The State’s Orientation Towards the Integration of Human Resource So That Vietnamese People Can Work Everywhere

Viet Nam has been actively participating in the regional and global integration. It has created favorable conditions for Vietnamese workers to work everywhere. However, Vietnamese workers are facing certain limitations including foreign language proficiency, skills and knowledge of cultures of other countries, etc. In order to have Vietnamese people easily find jobs in foreign countries, international organizations and firms, the Government of Viet Nam need to give orientations and solutions to ensure the essential conditions for Vietnamese workers.


Introduction
Since Doi Moi, Viet Nam has been proactive in integrating regionally and globally. By February, 2020, Viet Nam has signed thirteen FTA. Twelve of which have come to effect. Viet Nam is negotiating three other FTAs (Appendix 1). Moreover, the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) was officially formed in 31 December, 2015, including 10 countries with more than 630 million people, whose labor force accounts for more than 50% (approximately 322 million people). Viet Nam is currently a member of several international organizations such as WB, IMF, ADB, UNICEF. Viet Nam is currently an ideal destination for foreign investment. Many Vietnamese and foreign experts have forecasted that Viet Nam might become the new "world manufacturer" in coming years.
All of the above means that the labor market will no longer have national borders. Professional Vietnamese workers will have opportunities to find jobs according to their abilities and needs in other countries or to work for international organizations located oversea or in Viet Nam. However, in order to do so, Vietnamese workers must meet certain minimum conditions. Besides, the Government of Viet Nam needs a clear orientation for human resources to ensure these conditions.

Methodology and Data Sources
This article employs synthesis, statistical analysis, interpretation and inductive research methods.
The data used in this article is secondary data provided by publicly available sources, such as: (1) A survey conducted by Alphabet in June 2016, study conducted by Education First (EF), an international education organization specializing in language instruction, tourism combined with education, cultural exchange, and other academic programs, published by the South East Asian ADN Association in 2014;

Overview of the essential conditions for Vietnamese people to be able to work anywhere
According to a survey conducted by Alphabet in June 2016 (American Polytechnic College 2019), three factors that determine the success rate for job interviews include: (i) positive attitude; (ii) good skills; and (iii) good knowledge.
Large enterprises highly respect a positive attitude. 93% of enterprises consider this criterion for recruitment. Attitude reflects the tendency of employees to react to the working environment, associated with cognition, emotions and behaviors. Positive attitudes such as eagerness to learn, dynamism, enthusiasm, passion for challenges and hard work are always appreciated by employers. Working attitude is closely related to labor discipline.
Skills are the factor that 46.3% of enterprises expect. The capacity to master a task is referred to as skills. Currently, skills are divided into two groups: technical skills and soft skills. Soft skills include communication and presentation skills, teamwork skills, creative thinking, innovation, working and learning adaptability in the global environment.
37.2% of enterprises based on knowledge when recruiting their employees. Knowledge is defined as the ability to collect data, understand problems, apply know-how, analyze information. These are fundamental skills a person must possess to well perform a job. The more complex the task is, the higher level of knowledge is required. The knowledge will be put into practice based on the unique traits of each business and organization. In addition to common knowledge, businesses and organizations are more interested in professional knowledge (76.7%) than grades (32.6%). Furthermore, in order to work for an international organization or work abroad, some of the following conditions must be met such as foreign language proficiency, knowledge of the host countries' cultures and laws; knowledge or the working culture and regulations of foreign businesses/organizations and fitness/health.
The ability to communicate in a foreign language is essential for those who want to work abroad. According to a poll conducted by Alphabet, 69.8% of Vietnamese enterprises are interested in candidates who can speak a foreign language fluently (usually English). 100% of international firms look for candidates with good foreign language proficiency when recruiting Vietnamese people.
Vietnamese workers face significant challenges due to their lack of knowledge or comprehension of the host country's culture and laws, as well as the enterprises' culture and rules. This lack of understanding is often the basis of many problems and difficulties in the workplace and in workers' lives (for example, in Bulgaria, shaking your head is nodding in Viet Nam and vice versa; in Europe, rubbing heads of other people is a friendly gesture, however in Viet Nam it is considered disrespectful).
Health is also a crucial factor. Even if all of the other conditions are in place, without good health, employees will not be able to work effectively. As a result, many organizations pay close attention to the health of their staff while hiring new employees. For example, many enterprises set a minimum height as a criterion for recruitment.
In summary, Vietnamese people must meet at least the following essential characteristics in order to work effectively everywhere, particularly in foreign countries and international organizations: (i) possessing foreign language proficiency; (ii) having good working knowledge, skills, and attitude; (iii) having an understanding of the host country's culture and laws, as well as the culture and regulations of the organizations or enterprises where they work; (iv) in good physical condition/health.

Language proficiency
English is now widely regarded as an international language. Vietnamese people must acquire English or local language fluency at a level that supports good job performance when working in foreign nations or international organizations. According to study conducted by EF, people that utilize English effectively usually have a higher standard of living.
Vietnamese people's English competence is on par with the global average. Vietnam has slipped from 41 st place in 2018 to 52 nd place in 2019. Source: Suong (2019) In recent years, the English proficiency of Vietnamese people has been declining. The lack of English is a major obstacle for Vietnamese people to obtain a job abroad and in international organizations. It also has a detrimental impact on the country's overall growth.

Knowledge, skills, and working attitude
This short article cannot thoroughly analyze the knowledge, skills and working attitudes of the Vietnamese workforce, but only briefly/generally outlines a few points as follows: -Although the percentage of Vietnamese workers with professional and technical qualifications has increased every year, it is very slow and still accounts for a small percentage (see Figure 7 below). Vietnamese workers are thought to have high basic knowledge and rapid awareness, but not specialized knowledge. -Although Vietnamese people usually have adequate knowledge, they often lack technical skills. Knowledge is the ability to fathom. Skills are the ability to apply and practice. When it comes to the comprehension capability, Vietnamese people excel. The results of the OECD's PISA assessment, which has been conducted for many years, have consistently shown that Vietnamese students are among the world's top 10 to 20 in terms of math and science. However, according to the survey made by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2018, Vietnamese students can workers hardly meet the job requirements. Viet Nam ranked 110 in the WEF survey, which was lower than that of Laos and Cambodia, the two countries which are considered less developed than Viet Nam. This is an alarming result showing that there is a huge gap between knowledge and skills in the Vietnamese work force (Dan 2020). -The education and training in Viet Nam lack programs/activities to improve leaners' skillset. As a result, Vietnamese workers take a long time to adjust to their new work environment. This is one of the reasons for the fact that Vietnamese workers often have low salary and find it difficult to join the international work force. -Labor discipline is generally poor. Vietnamese workers seem to lack working discipline in a multicultural environment. These weakness hampers Vietnamese people to get a job abroad or in international organizations.  foreign is limited to stereotypes. Therefore, many Vietnamese workers in foreign countries suffer challenges in their daily lives as a result of misunderstanding cultural differences as well as a lack of knowledge of foreign laws.

(iv) Health
There are many criteria for assessing human fitness such as height, weight, endurance, disease frequency and so on. Apparently, Vietnamese people are much shorter than foreign people. Source: Hoan (2015) According to World Population Magazine, the average height of Vietnamese people is 162.1 cm, lower than that of Cambodia (162.5 cm).
Young Vietnamese men are currently 164.4 cm tall, 8 cm shorter than Japanese men and 10 cm shorter than Korean men. An average Vietnamese woman is 153.5 cm tall, 10 cm shorter than the general standard. Vietnamese people have grown taller in the last 30 years, although at a sluggish rate. In the last ten years, they have only grown one centimeter taller.
A study from the National Institute of Nutrition found that the number of persons with hypertension in Vietnam has climbed by more than 1.5 times in the last five years (2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018), while the number of diabetes cases has increased by more than 200 percent. In just ten years, Vietnam's obesity rate has risen to 15.6 percent (see Figure  10 below).

Figure 10: A few common diseases
Source : Vietnam Television (2018) In general, Vietnamese workers are not physically fit in comparison with foreign workers. Vietnamese laborers frequently only work with short concentration span, fatigue rapidly (Ministry of Labour -Invalids and Social Affairs 2019) due to their lack of physical strength and endurance. It is obvious that fitness is another issue that Vietnamese workers must address if they want to work overseas.

Requirements
In the coming period, in order for Vietnamese workers to be able to work everywhere, human resource development needs to comply with the following requirements: 1. First, Viet Nam must have enough human resources capable of working in international organizations, multinational corporations and countries which have good relations with Vietnam, especially economic relations. 2. Second, Vietnamese workers must highly adaptable to the unpredictable and rapid changes of the regional and world situation and are capable of devising innovative solutions in the context of the industrial revolution 4.0. 3. Third, Vietnamese workers must be qualified enough to participate responsibly and effectively with the regional and international communities to solve global problems (Prime Minister 2011a, 2011b).

General orientation
First, rapidly and forcefully renovate the state management apparatus and human resource development policies.
The human development management apparatus should be improved and completed. The management method should be renewed to enhance the effectiveness of the human development management apparatus. Besides, it is crucial to strengthen the coordination among all levels, sectors and people involving in the human development process. Drastically renew human development policies (such as employment, wage, insurance and social protection) with a focus on policies for high-quality human resources and talents.

Second, financial resources for human development must be ensured.
It is necessary to increase investment in human resource development both by absolute term and by proportion in the total investment. Develop a plan on allocating the state budget focusing on education programs and trainings in accordance with priority objectives. Renovate the support mechanism from the state budget for human resource development by switching from supporting the suppliers to directly supporting the beneficiaries. Increase the mobilization of capital sources for human development from all economic sectors, including foreign capital (such as ODA, FDI and NGOs capital) by promoting socialization.

Third, strongly renew education and training
This topic has received a lot of attention in recent years. Within the scope of this article, the writer only emphasizes the following two issues: 1. An autonomous mechanism for educational and training institutions outside the general education must be implemented promptly and firmly. Universities and vocational training institutes must be autonomous regarding finance, organization, personnel and curriculum. 2. Resolute transformation of the teaching and learning process is required. Switching from passive learning, which consists just of receiving information, to active learning, which includes both gaining information and being creative in learning and expressing learners' ideas. Implement a procedure in which students are allowed to assess (score) teachers at the end of each semester. Anyone who receives a score below the average should not be allowed to tech.

A few specific orientations
1. Enhance foreign language training/education, particularly English. First and foremost, it is critical to effectively implement the Prime Minister's Project on teaching and learning foreign languages in the national education system for the period of 2017-2025, which focuses on implementing the following contents: (i) promulgating and deploying foreign language teaching programs and materials; (ii) innovative testing and assessment in foreign language teaching and learning based in international standard; (iii) increase the number and quality of foreign language teachers; (iv) promote the application of information technology to improve the condition for teaching and learning foreign language; (v) promote communication, international cooperation to build effective foreign language teaching and learning environment; (vi) propose authoritative agency to promulgate mechanism, policies, regulations related to teaching and learning foreign languages; and (vii) promote socialization in teaching and learning foreign language (Prime Minister 2017). 2. Develop educational and training content, programs, and techniques that meet international standards.
Promote mutual recognition of training programs, diplomas, and certifications between Vietnam and other nations. Assess and maintain training quality in accordance with international standards (Hoan 2015). 3. Implement feasible policies to attract talented and experienced lecturers and scientists who are Vietnamese living abroad and foreigners into the human resource development process in Vietnam. 4. Increase the practice time and decrease the theoretical teaching time in order to focus on skill training for learners, particularly in vocational institutions. For general training and vocational training, modern and up-to-date equipment is required. 5. Strengthen education and keep abreast of international law, legislation, and culture of countries where many Vietnamese people work or where Vietnam's prospective labor markets are.
6. Increase physical education to improve health/fitness for Vietnamese workers. Effectively implement the National Strategy to protect, care, and improve public health during 2011 -2020 period, orientation towards 2030 and the Vietnam Health Program. The implementation should focus on the following issues: (i) the authorities at all levels need to be active in making plans and allocate budget to implement the strategy/program; (ii) enhance the responsibility of central and local authorities in coordinating the execution the policies and activities of the Vietnam Health Program within the scope of their respective domains; (iii) formulating and implementing policies and legal regulations on risk management, health promotion, and disease prevention; (iv) strictly implement the Laws on control of tobacco harms and promote food safety; review and implement mechanism and policies to promote the production, distribution and consumption of healthy and nutritious food; (v) provide the people with public areas and sport facilities; and (vi) promote public transport and non-motorized traffic (Prime Minister 2013 and Prime Minister 2018).