The competencies of job candidates in the textile and garment industry met employers’ requirements in the first half, according to the latest report by recruitment company Navigos Group.
Compared to the last five years, their technology and foreign languages skills have improved thanks to improvements in training.
In the past 10 years more and more training programmes pertaining to the textile and garment industry have become available at colleges and universities.
Besides, thanks to tie-ups between the industry and universities in designing technical programmes, fresh graduates come with 50-60 per cent of the skills they need, and other skills are taught through internships.
The greatest advantages Vietnamese candidates enjoy are their willingness to work hard, eagerness to learn and skill.
However, despite the improvements of the past five years, Vietnamese candidates still have limited foreign language skills especially when compared to their Indian or the Philippine counterparts.
Textile and garment companies have yet to hire foreign candidates for important positions. But these positions require good negotiation skills and other soft skills such as leadership and time management, which Vietnamese candidates still admittedly lack.
Candidates meeting these requirements are usually from China, the UK, Hong Kong, Thailand, and India.
High demand
The textile and garment industry has been witnessing a boom in recruitment demand this year as orders poured into the country due to the unstable situation in some neighbouring countries.
In the past Vietnamese manufacturers only reproduced items designed and already made abroad.
But now, huge investments in the country, by both foreign and Vietnamese enterprises, has led to changes to production chains, facilities, infrastructure, quality of the workforce, and human resources policies.
As a result, global customers have begun to work directly with Vietnamese manufacturers, who thus have huge demand for personnel, especially in supply and sourcing and technical jobs such as engineers and production innovators. —VNS