High-level positions in Vietnam posted steady growth in the third quarter (Q3) this year, especially in manufacturing and technology, staffing firm Adecco Vietnam’s latest quarterly labor market update shows.

Unlike the two first quarters of the year when corporates usually recruited “popular positions”, in Q3, more companies were looking for top-notch positions or experts who have high technical skills, besides the emerging need for C-suite executives at local big organizations.

It is critical for businesses to have a highly-qualified management board to effectively lead and manage their existing workforces. The tendency of hiring such kind of professionals is typically seen by the second half or end of the year when corporates are gearing up to plan for the upcoming year, Ha Nguyen, director of Hanoi Office, Adecco Vietnam, explained.

According to the report of Savills recently, Vietnam benefits from stable political conditions, and rapid economic growth. 46% of the population are 25-54 years old and labor cost is comparatively lower than that in other countries in Southeast Asia. All these factors make Vietnam an attractive and competitive investment destination. And it’s evidenced in the amount of FDI flowing into Vietnam during this year, thus, hiking up demand for hiring senior leadership positions that can successfully turn the investment in result, where expat candidates with proven experience in Banking, Trading and Technical, etc. are much sought after than their local counterparts.

Companies are still willing to pay expat candidates a salary package higher than the market average due to their qualifications, language and international experiences.

Manufacturing and Technology jobs are still promising in-demand in the market

While demand for Product and Marketing Manager across consumer goods companies remains relatively strong, there is an increase of manufacturing jobs compared to Q3 2018. Senior plant management roles such as Plant General Manager or Head of Engineering and Production are high in demand as an increasing number of manufacturing companies are relocating to Vietnam from China.  

Thanh Nguyen, director of Ho Chi Minh City Office, Adecco Vietnam, indicated: “This trend also generates the upturn of HR roles for factories, especially with talents who have experiences in large-scale organizations with a huge labor workforce. Meanwhile, to prepare for the coming year, new factory set-up will require a lot more Quality, Production and Quality Management professionals to ramp up their production capacity.”

Together with the growth in the manufacturing industry, in Q3, Adecco Vietnam sees more talent demand in pharmaceutical and technology organizations. Tech firms with super app platforms and fintech companies are those with critical needs for Product Manager, Business Intelligence and AI engineers.

Artificial Intelligence is even more of a buzz word now than ever. Hence, the demand for jobs in this area will continuously accelerate in the Q4/2019 and 2020, according to the report.