Powered by Turku Business Region, Business Finland, City of Turku, and greatly facilitated by Macken company, two roadshows were well organised in Da Nang – the coastal city in the central region, and the biggest economic center in the southeast area, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.
This activity was to promote Turku and Southwest Finland as a great place to work and live. In addition, the meetups introduced “Talent Call Turku” as a unique contest which provides the educated and experienced professionals, such as engineers, programmers, and other top specialists in technology areas with the chance to explore the region.
The participants expressed their interests in Finland as “the best choice for life” with many questions related to career development in Finland, challenges facing foreigners in terms of job seeking, meeting the employers’ requirements, and adapting to daily life, and study and employability after graduation as well.
Via social media, personal networks, and word of mouth, the event drew the attention of hundreds of people in Vietnam with the actual participation of 110 ones. The participants, aging from 16-59 years old, mainly consisted of skilled employees in the IT field, engineering, freelancers, innovation startups, and students in a number of industries and areas.
The events covered the major themes of Finland as an exceptional country where the balance between work and family life is encouraged and supported, Turku and the Southwest region as the dream destination for building and developing careers in terms of work, life, and the future. Particularly, the contest of “Talent Call Turku” was introduced as an amazing chance for families to explore the place with all expenses are paid.
Vietnamese talents interested in how to start working in Turku, Finland
Interestingly, most of the attendees focused on the possibilities to access the job and career opportunities in Finland in terms of the criteria and process for application, and the values that Finnish employers appreciate and are looking for. In addition, they also expressed some concerns over the level of competitiveness of the Vietnamese candidates compared to that of different countries and continents.
Experiences and the adaption to the new environment in this Nordic country were also shared, such as the biggest challenges facing Vietnamese workers overseas, Finnish culture and etiquette in daily life and at the workplace, tips for the extreme weather, Finnish language as an essential aspect of life, and cost of living. Vietnamese communities in Finland was another matter of interest of the audience. Groups of students also raised the questions on study chances, scholarships, program at different education levels, and the employability after graduation Finland. Some Vietnamese youngsters are also interested in starting new businesses in this country.
How to reach talents in Vietnam and why you should promote in Vietnam
Many Fortune companies from all over the world have selected Vietnam as an ideal destination to seek highly qualified workers for years. On the journey of solving the talent shortage problem, perhaps firms from Finland would be no exception to reach large pool of talents. Apart from a stable political system and strong governmental support, Vietnam’s main favourable advantages lie in its high rate of literate population, rich source of engineering graduates, and top-performing and fast-growing country in high-tech areas.
Enjoying its “golden population structure” with 67.4 percent of the national population in the working age, Vietnam’s literacy rate among the age of 15-24 is more than 97% (UNESCO 2019). Recently, students in this country were reported to achieve high scores at PISA tests (2015). In other words, the academic results of Vietnamese students were comparable to those from Finland and Switzerland, regardless its lowest GDP per capita in the 20-country list.
A recent “Human Capital Report” also reveals that Vietnam is among the top ten economies with most graduates in engineering, manufacturing and construction (World Economic Forums 2015). This human capital is considered a critical driver of economic growth. Vietnam is also proud of its rapid progress in ICT development with 24,501 IT businesses, reaching the revenue of 67.7 billion USD in 2016, an increase of 11.49% compared to 2015 (Vietnam ICT White Book 2017)
These all go to prove that Vietnam is the most attractive option for Finnish firms to reach talents. More importantly, with the popularity of the talk-shows, it appears that the willingness and pleasure of Vietnamese young highly educated and experienced professionals to build a career in Finland are easily recognized. This is perhaps a major point for Finnish companies to rethink the adoption of international employees as the “cure” for talent shortage which hinders their growth.
Short introduction on Macken
Macken is a Finnish innovation company on a mission of bringing development and business opportunities to individuals and firms in education and business. Macken provides a wide range of services, such as educational tourism, teacher training and coaching, curriculum development, international speaking, consulting services, and project development and implementation.
Text by Mac Nguyen (Contact for more information: Mac@mackenedu.com)