Untangling the "bottleneck" in tourism workforce training.

(Baonghean) - For a long time, graduates from vocational and college-level tourism programs in the province have been criticized for being heavily focused on theory and not meeting practical requirements. This highlights the urgent need to improve training standards and strengthen links between schools and businesses, focusing on targeted training…

Supply-demand imbalance

The Muong Thanh Song Lam Hotel, and the entire hotel and tourism service complex of the Muong Thanh Group, are consistently facing a shortage of high-quality personnel. From now until May 2017, the group will continue to launch 17 more hotel and tourism service complex projects. Therefore, the Muong Thanh Group needs approximately over 3,000 new employees. The Muong Thanh Song Lam Hotel alone typically recruits 20-40 new staff members annually.

Although job postings are regularly updated and publicly available on the hotel's official website and through various media channels, the number and quality of applications received remain very limited.

Mr. Vo An Huy, Deputy General Director of Saigon Kim Lien Joint Stock Company, said that in recent years, the hotel has had a great need for personnel specializing in tourism, but recruitment has been very difficult. A few months ago, the hotel widely advertised job openings, but so far only nearly 20 applications have been received. The small number means we don't have many options regarding the quality of candidates. Therefore, Saigon Kim Lien Joint Stock Company has had to establish a vocational training center for basic skills in housekeeping, food and beverage services, kitchen, and reception to retrain staff, which is both time-consuming and costly.

Most training programs in schools are heavily focused on theory.

Meanwhile, training institutions assert that many graduates from vocational and college-level tourism programs still lack stable employment. According to surveys, while the employment rate for graduates can reach 70-80% at certain times, most are in small, family-run businesses with unstable jobs and income; a large proportion of graduates struggle to find jobs at reputable, professional companies.

Training partnerships

The root cause of the current situation of both surplus and shortage of human resources in the tourism sector stems primarily from the fact that "supply" has not kept pace with the quality requirements of "demand," and the weak link between schools and businesses leads to a lack of information from both sides.

Students at Nghe An Tourism and Trade Vocational College practice reception duties. Photo by Sy Minh.

Most recently, at a workshop on strengthening cooperation between training institutions and businesses in training and developing human resources for tourism, organized by the Project Management Board of the program for developing environmentally and socially responsible tourism capacity (EU Project) in collaboration with the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, school leaders frankly acknowledged that the current training curriculum still follows a traditional model, not in line with the changing realities, making it difficult for graduates to immediately adapt to their jobs. At the same time, the general entrance requirements of schools are quite low, leading to limitations in the quality of students' learning, especially in foreign languages ​​– a crucial factor that employers prioritize when considering personnel.

To help address this issue, the EU Project Management Board has just issued the Vietnamese tourism vocational skills standards system to support human resource development in four provinces in the North Central region, with Nghe An being one of the beneficiaries. Mr. Vu Quoc Tri – Director of the EU Project in Vietnam – affirmed: “The Vietnamese tourism vocational skills standards are developed to be equivalent to current international standards, containing all the necessary skills suitable for both training institutions and businesses, and are provided completely free of charge.”

Enhance the practical component of training.

Schools need to proactively seek out, approach, and develop relationships with tourism businesses both within and outside the province. Simultaneously, businesses need to be willing and trusting in building cooperative policies and creating opportunities for students to gain practical work experience. This is an urgent requirement to develop Nghe An's tourism to its full potential and advantages.

Phuong Chi