The demand for hiring home security guards during Tet (Lunar New Year) is high.

In Ho Chi Minh City, advertisements for hiring security guards, house sitters, and house cleaners during Tet (Lunar New Year) are plastered on many streets to meet the surge in demand from residents.

A survey of several security service companies' websites for Tet (Lunar New Year) 2018 shows that security service prices this year can reach 800,000 VND, or even 2 million VND per day.

Searching everywhere for someone.

Photo: Internet

In Ho Chi Minh City, the service of house-sitting for homeowners during the Tet holiday is becoming increasingly popular because homeowners are selective about who they hire, and not everyone wants to spend the entire holiday at someone else's house. Along many streets, security companies and centers have posted flyers to recruit more staff.

Ms. Dao Hong Hanh (District 9) said she had contacted security companies directly to hire someone to guard her house, but the price was too high. Finally, she was introduced to a young man who agreed to guard her house during Tet, at a price of 6 million VND for 10 days, from the 27th of the lunar month to the 6th day of Tet.

Security companies are also scrambling to find personnel. Ms. Nga, a representative of a security company, said:A security guard on Nguyen Son Street (Tan Phu District) said he is urgently recruiting male and female security guards for temporary work throughout the Tet holiday.

"On weekdays, the rate is 190,000-250,000 VND per 12-hour or 16-hour shift. During Tet (Lunar New Year), it's tripled.""From 540,000 to 760,000 VND," Ms. Nga said.

Some businesses are advertising lower prices; however, according to some recruitment agencies, prices are negotiable and are still trending upwards because many people in Ho Chi Minh City are still worried that thieves might bring a truck to rob their house if no one is home.

According to Ms. Nga, her company normally pays monthly salaries, but is now having difficulty recruiting and has had to provide free accommodation and advance 30% of the salary each week.

Due to a shortage of security guards for companies, offices, buildings, banks, shopping malls, etc., the company announces that it only needs male candidates aged 18 and above.For men aged 18-60, women aged 18-45, meeting certain minimum height and weight requirements; having an identity card is sufficient to start working immediately, supplementary documents can be submitted later.

Regarding benefits, security guards are guaranteed a 13th-month salary, 12 days of annual leave, double pay on holidays, triple pay during Tet (Lunar New Year), and the company can provide daily or weekly salary advances in case of financial difficulties...

Despite offering much more attractive benefits than before, according to Ms. Nga, the company has not been able to recruit enough security guards for the past three weeks and needs 10 more people to fulfill orders.

Opportunities to increase income

According to the survey, many students took advantage of the Lunar New Year holiday to stay home and look after houses, earning extra income.

Pham Thi Thu Hoai, a second-year student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, said that due to her family's limited financial resources, she will not be returning home this year but will stay to work part-time.

Having been on school break since the 22nd of the twelfth lunar month, Hoai applied for a job packaging fermented pork rolls and sausages at a company.

From the 26th onwards, Hoai accepted cleaning jobs for several families, earning up to 700,000 VND per day. Hoai was quite happy because from the 22nd to the 30th of Tet (Lunar New Year), she could earn about 5 million VND to cover her post-Tet tuition fees.

Dang Hoang Cong, originally from Ninh Thuan province and a student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education, said: "For the past two years, I've stayed in Saigon every Tet holiday to work part-time."

This year, the same family that Cong worked for last year called to invite him to work again, promising a higher wage and bonus (last year's wage was 600,000 VND/day, with a 2 million VND bonus).

"Even though I only worked for a few days, it was enough money to pay for tuition for an entire semester. The homeowner bought banh chung (Vietnamese sticky rice cake) and other food items and kept them in the refrigerator. Even though I had to be far from my family, I felt very happy helping with my studies," Cong shared.

Ms. Luong Thi Thuy Quynh (living on Dao Duy Anh Street, Phu Nhuan District) has to hire someone to clean her four-story house every year. Normally, she pays 50,000 VND per hour, but at the end of the year, she hires a full-service cleaner for 1.5 million VND.

The period leading up to Tet (Lunar New Year) sees a surge in demand for sofa cleaning services. Nguyen Minh Tam (from Tan Phu district, who has been in this business for nearly 10 years) says his orders have doubled or tripled compared to normal days.

"Currently, I get 6-7 calls a day from people asking me to come to their homes to clean their sofas, and cleaning one set takes several hours. Now I have to work both during lunchtime and in the evening. Cleaning one set of sofas earns me 200,000-300,000 VND," Mr. Tam said.

Student"in high demand"

Mr. Hoang Le Quang, from District 2, said that there had just been a burglary near his house, so even though his house has surveillance cameras, he still had to hire security guards.

After posting the advertisement, he decided to choose a male student from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Physical Education and Sports, at a price of 700,000 VND per day for 24/7 work, plus an additional 100,000 VND for food each day.

Quang said the requirements were very simple: just house-sit, water the mini garden, and feed the fish. However, he had to be selective and set strict conditions: they could use the kitchen, bathroom, and sleep in the living room, but they couldn't invite other people over or rummage through the belongings.

Even after finding someone, he still needs to schedule a meeting and carefully check their background to ensure they are indeed a student before he feels comfortable hiring them.

Many people, like Quang, despite the difficulty in finding suitable candidates, still carefully check and prioritize hiring students or employees from reputable security companies to look after their homes.