VietNamNet Bridge – Employment demand for smartphone engineers surged and made up 14% of the orders placed by employers at Navigos Search in the first quarter of this year, the biggest proportion of total demand in the period.

A customer tests a smartphone at an electronics outlet in HCMC. Many electronics enterprises are in dire need of smartphone engineers for their production projects nationwide

The provider of executive recruitment services explained that many major smartphone producers have chosen Vietnam as their key manufacturing base and hiring Vietnamese engineers would help them reduce production costs.

However, many electronics companies have found find it hard to recruit qualified candidates, according to a report released by Navigos Search on Monday.

A local human resource specialist said smartphone production is still in the nascent stages of development in Vietnam, so there are not many candidates able to meet requirements of foreign employers, including English competence, communication, problem solving, creativeness and other soft skills.

The apparel sector ranked second with a recruitment demand ratio of 13% in the first three months of this year, followed by production management with 12%, consumer goods and information technology with 7%, financial and banking sector with 5%.

The highest monthly salary of VND195 million in the period was offered by a firm in HCMC for a chief executive officer (CEO) and VND118 million for the same position in Hanoi City.

Navigos Search projected demand for smartphone engineers will rise to more than 20% of total employment demand in the coming time and proportions for the production, consumer goods and finance-banking sectors will remain high.

SGT