News and Events

The demand for temporary workers for the coming Tet (Lunar New Year) festival in HCM City has picked up over the last fortnight, giving students an opportunity to earn some money and gain valuable experience.

The HCM City Student Assistance Centre (SAC) and the YES-Centre, which act as intermediaries between students and employers, are each receiving about 100-200 students a day looking for part-time jobs during the Tet season, the Nguoi Lao Dong (The Labourer) newspaper reported.

Students at colleges and universities have nearly finished their examinations at present and have been actively seeking part-time jobs during the Tet season as the wages now were higher than during normal days, the report said.

Ho Van Hieu, a first year student of the HCM City University of Natural Sciences, who came to the SAC office looking for a job, said: "I want to take this opportunity to earn more money to pay my tuition and buy Tet gifts for my parents."

Doan Nguyen An, a third year student of the HCM City College of Industrial Economics, chose a part-time job as a salesperson at the Lotte Mart supermarket.

An said he chose this work because he wanted to improve his communication skills and learn more about the psychology of customers.

"These things will benefit me in later jobs," said An, who is majoring in business management.

Meanwhile, the demand for temporary workers for Tet, the country's biggest shopping season, has increased compared to last year.

Nguyen Trong Hoang, head of the SAC's Student Life and Assistance Division, said the centre's programme of introducing part time jobs during Tet has been open for one month now and 4,000 part-time jobs have been offered, up 30 per cent against the same period last year.

Most part-time jobs for Tet, which falls on January 23, are in gift packaging, house cleaning, sales and security.

Nguyen Van Sang, deputy director of the YES-Centre, said the demand for temporary workers for this Tet at his centre has increased by 20-30 per cent against last year.

However, the salaries have only increased by 5-10 per cent compared to last year, Sang said.

The salary of part-time jobs on offer is between VND100,000 – 200,000 a day.

This year there was no offer of high salaries of VND500,000 a day as there had been last year, Sang said.

Besides the salary, employers would also give lunch money and bonuses for students if they do their jobs well, he added.