and data

analysis

However, I also don’t forget to thanks to all my friends who help me to collect data Firstly,

Ms Le Thanh in University of Social Science Humanities (USSH) industriously came to every class

to deliver questionnaires Secondly, Ms Lien who is ISB staff supported me about email address to collect online- data Thirdly, Mr Ngo Cuong in Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport always gives me a hand to do this study I also want to thank to all students in ISB, USSH who filled

questionnaires

At last, my sincere thanks owe to my family, especially my mom, brother and sister who supported me both of physical and mental conditions to complete this study

PLAGIARISM STATEMENTS

I would like to say that I have done this study by myself, with quantitative research, all material was read to summarize the appropriate main ideas, or keep in “….” with a citation As plagiarism warning, I totally avoid breaking this rule As a student in ISB and economics, I totally disagree with plagiarism

LIST OF TABLES Page

Table 3.1: Preparing contents for discussion 24

Table 3.2: Measurement Scales from Interview and Reference Sources 26

LIST OF FIGURES Page

Figure 2.1: Problems Faced by Employers in Hiring Fresh Graduates 16

Figure 2.2: Employers Dissatisfaction with the Key Skills of Young Recruits 17

ABBREVIATION

CV - Curriculum Vitae

ISB – International School of Business

IT - Information technology

FDI - foreign direct investment

FIA - Investment Agency

GDP -Gross domestic product

HCMUTRANS – Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport

OECD - The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

USSH – University Of Social Sciences and Humanities

UEH – University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City

WTO - World Trade Organization

ABSTRACT

Vietnam education is more and more developing, however majority of students seem to be hard to find a job when graduating The problem is lack of employability skills and unable to meet labor market’s requirements This study’s carried out to determine the important skills which fresh graduates need to apply for a job The research model includes dependent variable “Job

Opportunity” and independent variables “soft skills, technical skills, foreign language, work

experience and computer skills, which are tested to know our relationship It means that the study is carried out to know how the impact of employability skills on job opportunity The methodology focuses on interviews and surveys to collect information and data The conclusion has been drawn based on random examination from 200 fresh graduates, aged between 22 and 27 years, in Ho Chi Minh City, they were either working or studying accounted for about 70 percent and about 30

percent respectively

In multiple linear regression analysis, all independent variables significantly impact on

dependent variable Especially, technical skills have strong effect on job opportunity It can be said that their relation is closer than others Moreover, there has no impact of moderating variable on relation between job opportunity and employability skills And this result had no change in case they had different background study It was a good result for psychological and behavioral research

The conclusion was that employability skills are very important to find jobs and work In addition, implications and limitations are deeply discussed with both of good and no-good sides The more fresh graduates practice and learn, the more they have high job opportunity

KEYWORDS: Fresh Graduates, employability skills, soft skills, technical skills, foreign languages, work experience, impact

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

1.1.1 Overview of Vietnam’s Economic Growth

Viet Nam is ranked 34 out of 60 countries in terms of globalization (Ernst &Young; UK Economist Intelligence Unit) and it trends positively Foreign Direct Investment in Vietnam (Lam, 2012) reports that its economy has grown at an annual average rate of around 7.5 percent during the past two decades GDP of Vietnam has gradually increased through 2006-2012 (Figure 1.1) and grown at 5 percent in 2013 Exports increase by more than 12 percent yearly Several administrative actions bring the trade deficit back into balance

Figure 1.1: Vietnam GDP Growth Rate

(Source: www.tradingeconomics.com) Vietnam Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI, 2012) reports that Vietnam has been good at attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) with an average rate of 8.3 percent of GDP for the last five years (2008-2012) which is among the highest rates in the whole of the global frontier and emerging space in Asia According to the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA), Vietnam reaches

$21.6 billion of FDI in 2013, up 54.5 percent yearly and it will play an important role in

strengthening Vietnam’s economic growth in 2014 FDI in Affiliates of Foreign MNCs National Companies) are virtually non-existent through 1988, but it subsequently increases to annual averages of US$493 million in 1989-1995 and US$1.6 billion in 1996-2004 (Ramstetter, 2006)

(Multi-Today Vietnam has become a one of the best choices for multinational corporations to expand, such as Intel, Foxconn and Compal which have built their largest plants Vietnam licenses 1,100 new projects and approved 435 existing projects registering to increase capital in 2012,

bringing the total value of the newly licensed and added capital to $13 billion, equivalent to 84.7 percent of total in 2011 Foreign banks with 50 foreign companies operating via branch offices and five wholly-owned bank subsidiaries have reached Viet Nam (Nakra, 2013) By 15 December 2013,

98 countries and territories have invested in 14,489 Vietnamese projects with a total registered investment capital of $213.6 billion

1.1.2 Overview of Vietnamese Education and Employability for Labor Market

By 2011 there are 204 universities and 226 colleges, Viet Nam needs 10,000 to 15,000 skilled employees annually in fields such as information technology, tourism, harbor management, finance and banking to keep up with demand The number of universities in Ho Chi Minh City is more and more increasing that has created 18 new universities since 1998 There are five institutes and 28 universities including 15 public ones and 13 private ones until now

Employers identify job-specific technical skills as the most important skill, and equally look for cognitive skills such as problem-solving and critical thinking, and behavioral skills such as team work and communication Foreign investors reveal soft skills and professional skills are equally important in their recruitment decision At this moment, Ho Chi Minh Forecasting Manpower Needs and Labor Market Information center reports that there are 10,000 vacancies per month in 2,000 companies in Ho Chi Minh City and 15,000 employees needing for jobs In stage of 2015-

2020, estimated labor demands are 270,000 vacancies per year including 89,100 ones for higher graduates in Ho Chi Minh City Contrarily labor supplies are short of quantity and quality, so

unemployment is still happening Main cause for these problems is lack of employability skills (Pham & Tran, 2013) A paradox of the employment market emerges in Ho Chi Minh City At the moment, Vietnam is facing shortage of good skill employees in various service sectors including finance, banking and business and tourism There is up to 60 percent of Vietnamese graduates who are unable to secure employment and need to be re-trained Employers still face difficult to find suitable graduates with the knowledge, skills and attributes require for their workplace, according to OECD (2012) Taylor Nelson Sofres survey (2002) has pointed out that Vietnamese workers lack in soft skills consisting of Team work, Communication and adaptation to new circumstances, foreign language proficiency, problem-solving skills, time management abilities,…In addition, Vietnamese lack of employability skills presenting in different levels, industries and professions Their ‘High

shortages’ are in four of six major job categories: engineers, managers, skilled manual trade people, laborers In industry knowledge, the most severe deficits are in the fields of health,

telecommunications, machine manufacturing, retail, construction, transport and logistics, chemicals and fertilizers Actually, fresh graduates have not met need of labor market and employers’

expectation for their jobs in Ho Chi Minh City The Survey has examined 234 recruiters and 3,364 graduates from 20 universities, showing 36.3 percent of recruiters’ agreement with retraining for students in all-around skills, 28.3 percent in specialized skills, and 33.6 percent in both skills and professional knowledge (HCM University of Pedagogy, 2010)

1.2 Statement of the Problem

There has an increase in wide ‘gap’ between fresh graduates’ skills and capabilities, as well

as the requirements and demands of the working environment in raising changeable and globalized society There is a notable shortage in current knowledge linking graduates’ possession and

employers’ needs of the context to employability skills Exactly, 50 percent of graduates lack

professional skills and need retraining to meet recruiters’ requirement, according to “Ho Chi Minh City Are Weak in Soft Skills report” of HCM University of Pedagogy (2010) Therefrom,

unemployment still happens in Ho Chi Minh City of Viet Nam, even though labor demand is

available and abundant This study aims to conceptualize and identify key skills and competencies

of fresh graduates to get job opportunities Therefrom, the solutions for this issue will be showed to fill the shortage of their skills and capabilities

1.3 Objectives

1.3.1 General Aim

Because of high rate of unemployment in Ho Chi Minh City contraries to abundant labor supply, it is very necessary to examine this issue to know the relation between employability skills and fresh graduates’ job The aim is to want to know how employability skill impact on job

opportunities

1.3.2 Specific Aim

This study is conducted to address the following objectives:

(1) Determining importance of employability skills to impact on job opportunities (2) Evaluating different significance of employability between business field and

engineering field

1.4 Research Question

(1) Which employability skills are important to achieve job opportunities?

(2) How do employability skills impact on fresh graduates’ job opportunities and career performance?

(3) Is there different significance of employability skills for people who work in

business areas and ones who work in technical areas?

1.6 The Scope and Limitation

This study is carried out to survey employees, who are studying master courses and

secondary universities

The limitation of this study is that samples are not covered many places in Viet Nam Ho Chi Minh City is flourish one in Viet Nam, the population and jobs are better than other cities and rural provinces Thus the reality of results will change if the same survey is done in other places

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEWS 2.1 Concepts and Definitions

2.1.1 Employability

According to Robinson and Garton (2007), to go with global competition, fresh graduates need to adapt to the new business environment and workplace demands The key elements are the employability skills and competencies conveyed during tertiary education

Paranto and Kelker (1999) analyzes employers’ satisfaction and examines which skills employers perceive important when hiring fresh graduates, namely specific skills, core skills,

personal characteristics, and communication skills (Table 2.1)

Table 2.1: Skills under Four Factors

Specific Skills Core Skills Personal

Characteristics

Communication Skills

Data base knowledge

Spread sheet knowledge

Business ethics Professionalism

Listening skills Speaking skills Written communication

(Source: Policy Research Working Paper 5640, The World Bank) The concept of employability, which Hillage and Pollard (1998) have defined, refers to a person's capability for gaining and maintaining employment; or ‘A set of achievements – skills, understandings and personal attributes – that make graduates more likely to gain employment and

be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy (Yorke, 2004) Moreover, Yorke explains that Skills include core skills, key skills, transferable skills & generic skills According to Rake (2009), Employability skills are the skills almost everyone needs to do almost any job, make specific knowledge and technical skills fully productive In the other study, Bloom (1956) suggests three kinds of learning skills such as

Cognitive skills consisting of knowledge and the development of intellectual skills; Affective skills including internal emotions such as feeling, values, appreciation, enthusiasm, motivations, and

attitudes; and Psychomotor skills relating to physical movements, coordination, and the use of motor-skill areas The department for education and skills (2007) and Education Department

International Plc (EDI) (2011) of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) report defines

employability skills as positive attitude, self-management, team working, business and customer awareness, problem solving, communication and literacy, application of numeracy and application

of information technology Thinking about fresh graduates, it means a person is out of school and

no longer has any semesters ahead of him or her, no more semester breaks and no more travelling

In this study, fresh graduate is a tertiary person who has received an academic degree or diploma and has been worked less than one year

Table 2.2: Skills Grouped into Three Factors

Factor1

(Core Employability Skills)

Factor2 (Professional Skills)

Factor3 (Communication Skills)

Understands and takes

directions for work

Customer Service Skills Knowledge of contemporary issues

Creativity

Written communication Design &conduct experiments, and analyze and interpret data

Reading Communication in English Technical Skills

Verbal communication Basic computer

Advanced computer

(Source: Policy Research Working Paper 5640, The World Bank) Robinson and Garton (2007) state that core skills are very necessary to achieve success in the workplace Successful graduates need to have greater ownership of their employability skills and the confidence to cope with economic upheavals in order to identify and capitalize on career opportunities over lifetime

Professor Abu (as cited in Hairi, 2011) says that employability skills, consisting of two skills; technical skills and generic skills, are vital in working place However, when following research of Andreas and Hiroshi (2011), skills are grouped into three factors using the importance ratings (Table 2.2)

2.1.2 Soft Skills

Soft skills are described as personal attributes often associated with personal qualities such

as optimism, common sense, responsibility, a sense of humor, integrity; and personal abilities that can be practiced such as empathy, teamwork, leadership, communication, good manners,

negotiation, sociability, the ability to teach which enhance an individual interactions, job

performance and career prospects

Communication plays a part in almost every aspect of business Good communication can boost job performance and is essential to build a cohesive and effective team Good communication skill also helps employees minimize the likelihood of occurrence of industrial problems in the workplace (Wahab, Bakar, Rosli, & Junoh, 2013) Fallows, Stevens (2000) and Pittenger (2004) have identified presentation skills as an important facet of employability in order to promote

business graduate employability within an increasingly competitive and global business

environment By the way, excellent verbal communication skills are also necessary in order that graduates feel confident in their abilities to communicate such knowledge (Andrews & Higson, 2008)

In a study by Stewart and Knowles (2000) on graduate recruitment and selection in small businesses, it points out the following skills essential such as attention to detail, positive work ethic, good time keeping, caring and commitment to helping others, common sense, world and local awareness, good memory, likeable personality, broad based knowledge and the ability to adapt knowledge to “real world” situations From the other responses obtain from this study, work

experience, problem solving, decision making, being a self-starter and showing initiative come to the fore ground According to Munir, Aniswal and Haslinda (2005), the majority of respondents from their research agree that all the personal qualities are very important, because of encompassing willingness to learn new things; dedicated and committed, possess self-confidence; pleasant

personality Additionally, fresh graduates with good personal qualities have the drive to achieve results, resourceful They are able to take initiatives, responsible, reliable and trustworthy; able to adjust and adapt to change; able to work independently; able to withstand pressure and uncertainty;

able to self-evaluate own performance, obedient and compliant, knowledgeable and skillful, minded, helpful and possess ethnic and gender sensitivity

open-In the current search for talent workforce scenario by Hairi (2011), Employers need five essential soft skills in the working place in a descending order of importance including

communication skill, teamwork, decision making and problem solving, creative and critical

thinking, program and project management skill Communication and teamwork skills are the most important ones of soft skills because employers mostly demand Deetya, Williams and DeMicco (1998) (as cited in Subramonian, 2008) repeat that fresh graduates with transferable skills including strong written and oral communication skills, interpersonal skills, team work and problem solving skills will meet employers’ need In short, soft skills can identify key ‘transferable’ skills and

competencies integral to graduate employability encompassing professionalism, reliability, the ability to cope with uncertainty, the ability to work under pressure, the ability to plan and think strategically, the capability to communicate and interact with others, either in teams or through networking, good written and verbal communication skills, creativity and self-confidence, good self-management and time-management skills, a willingness to learn and accept responsibility (Nabi, 2003 and Elias & Purcell, 2004)

2.1.3 Technical Skills

There are some jobs requiring technical skills such as specialist knowledge, technological skill, general intelligence, numeracy and IT skills, professional skills, experience and competencies, knowledge of other fields, analytical and research It has been said that a person cannot perform the job well in case they have no job-specific skills

Technical skills are the knowledge and abilities which are necessary to do mathematical, engineering, scientific or computer-related duties, as well as other specific tasks acquired through learning and practice In other words, a particular skill set, process, technique knowledge and

proficiency are required to perform a specific job or task Other competencies are considered

important by the respondents to have the ability to “fit in” General intelligence, numeracy and IT skills (Stewart & Knowles, 2000) amongst the skills that are frequently highlighted lifelong learning skills (Saad, Robani, Jano, & Majid, 2013) In the study of Harvey, Burrows and Green (1992), the specific technical knowledge is discovered as the important one of profession skill Hard skills have been highlighted to increase the graduate employability and employment rate Moreover, some hard skills encompassing provision of temporary and vacation work, literacy, time management, research skills, computer skills help to secure work placement and internship, as well as contacting with

employers, curriculum vitae writing, providing help in job search, career fairs, and job searching techniques

2.1.4 Foreign Languages

Firstly, let talk about foreign Language proficiency which is an individual ability to speak or perform the other languages that they acquired through learning process, besides their mother-tongue Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences views foreign language proficiency as consisting of

a broad set of abilities, including:

 The ability to read and write a foreign language;

 The ability to speak and understand a foreign language;

 Knowledge and understanding of the history and culture of the community or

communities in which the foreign language is spoken;

 The ability to function in culturally-appropriate ways within a community or

communities in which the foreign language is spoken

Foreign languages play an important role in supporting fresh graduates to be recruited in Viet Nam Some studies of foreign languages, especially report that vast majority of fresh graduates have a job if they were good at other languages

According to Kitao (2001), English is used widely in some areas of news and information, business, diplomacy, professions, travel and also entertainment The employees need the ability to communicate by English fluently Based on a research done by Irham, Shafinah and Azhari (2006) (as cited in Shafie, 2010), it find that the R&D department administrators have been looking for candidates who have the abilities to generate and express ideas verbally in English at 90 percent; to give presentations using English at 90 percent; to write report in English at 60 percent; to speak English fluently at 60 percent; to have a good command of English language grammar at 30

percent; and to have persuasive skills in English language at 30 percent The findings also inform that fresh graduates need to master the language as it is used world-wide English communication is rated as the most important communication skill and higher than any technical skill In the same word, English can support communication skill and technical skill because almost of material, technical books are written in English Almost of companies in Ho Chi Minh City refer students to have international English certificates such as TOEIC, IELTS, or TOEFL IELTS which score 6.5 is required to study in foreign universities or study abroad, or apply for a job of foreign companies

Decision 1400/QĐ-TTg dated 30 September, 2008 has been stated that by 2020 Viet Nam is going to improve English language proficiency for all students in universities accounted for 60

percent by 2015-2016 and 100 percent by 2019-2020 to help them use a foreign language

confidently in their daily communication Besides, they can practice English in studying and

working, adapt to multi-cultural and multi- lingual environment According to The Gallup

Organization, Hungary upon the request of Directorate-General for Education and Culture (2010),

At least three-quarters of respondents in 24 countries agree that English is very or rather important when recruiting higher education graduates Finally, foreign languages play an important role and show a very different picture in various cultures in Viet Nam

2.1.5 Work Experience

It can be understood as all skills and knowledge which people get during their working period It gives employees opportunities to get jobs, to take part in world of work and encourage them much confident for their performance In addition, it proves that employees are valuable and productive in working As the other idea, work experience may be including of structured summer placements, summer internships, short term project placements, casual work,…Dearing (1997) According to Department for Education and Skills (2007), employees, who are at all ages, can get experience in the world of work to develop their key competencies and skills, as well as upgrading their employability Fresh graduates who are good at work experience can enhance their learning and employability (Knight & Yorke, 2000)

Holmes (2001) advises that it is necessary to set tasks in relation with the work place, in case the degree program has not created work experience Majority of students try to work to

support themselves when studying at university, automatically they get work experience, according

to Shabi, (as cited in Lees 2002) It has been agreed that students are spending some time each week working to earn money rather than studying Thus, the more they work, the more they increase their understanding of both themselves and the workplace

Shortly, there are four core skills and competencies for this survey Firstly, Soft skills

include communication skill, team-working skill, time-management skill, stress - tolerance skill, decision making skill, learning skill, adapting skill, enthusiasm and commitment, creative and innovative Secondly, technical skills encompass specialist skills, IT skill, social knowledge,

knowledge of other fields, analytical and research And two important factors are work experience, and foreign language proficiency that impact on job opportunity

2.1.6 Job Opportunity/Employment Gaining:

An opportunity is a favorable or advantageous circumstance or combination of

circumstances, and job opportunity is a good chance for advancement or progress of career, the

progress and actions taken by people throughout their lifetime, especially those related to their occupations As the result, there are some courses in universities that enable students to recognize their own strengths and skills and understand how to best articulate those preferences and

achievements to future employers or academic institutions in the future

It's important to recognize opportunities when fresh graduates present themselves That is one of the best ways for graduates to launch their careers After hard working to get degrees, now graduates have to put those degrees to work in a dynamic, challenging environment where they can grow and learn even more Majority of companies offers a widely various careers for graduates, the reason is that recruiters want to allow the individual to build on their knowledge, skills and

interests, and launch a rewarding career

Employers have been looking for fresh graduates from a wide branch of knowledge

including technical degrees in Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science; as well as those with excellent academic acquirement in Business and Commerce, Economics, Organizational Psychology, Human Resources, Finance and Law Employers also said that “Our doors are open to high-performing individuals who are keen on building a world-class career with a global company”

As the result, the companies who create job opportunity and graduates who receive job opportunity

if they are qualified to meet employers’ need

To specify job opportunity, there is an example take from www.money-zine.com:

“Job opportunities

Working and volunteering at Chance UK

Chance UK is currently advertising for one new member of staff

Research and Training Officer (Full Time)

NJC Scale 5, spinal points 22-25 (£21,552-£23,337) +5% pension contribution

Based at our head office in Finsbury Park

Role: The two main responsibilities of the post are to provide administrative, statistical and research support for the Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) that Chance UK is currently

undertaking, as well as for other evaluation and research work as required, and to administer the mentor application and training processes

Requirements:

• A relevant degree

• At least one year’s experience of statistical and research work

• Strong written and verbal communication skills

• Exceptional attention to detail

• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office especially Excel

• Experience working for a children’s charity or similar would be an advantage, but not essential

To apply for this role, please fill in the application and monitoring forms provided below and return to recruitment@chanceuk.com with ‘Research and Training Officer’ in the subject line.”

In Vietnam, all job descriptions also require degree, certificates, foreign languages,

experiences and computer skills

This is another example for job opportunity for Sales Assistant (Logistics) from Harbour Asia Logistics Co Ltd.,

“Requirement:

 Candidates must possess at least the College Degree, Bachelor’s degree, Economics, Logistics/Transportation, Business Study/Administration/Management, Maritime Study or equivalent

 At least 04 years experiences in Shipping/Forwarding/Logistics

 Bachelor Degree in Economy or Foreign Trade

 Good at Chinese or English, computers skill (Microsoft offices, Outlook Express)

 Ability to work under high pressure

 Personal Characteristics: Hard working, enthusiasm, dynamic

 Self-confidence

 Team working.”

2.2 Role of Employability Skills toward to Job Opportunities

Nowadays, most employers, which are big state companies and organizations, especially Vietinbank and Vietcombank prefer to hire graduates from public universities such as University of Economics, Can Tho University, Foreign Trade University or International University since the necessary academic qualifications and employability skills are perceived necessarily and

importantly in the job environment Generally employers who have the experience of hiring

graduates from a public university are satisfied and happy with their graduates To attain best talent and good employment are big challenge which employers are facing at the time of economic crisis Therefore, only the graduates with better competencies will be able to meet these challenges and fit

in the job market Now qualification and core skill have been much necessary for the graduates to achieve excellent results in their Jobs However, there still has big shortage between employers’

needs and graduates’ employability skills Many research give the results in lack of graduates’ employability causing paradox between demand and supply in labor market Davies (2000)

indicates that the personal characteristics, transferable skill and employability skills are very

important to entry level positions, but fresh graduates have not possessed them The majority of students are wrong to get insufficient knowledge and wrong kind of expertise for their future jobs

As the result, employers prefer to recruit experienced workers than fresh graduates who cannot apply what have learned

2.2.1 Technical Skills Impact on Job Opportunities

There has lack of qualified graduates with technical Skills such as science and industrial skills In multi-national companies upgrading technological contents through automation is very important to produce high end products, but their problem is poor at necessary technical skills and knowledge of employees On the survey of English Russell Group HEI (2006) careers service, they show out employers’ requirement for main attributes and skills of graduates Firstly, a good degree from a good university serves as a form of ‘quality assurance’ Secondly, work-experience needs turning up on time, and enables graduates to get the job quite quickly Thirdly, participation is important as it implies that fresh graduates are a ‘doer’ and a ‘contributor’ and are active and to self-initiate persons, and also show that they are able to be a part of a working community

Fourthly, “ability to reflect on their experience” is to tell their university experience which has contributed to their overall learning and being aware of how this learning is transferable to other contexts However, graduates are not only expected to have the technical and discipline

competences from their degrees, but also are required to demonstrate a range of broader skills and attributes that include team-working, communication, leadership, critical thinking, problem solving and often managerial abilities or potential (Lowden, Hall, Elliot & Lewin, 2011)

The employer want to be asked for something it is particularly suited to offer, because of their desiring for specific and value-added skills It creates obvious benefits when giving something (Rake, 2009) Depending upon economic sectors and the regions, their firm sizes and hierarchical structures, employers require different technical skills for their offers For example, IT companies generally demand creativity and strong system design skills while the knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering are less important However, fresh graduates, with strong ability to use modern tools and the knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering, are prioritized by the infrastructure firms that have been examined by Andreas and Hiroshi (2011) It has been fiercely debating about Graduates’ employability in Ho Chi Minh labor market The economic globalization

and rapid changes taking place in Viet Nam create a pressure upon employers in foreign companies

To identify and recruit fresh graduates who possess key employability skills suitable to their current demands, employers test technical skills carefully To them, the fundamental requirements which graduates possess are basic education and technical skills are two for recruitment first However, what are going to make employers satisfy mostly are the graduates’ ability to continue learning independently in the acquisition of new knowledge, skills and technologies for job performance Employers emphasize on experience which helps employees and employers acquire the full benefits

as authentic as possible In Tran’s study (2012), Employers want to recruit employees who have appropriate experience, and new recruits are chosen because of their doing similar jobs or involving

in a similar work environment before Moreover, they are really willing to hire graduates with rich

‘life skills’ In short, employees with real world problem solving experience are hopefully expected

by recruiters, fresh graduates either easily get jobs or adapt to the new working environment

quickly With the same study topics, Truong (2006) who has researched for professional knowledge for ‘technical’, work-related skills, or enterprise skills in Ho Chi Minh City says that these skills are very important for Vietnamese employees to meet recruiters’ needs and reach jobs Dymock and Gerber (2002) have interviewed employers, majority of them say that employees are hoped to bring appropriate skills, knowledge, values and practical experience to the organization In summary, technical skills and work experience play important role in fresh graduates’ job opportunity

2.2.2 Importance of Work Experience toward to Job Opportunities

In latter-day society, work experience breaks unemployment and also brings fresh graduates

to many job choices Employees also know how to make a CV, what is the recruitment process to

be easy to apply for a job and do the interview Employers see fresh graduates as “risk” when they lack of work experience, according to Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2012) Fresh graduates with undertaken work experience are highly valued by recruiters, it is more

significant if they can reflect on it and express and bring into playing what they have been trained (Knight & Yorke, 2002a)

Additionally, work experience has determined career outcomes The employees feel that they are more successful because of their experience The Education and Employers Taskforce (2012) also find the great majority and agree that work experience enables fresh graduates to

develop employability skills and apply for good job Surely, employers still agree that job

experience is critical in new recruits

Fresh graduates are said to be successful in their job hunt unless they have no done good work experience A majority of fresh-graduate recruiters, who take part in a recent research study

by Highfliers, agree that employees are unsuccessful during the selection process, or have little or

no chance of receiving a job offer because of having no work experience The world of work easily comes to fresh graduates who are equipped with work experience Practical workplace skills and experience play an important role in recruiters’ perception to apply directly to specific industries or market niches For fresh graduates studying engineering, business studies, healthcare or hospitality, work experience are more significant because it creates the link between theory and practice

Additionally, a qualification is perceived as less important than work experience considered as skills learnt, employers high appreciate valuable staff more than those learnt on a degree In general, Work experience is very significant for fresh graduates’ employability Martin and McCabe (2007) inform that work experience contributes positively to graduates’ future employability

2.2.3 Impact of Soft Skills on Job Opportunities

Employers today focus on finding good workers who have not only basic academic skills like reading, writing, science, mathematics but also higher order thinking skills like learning,

reasoning, thinking creatively, decision making and problem solving (Shafie & Nayan, 2010) Graduates are taught some teaching theoretical knowledge in universities for their good job but actual experience is very necessary to acquire a wider range of soft skills and attributes

Regrettably, graduates have low academic achievement, and those in the wrong field are

oversupplied There are 55 percent lacking of literacy skills, 51 percent lacking of communication skills, 48 percent lacking of enthusiasm and commitment and 47 percent lacking of numeracy skills, according to Martin, Smith, Marshall and McKenzie (2008) With more studies, Singh (2008) mentions that majority of the young graduates perform well in universities and have good

certificates and degrees However, these graduates are not good at skills, attitudes, and

understanding, so they face challenges to enter the world of work (AlHady, Zakaria, Omar and Ali, 2011) Working environment is rather different from university environment, even though

knowledge graduates use to work also little different from knowledge leant in university because graduate do practical jobs more than theoretical jobs Certain job needs specific skills suitable for it, thus they should improve more skills to enter the world of work However, the position needs certain knowledge, depending on their target jobs, fresh graduates can take good jobs different from their major For example, the information technology graduate can accept to work as business staff

in a state organization because he thinks it is a stable and good job with good benefit As the result,

all knowledge gotten from university they don’t use much for that job and they face challenges when entering new work

Fresh graduates are poor at English (Figure 2.1), poor at character, poor at attitude or

personality, mismatch of skills, unable to demonstrate ability to solve problems

Figure 2.1: Problems Faced by Employers in Hiring Fresh Graduates

(Source: jobstreet.com) And Liling (2010) also points out more skills which new graduates are very poor at

including problem solving and decision making Additionally, higher-order thinking skills

encompassing analyzing, evaluating and creating are considered to lack from employees The

employers say that graduates are strongly short of order thinking skills such as knowledge and understanding, thus they do not satisfy recruiters The most important professional skills are higher-order thinking skills (Andreas, 2011) The central bureau of investigation find (Figure 2.2) that business employers are unhappy because of lack of graduates’ employability skills (Rake, 2009)

Figure 2.2: Employers Dissatisfaction with the Key Skills of Young Recruits

(Source: CBI Employment Trends Survey 2008)

In survey of Saad, Robani, Jano and Majid (2013), foreign employers think that a candidate should develop four particular skills such as timekeeping, literacy skills, numeracy skills,

enthusiasm and commitment Fresh graduates are required to have different capabilities to meet different needs Globalized economics usually emphasizes to demonstrate a range of competences

to work in a global environment, in different countries, in multi-culture

2.2.4 Impact of Foreign Languages on Job Opportunities

Language skill is more and more important in globalized economy in Ho Chi Minh Back to The Gallup Organization (2010), the report discovers that a higher proportion of graduate recruiters with international contacts needs to recruit higher education graduates, who are good at foreign language skills As the same idea, Matin, Ali, Wiebe (2002) also emphasize the importance of English language skills on helping communication with various people and in a variety of settings

In Ho Chi Minh City, students and fresh graduates are much worried about their English kills, because they have no real environment to practice, and they are just good at writing or grammar As

a result, they feel shy to communicate by English at work Employers keep complaining about the poor life skills of students and fresh graduates Majority of fresh graduates have English

communication certificates but they speak very terribly and without feeling Tran (2012) has

conducted a survey to examine employability of Vietnamese graduates in Ho Chi Minh City,

including English language proficiency It has been uncovered that many students and fresh

graduates have followed second degree courses in other universities, or joined different soft skills,

or English courses in order to develop more knowledge and attributes Their aims are to improve their weakness of English and core skills to become more employable in current jobs

Different companies or organizations have their various and specific requirements, even within the same sector of industry Shortly, employers have the right to expect the employability of fresh graduates with the related knowledge and skills, a good attitude, the ability to communicate with colleagues and customers, integrity and honesty, and a willingness to learn for the coming job Moreover, understanding employers’ need, fresh graduates can improve themselves to adapt to working environment, but the first step is to meet recruiters’ requirement

Overall, Vietnamese research are only few studies for these issues, especially impact of employability skills Additionally, there is still a huge amount of unemployment in Ho Chi Minh City because of lacking key skills and competencies This study aims to conceptualize and identify importance of fresh graduates’ employability skills which helps students satisfy recruiters’ needs, and easily get good job opportunity, and improve their career performance

2.3 Conceptual Framework

Ho Chi Minh City is one of the biggest ones in Viet Nam that provides a huge of job

opportunity Thus, it becomes competitive labor market and requires more talents It has been said that people in Ho Chi Minh City are eliminated in case they have no ideas to improve their skills and knowledge It means the excellent city is only for excellent people This study confirms again that there are some core skills which students have to learn before applying for a job, these skills encompass soft skills, technical skills, work experience and foreign language proficiency

Firstly, soft skills play an important role in jobs opportunity and career performance

Communication skill including listening skills, speaking skills, written skills and presentation are the most crucial in business dealing, conversation and team working Additionally, problem-solving and management skill also control the problems to limit risk in workplace Moreover, stress-

tolerance skill, decision making skill, adapting skill, enthusiasm and commitment, creative and innovative effectively contribute to find jobs, that is the reason for statement:

H1: The better soft skills, the higher job opportunity

Secondly, technical skills are essentially necessary for people who are in charge of certain specialized jobs Thus, specialist knowledge is compulsory for all jobs, and more significantly contribute to high technological jobs, engineering, researching study and data analysis area

Nowadays, computers become most popular in workplace all over the world Moreover,

information technology skill is more and more increasing in need and demand Additionally, other skills such as numeracy skill, knowledge of other fields also support graduates to pass the interview and reach jobs The more excellent they are at these skills, the more confident they show their abilities It is very clear to see:

H2: The more professional technical skills, the higher job opportunity

Thirdly, work experience is evident factor to help fresh graduates reach jobs Employers usually choose candidates who can learn jobs well and shortly The reason is to adapt to working environment quickly, and be able to use practical skill in workplace Usually, employees who have work experience will bright higher value and outcome to companies All employers are sure that productivity is more and more increasing if their staff is full of experience When doing job

interview, people always face hard question related to their practical knowledge and job experience

To make decision to hire or not, employers usually base on answers in the interview The good answers are high points to get job Moreover, work experience creates confidence while confidence

is one of successful keys to be recruited Work experience is not always necessary in all jobs but it

is the key factor to satisfy recruiters’ requirement So it could be considered:

H3: The more work experience, the higher job opportunity

Fourthly, foreign language proficiency is most required today in all jobs, even though

employees use a little or no use foreign language which English language is mostly, in workplace Four skills of English such as speaking, listening, writing and reading are asked by recruiters when doing the interview Actually, English communication highly contributes to jobs of business staff such as marketing, sales, foreign relations Using English to make presentation are referred to get a better job and high salary Moreover, other languages such as Chinese, Japanese, French,… are playing crucial role in working with foreigners, employers do not hesitate to give more chances for well foreign-language staffs Majority of foreign companies have invested in Ho Chi Minh City, so they need talent who are proficient at specific foreign languages suitable to their vacancy and

language of workplace It can be said that they are easy to be in charge of key positions There are

more choices for fresh graduates who are good at foreign language Therefrom, it has been

admitted:

H4: the more proficient foreign languages, the higher job opportunity

Fifthly, the core skills for business and engineering employees are not the same Fresh graduates who have good education and experience help them eligible to apply for a job Skills always play an important role in fresh graduates’ success to exhibit a mix of skills: ‘employability skills’ It can be said that the specialist, technical skills associated with different roles are less important than the 'soft skills', transferring between different jobs and different employment sectors Soft skills relate to person’s Emotional Intelligence Quotient consisting of feelings, emotions, insights,….While technical skills are known as the knowledge and abilities which needed to

perform mathematical, engineering, scientific, computer-related accountability, or other particular tasks Employees who have the qualifications and technical skills needed are able to manage the job role Moreover, the more employees improve their soft skills, the more employers incline to hire Employers who want to recruit a right person really focus on identifying his or her right skills and qualities to fulfill the role and contribute to the company's success For example, the information technology (IT) staff needs to know deeply computer skills, but marketing staff only needs to know how to use a computer and some software However, for communication skill, the marketing have

to be better than IT staff This factor has much significance to determine exact skills which certain employee need Human ability is limited, so people are just good at one or few majors

Employability skills are various and variety of knowledge So learning all skills and knowledge will take long time, moreover people have no willingness to learn all Thus, determining different

significance of employability skills for a certain job help fresh graduates choose which ones are necessary and useful to get jobs Depending on specific jobs, fresh graduates need either different specific skill or the significance of these for them is also different Thus, the issue is known that:

H5: The fields of study moderate impact of employability skills on Job opportunity

Figure 2.3: Research Model

3.1 Research Method and Procedure

This study follows both quantitative and qualitative research methods According to Aliaga and Gunderson (2003), Quantitative research is “Explaining phenomena by collecting numerical data analyzed using mathematically based methods (in particular statistics)” Empirical data such as statistics and numbers are collected to analyze for explanation of above objectives Qualitative method by in-depth interview aims to develop measurement which cannot find in previous research Additionally, reports and reliable websites are also used to collect data Quantitative analysis

evaluates employability skills and tests relationship between those skills and job opportunity

through two steps

The survey is conducted in some famous universities to collect questionnaires for statistics analysis These are primary data which describe abilities and knowledge of fresh graduates to

evaluate their employability

To make the survey more clearly and logical, research procedure is introduced with these following steps The directions of arrows are sequencing steps as figure 3.1., which lists the

sequencing steps from beginning to finish this study in details

Figure 3.1: Research Procedure

3.2 Measurement Development

3.2.1 In-depth Interview

The interview was carried out to develop measurement for factors work experience, foreign languages and job opportunity It helped check other factors such as soft skills, technical skills

Contents of in-depth interview were conducted as:

Table 3.1: Preparing Contents for Discussion

1 Foreign

Language

The necessary foreign languages

Foreign Language teachers and students in USSH

The most crucial languages Meaning of foreign language proficiency

Important skills when study foreign languages: writing, reading, speaking and listening

Discussion about previous studies and their points of view……

Talk about the usage of full time job, part-time job, inter-ship time

The ways to get experience when studying in university

Discussion about previous studies and their points of view……

Time respondents can find new jobs Their ability, skills and specialized knowledge

Job supply in Vietnam Their Points of view, as well as of recruiters and employers……

gave the comment to evaluate persons who were excellent at certain languages The result was four skills speaking, listening, reading and writing The students had the same ideas

To develop measurements for other factors, especially, experience and job opportunity, one lecturer in Ho Chi Minh City International University, one manager in Seafood Company, one manager in Vietinbank and one student in ISB were interviewed to build scales for

To evaluate work experience, interviewees agreed that real working including inter-ship time, part-time jobs and fulltime jobs were very important because recruiters highly appreciated fresh graduates, if they had practical time The student also agreed with them and he discussed more about working time The more working time was, the more work experience was

They also deeply discussed job opportunity of graduates First, the discussion was about

“ability to change jobs” Usually, unemployment took some months to find new jobs, however, others could find out jobs quickly Thus graduates who had much ability could get good job soon It meant that they had more chance to work The second discussion was “qualification ability”,

graduates had to show their degree to prove that they had specialized knowledge, for example, engineering and IT jobs required much qualification ability Because this ability only got from university and practical jobs, even though employers were willing to train new staff now, it took long time As the result, in these jobs recruiters need graduates who were good at qualification ability In addition, target respondents also discussed about external factor, it was “job availability”,

it was very important to job opportunity the more available jobs were, the easier fresh graduates got jobs It was very easy to see that more job supply increase the more chance for jobs increase At last, Job finding ability was also discussed This was compulsory skill to reach jobs It was

impossible to say that fresh graduate who did nothing could find a job Moreover, laziness to find job lead to bad result, or trying to find job but there had no effective ways also lead to bad result In short, Job finding ability is key factor to get chance for job And the results for scales of job

opportunity showed in table 3.2

Besides, the discussion was to evaluate the ease to understand the questions The more simplicity was, the more understanding was Actually some questions were complicated to

understand and answer, so they were revised by group’s comment and ideas For example “ability

to use office software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)” instead of “computer skill, because the

interviewees said not to understand exactly which computer skills researcher wanted to know And rejecting some sentences as “Your ability to do sale-online”, or “Your ability to make a report about

statistics”, or “Your practical learning after completing training time” was unrelated to research content After all, there were the following results:

Table 3.2: Measurement Scales from Interview and Reference Sources

SS Soft skills communication skill, Skill for

writing in Literature, Team-working skill, Self-confidence, Planning and organizing skill, Problem-solving skill, Enthusiasm/commitment, Creative/innovative thinking skill

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI, 2011); Munir, Aniswal and Haslinda (2005), Hairi (2011); Deetya, Williams and DeMicco (1998);

Nabi (2003); Elias and Purcell (2004)

TS Technical

skills

Professional knowledge, Computer basic skill, Internet application, Theory application, Analytical and research skill

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI, 2011); Stewart & Knowles (2000);Saad, Robani, Jano & Majid, (2013); Harvey, Burrows and Green (1992)

3.3 Questionnaire Design and Pilot Test:

3.3.1 Description of Questionnaire

There were two main parts in questionnaire Firstly, it was information of respondents such

as gender, background study, graduated year, age Second part was body with five factors including four independent variables and one dependent variable Research gave definition of each item clearly and easily to understand because the respondents were fresh graduates They were junior to evaluate their employability skills Thus the translation of questionnaire into Vietnamese had to be done, with sureness for the meaning of all questions not to be changed Finally, it was gratefulness

to respondents

Target respondents of this study were either male or female Besides, their study background had variety from economics, management, marketing, natural science, social humanities to

technical fields They had graduated from universities for maximum three years and they were finding a job, or working now Questionnaires were designed based on Likert scale with 5 points from 1 to 5 to describe from lowest level to highest level For example: 1: Totally disagree; 2: Disagree; 3: Neutral; 4: Agree and 5: Totally agree

3.3.2 Pilot Test

25 pilot samples were selected from some universities in Ho Chi Minh City, research doer used Cronbach’s Alpha to check reliability five factors SS, TS, WE, FL, JO with following results:

Table 3.3: Pilot Results

Table 3.4: Measurement Scales

Soft Skills Communication skill was verbal ability to convey information SS1

Skill for writing in Literature was writing skill to express the ideas SS2 Team-working skill was ability to work cooperatively with others SS3 Self-confidence was belief in themselves or their own abilities SS4 Planning and organizing skill was ability to plan tasks and monitor progress SS5 Problem-solving skill was ability to identify problems and devise solutions SS6 Enthusiasm/commitment was work commitment to do or to support

Creative/innovative thinking skill was ability to develop a new object or a

Technical

Computer basic skill was ability to use office software (Word, Excel,

Speaking skill was ability to present your idea effectively FL1

Listening skill was ability to comprehend verbal communication FL2

Reading skill was ability to comprehend reading materials FL4

Work

Experience

Job

opportunity

Job changing ability was ability to change a job easily as they want JO1 Qualification ability was qualified for many job opportunities JO2 Job Availability was many available job opportunities for them JO3 Job finding ability was ability to find new job suitable to them JO4

3.4 Sampling Method

3.4.1 Population and Sample

The data were collected from four universities including USSH – University of Social Sciences and Humanities, ISB – International School of Business, HCMUTRANS – Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport, UEH – University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City They had the first major about economics and management field; engineering and natural science fields; Social

science, and law field; and other fields The respondents’ age were from 22 years old to 27 years old and graduated in university from 2010 up to now The respondents were working and finding a job,

or studying second university or master programs

3.4.2 Sample size and sampling

This survey was going to carry out on 200 samples Firstly, Online-questionnaire was

designed by using Google drive and sent to students by email It was about 500 emails sent to students in three universities, only 71 questionnaires accounted for 35.5 percent were answered Secondly, snowball and convenient methods was used with 129 printed questionnaires sent directly

to target respondents Researcher and his friends went to every class to pass handouts and take them