Local firms pay highly for foreign managers

Employees who earn monthly pay of VND60 to nearly VND200 million per month are very rare in Vietnam but these are the levels that some Vietnamese employers pay their foreign employees.

Tam Thanh Thien Trang, Deputy Director of the NetViet human resource development company, said that so far this year, especially in August and September, the need for foreign employees of Vietnamese companies suddenly soared.

Nhan Quoc Vinh, director of the headhunting division of L&A company, said: “Around 10% of the total positions that our clients (companies) want are for foreigners.” Each month, L&A seeks 60 personnel who are foreigners and overseas Vietnamese for their clients. Most of those positions are executive managers and financial managers.

Vietnamese companies, mainly real estate and project management units, often hunt executive managers, financial managers.

Ly Quy Trung, founding member and General Director of the Pho 24 group, said that in the next five years, Pho 24 would increase the number of pho restaurants from 60 to 100 in Vietnam and from 8 to hundreds abroad. That’s the reason Pho 24 has employed Alan Ainsworth, a British man who is experienced in restaurant management, as its manager for 3 months.

According to the Deputy Director of NetViet, the average salary for a foreigner manager is between $4,000 to $6,000 per month and up to $12,000 for some special positions, plus car and house hiring fees and school fees for their children.

However, the source of foreign labour in Vietnam is still scarce. The representative of an employment service company in HCM City said that this company could meet less than 20% of the demand for foreign employees of domestic companies.

Some labour recruiters say that many foreigners often work for Vietnamese firms for 3-6 months or 1 year only. The reasons are gaps of culture, environment, communications, and working style. In some cases, local companies offer high pay but after that they lower the pay. Another reason is that foreign managers are under high pressure as Vietnamese business owners place high hopes on them.

Overseas Vietnamese are more favoured than foreigners because they can speak both Vietnamese and English and are familiar with Vietnamese culture.

Apart from overseas Vietnamese and foreigners, Vietnamese who study abroad are also in great demand.

Four years ago, the PACE Education Group had three foreign employees who assumed key positions. It currently has one more female executive manager who is a foreigner. Apart from foreign managers, PACE plans to have 100% of its Vietnamese managers trained to international standards.

Gian Tu Trung, the founder of PACE, said that there were two recruitment trends: localising managers who meet international standards and internationalising Vietnamese staff by inviting foreigners, overseas Vietnamese and Vietnamese who study abroad.

However, according to Trung, both Vietnamese and foreign firms in Vietnam aim to internationalise Vietnamese staff.

source: http://english.vietnamnet.vn/biz/2007/10/750796/