A degree is not a guarantee of employment.

"Having a degree doesn't necessarily mean you're competent and capable, especially with a Vietnamese degree, but not having a degree can be even worse..."

This is the opinion of Mr. Ong Xuan Minh - Director of the online recruitment website Timviecnhanh.com. He stated: "If you don't have a degree, it's difficult to get a job. Not every recruiter has the 'eye' to see through the potential of candidates."

Mr. Ong Xuan Minh - Director of the online recruitment website Timviecnhanh.com.

"However, a university degree is not a guarantee of employment. It is merely the most basic step in demonstrating that you possess a foundational cultural background, minimum knowledge, and access to independent thinking methods," Mr. Ong Xuan Minh emphasized.

Dropping out of university to pursue a dream.

Having received a scholarship to study at KAIST (South Korea) in 2010, Nguyen Hoang Trung (1992) decided to drop out and return to Vietnam to start his own business after two years of university. Hoang Trung said that he "is not the type of person who strives to graduate with honors and dedicate himself to a high-paying job." His food network, Lozi.vn, has now attracted millions of users.

In recent years, the wave of entrepreneurship among young people has been booming, especially in the technology sector. Many students drop out of school to pursue their dreams, but not everyone succeeds like Nguyen Hoang Trung.

Mr. Hoang To – Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tinh Van Group – warned: “Young people should not be under the illusion of following the examples of those who dropped out of university to build great careers. They are very different from you. Bill Gates scored 1590/1600 on the SAT and was accepted into Harvard. Mark Zuckerberg was also a Harvard student, and the university environment helped him develop Facebook. You should strive to get into Harvard first before thinking about dropping out of university.”

Nguyen Hoang Trung himself frankly shared: “Whether I was 18 or now, I still think of a university degree as just a piece of paper. University isn't the only path. However, if you don't know what you truly want, you should learn as much as possible, both in school and in life. If you are superficial in what you do, just studying to get a degree, life will pay you back.”

Despite having a degree, many young people still struggle to find employment. (Illustrative image)

A diploma is not as important as being skilled in a profession.

Unlike Nguyen Hoang Trung, Nguyen Khanh My (born in 1988, Go Vap, Ho Chi Minh City) had to spend four years in university before unexpectedly finding a suitable path.

Despite graduating with honors in journalism, she was rejected by the editorial office after her first month of probation. Khánh My said, "This failure devastated me and made me lose confidence when the editorial office criticized me for not knowing how to work and having too little social knowledge..." Unable to find a job elsewhere, she decided to study restaurant management at a vocational school specializing in tourism and hospitality.

After completing her studies, Khanh My posted job advertisements on online recruitment sites with her vocational diploma, completely omitting any mention of her excellent university degree. Just two weeks later, a large restaurant in District 1 (Ho Chi Minh City) invited her for an interview and offered her a trial period. After much effort, she is now being promoted by her superiors and sent abroad for an internship to manage the restaurant upon her return. No longer the "girl with the excellent degree," Khanh My has found a job she loves and excels at.

According to Master Thân Trung Dũng, an expert at the Institute for Traditional and Development Studies: "Graduates returning to vocational training is a 'last resort' step that causes great waste. But this is also a way for them to reposition themselves – something that university or postgraduate environments haven't been able to achieve. Only after graduation, when reality tells them, will they realize that their abilities don't match their degrees and that they don't possess what society needs."

However, Master Thân Trung Dũng also optimistically stated: "In my opinion, university is only one of many paths to success. If you are willing to dedicate yourself to self-improvement and are determined to pursue your passion, you can absolutely achieve glory without necessarily going to university. Instead, studying at a college, vocational school, or apprenticeship program can be alternative choices."

Currently, there are many jobs requiring only a college or vocational degree or lower with relatively high salaries, ranging from 4 million to 8 million VND, but they also require experience. Mr. Ong Xuan Minh suggests that if candidates lack experience, they should seek out internships, unpaid work, part-time jobs, etc., and showcase their achievements, even if it's just as a salesperson, flyer distributor, or security guard. Furthermore, they should tell recruiters what they learned, how dedicated they were, and how hard they worked in those simple jobs.

According to VnExpress