VietNamNet Bridge – Finishing universities with “excellent grade” degrees, gloried by the Hanoi People’s Committee, a lot of new university graduates have been left unemployed.

Tran Thi Thom is one of the 107 valedictorians gloried by the Hanoi authorities after she excellently graduated from the Philosophy Faculty of the Hanoi University of Education. However, she still has not found a job.

Thom has a congenital defect on her leg, but she did not think that the problem would keep her away from studying, and now she does not believe that this would be a barrier for her to find a job.

Thom has applied for a high school in Hanoi, but she just keeps a faint hope. The schools in the capital city do not need higher number of philosophy teachers.

“If I cannot find a job in Hanoi, I would leave for Lam Dong province, where a relative of mine is living. If I can find a job here, I would stay there in Lam Dong for a long time,” Thom said.

For the time being, Thom is now living in a rent room and giving private tutoring to earn her living and wait for a job.

Hoang Quy Ly, a social work majoring valedictorian of the Thang Long University, once believed that it would be easy to find a job with “excellent grade” university degree.

“I only have the university degree, and nothing more to show my ability. Therefore, it is really very difficult for me to look for reasonable job,” Ly said.

Ly now puts a high hope on the job opportunity at the Yet Kieu ward people’s committee in Ha Dong district. According to her, the common weak point of many valedictorians is that they are very good at the majoring subjects, while they do not have time to practice other skills, including the informatics and foreign language skills.

“I once tried to apply for the jobs as marketing officers or PR officers. However, the employers only accept the candidates who have proficient informatics and English skills,” Ly said, adding that it’s very difficult to find the job relating to the trained major – social work.

Good at theory, but bad at practice

Vu Thuy Linh, the valedictorian of the political economy faculty of the Hanoi Economics University, also complained that despite the current policy which prioritizes to employ valedictorians, she still has not found a job.

“You need to have many other skills, except an excellent grade university degree,” she explains. However, Linh said she still keeps optimistic about the future, while planning to continue studying to obtain master degree.

Unable to find jobs, a lot of valedictorians like Linh have decided to continue studying for higher education, simply because studying is better than sitting idle.

Nguyen Hong Nhung seems to be luckier than many other valedictorians, since she has been invited to work as a lecturer of the Hanoi Open University, from which she has graduated.

Nhung said that she is confident about the job opportunities, because she was once the collaborator of a TV program and she participated in many social activities during the 4-year period at the school.

“If you have good professional knowledge, good social knowledge and good foreign language skills, you will be able to find jobs in any environment,” she said.

Compiled by Thanh Mai