IT staff are not interested in working for the public sector.

At the same time, receiving two job offers from a state-owned unit and a private technology company, Ho Dac Thanh Minh decided to leave the public sector. "Working on a project at a private company with foreign partners, I will learn a lot and progress quickly," the male information security engineer said about his choice two years ago.

Minh, 24 years old, graduated from the University of Information Technology (Ho Chi Minh National University) in 2022. This is the time when IT personnel working in positions related to system administration, network, security with less than one year of experience can receive a monthly salary of up to 20 million VND.

According to Minh, the company has a large amount of state capital, although the basic salary is not high, the total benefits are quite attractive. However, this unit does not specialize in information technology, IT personnel only do jobs within the scope of business operations. This makes him worry that "he will soon fall behind".

"If IT staff do not update new things for only 3 years, they will be like ancient people," Minh said. IT staff who do not make an effort to learn and develop new skills will be eliminated quickly. After 30-35 years old, they will almost fall behind and have difficulty finding a job. Therefore, if an IT engineer works for a government agency for a few years, it will be very difficult to find a new job when he retires.

"The priority of young IT engineers is to learn new things and improve their skills. The state environment can hardly meet that demand," Minh said.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Xuan Vinh, 34, currently a software engineer for a technology company in Binh Thanh district, said he had never been interested in job opportunities in the public sector.

According to Mr. Vinh, there are many reasons why human resources in this industry are not interested in the state sector. First, salaries and benefits in the business sector are very high and competitive. Next, the characteristics of the IT industry require the use of English and multinational work. Engineers will find it easier to find a working environment in the private sector. Finally, the working environment is open, accepting change and difference for employees to choose.

In addition, the male engineer said that job opportunities in the public sector and the recruitment process are not widely publicized. This makes interested people somewhat hesitant because "they themselves do not really understand where they will work".

Having worked for many years in recruiting personnel for businesses, including those in the information technology sector, Mr. Le Quoc Khuong, Head of Recruitment and Human Resources Consulting Services at ManpowerGroup Vietnam, said that in terms of salary, benefits, welfare, flexible working environment, etc., the public sector finds it difficult to compete with the private sector.

"Even businesses are competing fiercely with each other to retain talent," said Mr. Khuong. It is forecasted that in the next 3-5 years, the demand for human resources in this industry will continue to increase by 20-25% per year due to the increasingly extensive digital transformation process of businesses.

The latest salary guide report from ManpowerGroup Vietnam and recent labor market reports show that for employees, the average monthly salary in the IT industry in Vietnam is from 20-50 million VND, this figure for management and senior expert positions is 80-150 million VND, and for technology directors it is up to 250 million VND.

Salaries are differentiated according to specific positions, the difference depends on domestic or foreign enterprises, industry and geographical location such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi will be higher than other localities.

Meanwhile, in the public sector, according to ManpowerGroup Vietnam, recruitment positions include system administrators, network security specialists, programmers, IT project managers, data analysts, and technical support specialists. The monthly salary for specialists ranges from VND5-10 million and for management positions from VND10-30 million. This figure will be higher if related to network security or important systems.

Regarding the working environment, IT personnel expect flexible working or remote working. The expected working time standard is a 4-5 day work week with no more than 40 hours per week. In addition to enjoying full benefits and regimes, personnel in the industry also expect to receive project-based bonuses, stock bonuses or shares in a technology startup company.

According to Mr. Khuong, an open working environment, creative culture and the opportunity to work with advanced technology are also highly appreciated by human resources in this industry when applying.

"However, despite its limitations compared to the private sector, the public sector still has advantages in attracting IT human resources," said Mr. Khuong. First is stability, less risk than the private sector; promotion opportunities come if there is long-term commitment.

In addition, public sector employees have the opportunity to buy social housing, receive accommodation support, and receive incentives to attract talent... The public sector needs to communicate strongly about these highlights to attract the right group of workers.

From a business perspective, Mr. Thai Quoc Dung, Director of Mesoneer Co., Ltd. - whose main field of activity is software manufacturing and outsourcing, believes that in order to compete with domestic and international enterprises, policies need to be improved and built based on the desires and expectations of human resources in this industry and the constant changes in technology. For example, at Mesoneer, welfare policies are personalized, suitable for the desires and conditions of each individual such as working remotely, focusing on the quality of life, time spent with employees' families, comfortable working environment, etc.

"The public sector can interact and visit businesses to see the differences, thereby building appropriate policies and gradually eliminating the gap between the public and private sectors," Mr. Dung proposed.

In addition, Mesoneer's leader said that to solve the problem of human resource shortage, the government can consider cooperating with information technology enterprises in the digital transformation process.

The government only needs a coordinator, businesses with qualified, skilled, and familiar human resources will carry out projects quickly, save time, and be more effective. The government organizes public bidding to find suitable businesses.

Meanwhile, engineer Thanh Minh said that to attract young human resources, there needs to be a clear strategy to help them access new technologies. The government can coordinate with schools to design quality training programs aimed at students from top IT schools and attract them when they graduate.

According to Mr. Xuan Vinh, in addition to seeking full-time human resources, the government should research open source programs and part-time collaboration so that IT human resources can contribute skills to the public sector. This helps human resources not be tied down but the government does not have to spend as much money as full-time employees.

"We are always willing to voluntarily contribute our skills and expertise to projects that benefit society," Vinh said.