During the COVID-19 epidemic, large technology companies have benefited “hugely” from the boom in online spending and remote working. But in 2023, many of these businesses report disappointing growth rates. Leaders of technology companies say that they are expanding too quickly and are looking for ways to cut costs in the context of a risky economic situation.
In January, a series of technology “giants”, in turn, announced the reduction of tens of thousands of employees. As Alphabet – the parent company of Google, announced it would lay off 12,000 employees, or six per cent of the global workforce. 11,000 employees of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, were also laid off. Microsoft, Amazon, and IBM laid off tens of thousands of employees in total.
Asia’s other tech firms are not exempt from this wave either. In the past few months, the staff of GoTo Group (Indonesia), Carousell, Foodpanda (Singapore), Kakao, and Naver (Korea) have been drastically reduced.
Information technology (IT) engineers claim that the majority of tech enterprises in Vietnam outsource their work. Therefore, many domestic enterprises are more or less impacted as well when global technology corporations “have problems”.
Mr. D.T., a 30-year-old IT engineer from Bac Ninh, Vietnam, just lost his job. He was very surprised by this because Mr. T. spent three years working for a well-known Vietnamese e-commerce company. Entering 2023, many domestic enterprises are affected by the world economic crisis. Forcing them to restructure and shrink some parts. And the department of Mr. T. was also cut.
According to this IT engineer, years ago, the information technology industry was dubbed the “king” compared to many professions. Always “thirst” for personnel and attract people with income much higher than the average salary.
After leaving his job, Mr. T. continued to apply for a leading technology company in Vietnam. Through grasping, he realised that many of his friends were in the same situation. Even many people spent two months looking for a job but still had not found a “stop”.
Also Read: Is remote work the answer to tech’s layoffs?
If before, after the interview, Mr. T. was always accepted to work very quickly, now each vacancy has many competitive candidates. “Through my journey of applying for a job, I have met many people in the same situation who have been streamlined like me and have also been more competitive when applying for jobs. However, job opportunities with human resources in this industry are always open if you have the skills,” Mr. T. shared.
A needle in a haystack image applies to finding qualified IT personnel
A company that offers human resource recruitment services in Vietnam, Navigos Group, observed that e-commerce businesses grew popular during the Covid-19 pandemic. During this time, there is a huge need for human resources in the technological sector. Because of this, Navigos Group has forecasted that there will be layoffs starting at the end of 2022 when the previous massive hiring volume causes the number of technology engineers to become too high.
However, throughout the first few months of the year, this unit found little evidence of company layoffs, particularly in the e-commerce sector.
Assessing the IT staffing needs of businesses today, according to Navigos Group, all industries in Vietnam need to apply information technology and digital transformation, so there is still a need to recruit technology staff.
Vietnamese technology personnel before the wave of layoffs in the world
The Operational Director of Outsourcing and Labor Outsourcing Services in the South (Manpower Group Vietnam) Nguyen Xuan Son, said that, under the impact of the wave of technological layoffs taking place in developed countries, the market Vietnamese recruitment schools are also affected.
But in reality, the technology industry is very broad, being concerned with the research, development, and/or distribution of technology-based goods and services. It also includes businesses that revolve around the manufacture of electronic equipment, the manufacture of software, computers, or information technology-related products and services.
According to Mr. Son, currently, many businesses and industries in Vietnam are increasing the application of information technology and digital transformation after the pandemic, while high-quality technology human resources are scarce.
Therefore, the domestic technology recruitment market, in contrast to the world, is active and highly competitive. ManpowerGroup VN is still receiving many orders to recruit personnel to build the information technology development apparatus.
“For the time being, domestic tech workers are still highly sought after and sought after. But to avoid rejection or changing recruitment trends in the future (which is currently witnessed in major countries) In the world), IT workers not only need to continuously hone and update their professional knowledge and skills but also have to foster soft skills, said Mr. Son.
Also Read: A tech worker’s 2023 recession game plan
According to this position, only in this way will they have good job opportunities, be employed for a long time, and keep their jobs when the market narrows the recruitment demand.
Does layoff offer a challenge or opportunity?
Indeed, the wave of layoffs presents both opportunities and challenges for workers in particular and the Vietnamese labour market in general.
Vietnam, in recent years, has always been considered a “fatty” investment market to optimise/save costs. Therefore, a series of foreign enterprises, including Japan, have been actively expanding their scale in Vietnam. Therefore, this is an opportunity for workers shortly.
By definition, the cause of layoffs is not a performance issue but rather a problem with the internal hiring plan. This leads to redundancy of personnel, waste of resources, and company costs.
For the layoffs that are going strong in 2023, being prepared for and facing a potential layoff wave is an important step in minimising the negative impact on yourself.
While challenging, layoffs can also be seen as an opportunity to seek growth and advancement in your career. It is important to stay positive, flexible, and ready to adapt to changes.
Also, always keep in mind that support from family, friends, and other resources is important to get through this difficult time.
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