Microsoft word individual essay chung ngoc bao han AEn6 21000466

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

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Student name: Chung Ngọc Bảo Hân
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AEn-T122WSB-6
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Gabriel Ryan

The necessity of training soft skills in Vietnam.

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21000466

11/04/2022

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07/04/2022

Campus B: 279 Nguyen Tri Phuong St., Ward 10, District 5

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ARO 00380 08/15

The necessity of training soft skills in Vietnam.
In the last decade, Vietnam is one of the countries which has the fastest developing
economy in the world. To continue growing the country, and adapt efficiently to the modern era,
Vietnam is required to raise the quality of the workforce, facing challenges as well as the
difficulties of globalization. However, Vietnam has been unable to produce a highly qualified
workforce (Mitchell et al., 2010, as cited in Truong & Ronald, 2015), and one of the most
considerable reasons is that Vietnamese education has provided poor soft skills for business
institutions (Dang, 2009, as cited in Truong & Ronald, 2015). In particular, soft skills have
become more and more essential nowadays, that is abilities referring to personalities such as

attitudes and communication skills. In this paper, the importance of training soft skills in
Vietnam will be analyzed. To be specific, the benefits that soft skills give to individuals as well
as businesses, the lack of soft skills in Vietnam education, and recommendations for
improvement, will be considered.
To begin with, soft skills need to be prepared significantly since there are considerable
advantages for people. To be specific, the importance of soft skills had been proved in a study
conducted by Harvard University with the Carnegie Foundation and Stanford Research Center
(Man, 1918, as cited in National Soft Skills Association, 2015). The research concluded by the
finding is that only 15% of employment success is based on technical competence, whereas 85%
of career success is responsible for soft and interpersonal skills. Besides that, soft skills also
benefit both individuals and organizations.
Initially, soft skills bring to individuals various advantages in both the undergraduate
period and after graduation. In the education or undergraduate period, students with higher soft
skills can benefit more than others. Particularly, soft skills like time management and


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organization can support students to plan their learning schedule logically, avoid time pressure,
and anxiety, help students to study efficiently, and complete assignments on time. Moreover,
undergraduates can also utilize their free time to participate in extra classes, join a part-time
summer job and reduce stress by longer relaxing time. A study by Richelle and Blair (2019)
conducted by examination on engineering undergraduates when they apply the Time
Management Behavior Scale showed a finding that students can take advantage of time
management skills to raise their achievements at school easily. Not only time management,
convenient soft skills such as communication and problem-solving skills also benefit students in
many aspects. It can be seen that with flexibility in communication, people, especially students,
can have more friends, and expand social relationships to be appreciated, as well as welcomed in
academic environments. Besides that, problem-solving is an essential skill that every student
needs to practice. A paper by Petrie et al. (2020) cited that critical thinking abilities are widely
regarded in academia, especially at the university level, where their development is a major goal

worldwide. The same study also showed that secondary education plays an important role in
training soft skills for students to prepare for their college life. In general, strong soft skills can
help people at the undergraduate level to improve academic performance, connect with others
positively and get ready for college as well as after college.
Furthermore, soft skills are necessary after graduation. In particular, soft skills are
determinants of business success not only for employees but also for people who run a company.
With individuals who are employees and job seekers, good sources of soft skills can raise their
confidence in job interviews, open more opportunities and enhance their strength in the
workforce. However, soft skills are features that are related to personalities and need a long
period to be recognized. In other words, it is believed that recruiters pay more attention to the


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information, experiences, and work achievements that were written on the CV than the life skills
of candidates. Admittedly, hard skills are compulsory for employees who work for a specific
major, yet soft skills are deciding factors of people’s ability, attitude, and long-term
collaboration. Take an example, in a survey conducted on the Fortune 500 and non-Fortune 500
business, Baldi et al. (2016) realized that the majority of recruiters nowadays focus on
employees’ soft skills despite the importance of GPA. The study also explained that GPA is
necessary for claiming individuals’ professional knowledge, but people might not be hired
without soft skills and good experiences. Overall, employees and also job seekers need soft skills
because of various benefits that affect career success and long-term advantages in the workplace.
After college, many people want to work for business, while others plan to follow a
certain career like running a company. In this situation, soft skills or life skills are indispensable
elements that decide on their business success and raise their competitiveness in the marketplace.
To be specific, people can expand their social relationships, build a positive workplace and
create long-term cooperation with communication, teamwork as well as interpersonal skills.
Moreover, the ability of organization, time management, and problem-solving skills are
extremely important for leadership. Hence, soft skills are required for business owners
remarkably. According to Newman and Firki (2022), the amount of business in the United States

for specific and in the world for general has increased significantly. In other words, business
owners have to prepare for a seriously competitive environment. Also, people who are clever and
have leadership skills can increase the competitiveness of their business in the marketplace. In
summary, individuals who run a business need good soft skills as motivation for the
development of their company.


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The benefits of soft skills are not only for individuals including employees and business
owners in specific but also for business in general. To be specific, businesses can build a positive
workplace and develop successfully. Workers with good communication can support businesses
to expand social relationships. Additionally, employees with a good source of soft skills also
have an incentive to rely on each other and build positive collaboration. According to Tem et al.
(2020), the important things for business success are essential soft skills, inquisitive mindset,
pursuing professional leads, expanding rapidly technical competence, and establishing business
connections. In another study, Ackerman (2020) also assumed that emotional intelligence such as
social communication and connection is necessary for healthy relationships that impact business
success. With the top soft skills of potential workers, the business can be supported maximumly
to enhance strengths, and open more opportunities.
On the other hand, finding and recruiting potential candidates with both complete
professional knowledge and strong soft skills are challenges for business. It is explained that soft
skills have not been paid attention to nowadays. In the other words, young generations are facing
the reality of poor soft skills, which are negatively affecting the modern workforce, as well as the
innovative era. A study conducted by Deloitte Access Economics (2017) identified that
approximately nine in ten recruiters had believed in their employees’ teamwork ability and
critical thinking skills, however, 25% of them showed the difficulty in employees’ lack of soft
skills then. In addition, the main focus on career skills has become a significant problem in many
cultures, especially Vietnam. According to Truong and Laura (2015), Vietnam's economy is
developing considerably and requires the young generation to acquire the necessary skills for the
challenges of environments and globalization. That means education in Vietnam needs to focus

more on training soft skills for students instead of paying most attention to hard skills and


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professional theory. It is believed that soft skills are not the most influential features of success at
work, as people need to find candidates with complete knowledge of specific majors.
Nevertheless, the current labor market needs to find complete employees with both important
skills. It is cited that soft skills cannot be overstated, and technical skills are not enough for the
highly competitive global workplace as nowadays (Dean, 2017). Generally, educational
organizations should be aware of the necessity of training soft skills for students. Besides that,
businesses and youths should concentrate on building essential skills and developing potential
individuals with highly positive contributions.
Following that, the lack of soft skills in education is one of the most concerning issues in
Vietnam these days. In particular, educational organizations in Vietnam have been majoring in
theory and hard skills instead of practicing as well as necessary life skills. This reality had been
considered significantly by national social media. For instance, according to Ha (2020), the
majority of students in Vietnam are trained carefully in scientific knowledge instead of English,
while some students good at English have poor soft skills. Consequently, the weakness of
education has led to various drawbacks that negatively impact students’ future and citizens’ life.
Students have fewer career opportunities with a lack of soft skills. According to Vietnamese
employers and educators, students might be prevented from working in global business because
of the lack of soft skills (Tam, 2019). In addition, Tam (2019) also shows that with the good
ability in foreign language, algorithm and life skills, only three in forty excellent candidates had
been chosen in a job interview at a multinational company in Vietnam. However, the lack of soft
skills is responsible for the role of the training program and educational organizations, instead of
the students' fault totally (Ta Hai Tung, as cited in Tam, 2019). Compared with American
education, Tung also recommended that Vietnamese teachers should learn from training methods


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in this developed country as they give students multiple choices for courses of soft skills. In
summary, the lack of soft skills impact students’ life significantly and can lead to many
consequences in the future of the national workforce. Therefore, the importance of soft skills in
education as well as Vietnamese workplaces should be given more attention.
In conclusion, soft skills are very important and necessary for individuals and
organizations in various aspects. They are not only determinants of business success but also
impact the modern workforce globally. Besides that, the ignorance of people for soft skills is a
significant problem nowadays. Especially, in a developing labor market such as Vietnam,
training these skills has become more and more essential that requires education, businesses, and
people to concern about. As a forecast was cited in Deloitte Access Economics (2017), about
three-quarter occupations in the next ten years have relied on soft skills, the amount of soft-skill
intensive occupations also are predicted to be higher than double of non-soft-skill intensive
employment’s rate, therefore, preparation for potential skills is considered seriously.


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References
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Psychology. />Baldi, C., Jones, M., Phillips, C., & Waikar, A. (2016). The hard truth about soft skills: What
recruiters look for in business graduates. College Student Journal, 50(3), 422-428.
/>Dean, A. (2017). Soft skills needed for the 21st-century workforce. Proquest Dissertation
Publishing.
/>Deloitte Access Economics, (2017). Soft skills for business success. VOCED plus. Sydney.
/>Ha, L. (2020, March 15). Vietnamese students still lack soft skills. Vietname Net Global.
/>National Soft Skills Association, (2015, February 13). The soft skills disconnect. National Soft
Skills Association. />Newman, D., & Fikri, K., (2022, January 19). New startups break record in 2021: Unpacking the
Numbers. Economic Innovation Group. />Petrie J. A. C. van der Zanden, Eddie Denessen, Antonius H. N. Cillessen & Paulien C. M.,
(2020). Fostering critical thinking skills in secondary education to prepare students for
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Richelle, V.A., & Blair, E., (2019). Impact of time management behaviors on undergraduate
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/>Tem, S., Kuroda, A., & Tang, K. (2020). The importance of soft skills development to
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/>