Freelance - the trend of freelancing among young people

Multitasking

Ms. Pham Han Thao Ly (born in 2000, in Hai Duong City) is known for her TikTok channel Rong Con Lon Ton, which shares her dining experiences in Hanoi and Hai Duong. In addition to this content creation job, she also tries her hand at acting and television broadcasting.

After studying accounting and interning at banks and foreign enterprises for a while, Ms. Ly realized that she had no talent or passion for jobs related to numbers.

In her final year of college, she created a TikTok channel. Her first video was viewed by many people, motivating her to develop the next videos. Currently, her TikTok channel has 5.3 million likes and 124,000 followers. This is also the TikToker's main source of income.

Watching the roles on television, she was interested and wanted to try her hand at acting. She took an acting course, looking for opportunities from small roles. Up to now, she has received invitations to participate in a number of TV series and entertainment sitcoms on YouTube and TikTok. This job gives her the opportunity to meet and learn from veteran actors in the profession such as Chi Trung, Quang Teo, Thu Ha, etc.

Ms. Ly said: “Working freelance allows me to be proactive with my own time, work whenever I want, sleep in, go out, and travel more freely. However, I also realize that this is a job for young people, and it is difficult to maintain for a long time."

That's why she applied to be a radio announcer at Hai Duong Radio and Television Station. Ly is studying and getting used to the intensity of the work, appearing on the station's side columns and news bulletins, and taking an MC class to improve herself.

Studying and doing many things at the same time, Thao Ly must know how to balance and arrange her work. She will work at Hai Duong Radio and Television Station according to fixed broadcast schedules and take advantage of her free time during the day to film, edit, and develop the TikTok channel.

Live true to your passion

Although he had a talent for painting and photography since high school, Nguyen Van Hoang (born in 1997, in Ninh Giang) studied military education (Engineering Officer School) according to his family's wishes. After 4 years of study, he became a national defense teacher at an international school in Ho Chi Minh City. The learning and working environment trained him to be punctual and disciplined. With his passion since his student days, he still takes advantage of his free time to take his camera and create art.

In 2021, the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, and Ho Chi Minh City became the epicenter. Unable to go to school to teach, Mr. Hoang returned to his hometown in Ninh Giang. From that point on, he chose to live true to his passion of photography. It took him a few months to get acquainted with the environment and market in Hai Duong, gain experience at the studio, and then he moved out to work freelance. He focused on taking wedding and graduation photos.

“Each job has different hours and work pressure. If I were a teacher, I would work office hours and have Saturday and Sunday off, but as a photographer, I would usually be busy on weekends. However, photography makes me more comfortable and free,” said Mr. Hoang.

No longer the image of a serious teacher who goes to class every day, the 26-year-old young man now travels more, setting foot on many new lands. And he also revealed that his income from photography is higher than that of a teacher.

However, Mr. Hoang also realized the difficulties of freelancing. Freelancing will not enjoy the benefits of agencies, organizations, and businesses. Sometimes, he has to take responsibility for the losses of unsuccessful projects, transactions, and contracts.

Freelancing is a new form of work that is becoming a trend among young people. According to research conducted by Edelman Intelligence on the Upwork platform (which connects companies and freelancers), the freelance workforce is getting younger. 50% of people aged 18-22 and 44% of people aged 23-38 are freelancing.

Especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, from full-time work at an agency or business, many people switched to freelance work, without signing a fixed contract and only accepting independent projects. Because freelance work is not bound by time, location and the choice of doing the job you want. In addition, freelance work also has the ability to promote more creativity for young people.