Vietnamese students fill niche at Japanese firms

Vietnam has been getting a lot of attention from Japanese companies thanks to its rising middle class and plans for large-scale development projects, such as nuclear power plants and railway systems. More and more Japanese companies are interested in hiring Vietnamese employees to do businesses in the country.

For such firms, there are potential employees already living in Japan, as an increasing number of students from Vietnam are studying here, helping to create a bridge between the two countries.

Last month, Tran Minh Hue, a postgraduate student at Kobe University, traveled all the way to Tokyo to attend a job event aimed exclusively at Vietnamese wanting to work for Japanese companies after completing their education this academic year.

The 28-year-old joined 15 other students who traveled to Shinagawa Ward from as far away as Fukushima and Kita-Kyushu. The event was unlike regular job fairs, where students visit booths for companies they are interested in. Instead, the Vietnamese sat at several desks and talked about themselves whenever they were approached by corporate recruiters.

"I'm a logical thinker and I'm comfortable speaking in front of others," Hue said in fluent Japanese during her presentation. She also discussed the variety of volunteer activities in which she has been engaged during her two years in Japan.

At the job event, the 16 students were brought together with four companies, with each interview session lasting 20 minutes.

Nguyen Manh Hung, a postgraduate student at Fukui University, said he wants to work in Japan "to take advantage of the cutting-edge knowledge I've acquired here." In the future, the 26-year-old added, "I hope to find a new business opportunity in my country and make it into something big."

The event was the second organized by G.A. Consultants Co. in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo. The first one took place in April and attracted 15 students. Since its establishment in 1995, the employment agency has helped bring together graduates of Vietnamese universities and Japanese companies. In 2008, it started a business focusing on the increasing number of Vietnamese studying in Japan.

The number of students from the country reached 3,199 last year, double the number recorded in 2004, according to the Japan Student Services Organization. Although they accounted for just 2.4 percent of the overall foreign student body of nearly 133,000, they have now formed the fourth-largest group after China, South Korea and Taiwan.

The two events attracted a total of nine companies--from information technology to construction and real estate--most of which are already doing businesses in Vietnam or are keen to do so.

At the June event, Yoshinori Tamaki, president of Saitama Prefecture-based car dealer GlobanNet Co., was looking for his firm's first foreign employee. "I'd like to start up a business there, probably beginning with a restaurant."

The president has spent a lot of time visiting Vietnam, during which time he has discovered attractive factors such as its growing population and political stability. "I've also found the people are hard-working and really smart," he added.

Osaka-based Fine Co. also was looking for a candidate to manage an office it plans to open in Vietnam next year. The diet supplement manufacturer has been inspired by the country's rich natural resources.

"We'd like to develop ingredients for our products there," Executive Vice President Nobutsuna Sasaki said. "In China, ingredients have been getting more and more expensive recently."

Hung started his job-hunting in February. One difficulty he is facing is "finding the information I want among so many companies in Japan," such as which ones want to hire foreign students.

Vietnamese students also tend to struggle with a lack of Japanese-language skills and the peculiar job-hunting practices in Japan--such as starting efforts more than a year before graduation--according to Dang Quang Duy, vice president of the Vietnamese Youths and Students Association in Japan (VYSA) and a postgraduate student at Tokyo Institute of Technology.

VYSA, formed in 2001, organizes job fairs and briefing sessions on how to find work, while also posting employment opportunities on its Web site.

"Most Vietnamese students in Japan want to work here for a while before going back home," said the 26-year-old, who has received a job offer from a major Japanese company.

Yet the reality is that many of them have had to go home because they cannot find a job here--a situation that Masaaki Ando, G.A.'s general manager, describes as a "shame" for the country.

To help the two events bring about as high "matching rates" as possible, G.A. screened its applicants, narrowing them down to 31--based on factors such as their Japanese-language skills and personalities--and taught them how to make proper presentations during interviews.

More than half of the interviewees advanced to the next round of screening, and some from the first event eventually received a job offer.

"Although they're brilliant and willing to work as a bridge between [Vietnam and] Japan, many of them haven't been given a chance to do so," he said. "I'd really like [more Japanese firms] to give them a chance."

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/language/20100715TDY15T02.htm