Live Talk on Sustainable Career Orientation 5.0 - “Empowering Tomorrow”: Spreading Sustainable Career Orientation to more than 426,000 Students, Parents and Communities

Live Talk on Sustainable Career Orientation 5.0 - "Empowering Tomorrow" co-organized by University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) with VnExpress newspaper and Truong Nguoi Ta fanpage has attracted the attention of more than 426,000 students, parents, teachers, and the community. The program has successfully spread valuable information about sustainable career orientation in the 5.0 era, especially 4 "insights" for students to position themselves for a happy future career before choosing a university.

“5.0 – the era of a super smart society” will happen with a timeline determined to be 2035 or possibly earlier. The keywords "the rise of super technologies", "enhanced interaction between humans and machines", and "putting people at the center", etc. would explain this period.

The above trends impact humans, the labor market, and how universities design their programs. Therefore, choosing the right career and early career orientation before university is of paramount importance for middle and high school students.

In response to these issues, the Live Talk on Sustainable Career Orientation in the 5.0 era - "Empowering Tomorrow", with the participation of Assoc.Prof. Bui Quang Hung - Deputy Director of UEH; Ms. Pham Thi Phuong Khanh - Marketing Director of Navigos Group Vietnam; Assoc.Prof. Tran Ha Minh Quan - Director of UEH International School of Business (ISB) timely took place and attracted a large interested community. After 2 live broadcasts on all platforms on March 29 and 30, 2024, the program has attracted the attention of more than 426,000 students, parents, and teachers across the country. The Program Effectiveness Report can be found at LINK.

Accordingly, important messages about sustainable career orientation and secrets to choosing a career and school have been revealed by experts!

4 "insights" for students to position themselves for a happy future career before choosing a university

Choosing a career requires understandings of yourself

According to experts, the journey to choosing a major and building a sustainable career comes from understanding yourself. "Understanding yourself" emphasizes the need for students to regularly observe themselves and answer the question: What is my personal orientation? Fortes and interests may change over time, but personal inclinations are accumulated through experiences of studying, working, and connecting with the surrounding environment. For example, you are a rational or emotional person; like calculations or literature; like creativity or systematic processes; a comprehensive or meticulous person, etc.

Personal inclination is the foundation for students to choose an area and field of study, accumulate knowledge, skills, experience, and be more ready to enter their future career journey. Accompanying the students, UEH introduced the tool to help students test and determine their personal tendencies based on MBTI and Holland theory. The Zalo Mini App version can be experienced at the website.

Choosing a career requires understandings of the market

Understanding yourself is not enough. Students and parents should learn about the market.

In times of uncertainty, the rapidly changing world has eliminated some repetitive jobs that machines can replace, and at the same time, created many new jobs. Besides, employers in Society 5.0 appreciate analytical and creative thinking, AI & Big Data, and understandings of technology, user experience and user interface (UX/ UI) (according to the Future of Jobs Report by the World Economic Forum). Therefore, to adapt to uncertainty, young people need to understand which jobs may disappear in the future or will become a trend.

At the same time, it is necessary to clearly understand the "open" boundaries of job markets. For example, studying Human Resources (HR) Management, you can take on the positions: of Human Resources Specialist, Training and Development Specialist, Recruitment Specialist in the field of human resources. It is also possible to take on multi- and cross-disciplinary positions, beyond discipline boundaries such as Human Resources Management Specialist (linking between HR and Management), Human Resources Business Partner (HRBP) (linking between HR and areas such as Business, Marketing, Finance, etc.), Business Training Management (linking between HR - Training - Business), Job Evaluation Policy Specialist (linking between HR and Effective Management), Salary and Benefits Specialist, Salary Accountant (linking between HR and Accounting), Internal and Cultural Communication Specialist (linking between HR and Communications, Public Relations), etc.

Choosing a career should be based on the value of happiness

In the journey to a sustainable career, each person should determine the value of happiness that work brings them.

In fact, a career development journey includes three levels. The first is to find a job, that is, simply conquer a position that helps you cover your basic living expenses. This is the first need on the career journey. Second, employees begin to think about higher-level needs in the career they want to pursue, such as how they develop, whether they can progress every day, what the promotion path is, and the level of income growth, etc. Third, the last level, after working for a long time, high-level values are satisfied, employees will recognize the value of happiness at work (inner calling), that is, the meaning that job brings to you.

Understanding how universities prepare for careers in 5.0 era?

Besides the three "insights", students and parents need to understand how universities will respond to the new generation of learners, labor market trends, and especially the impact of times on the economic and social context.

Accordingly, global universities in general and UEH in particular approach education in 3 directions:

Firstly, accommodate students with the most necessary knowledge in the 5.0 labor market. At UEH, students will have to study 6 fundamental subjects in all fields: Data Science ; Soft Skills (teamwork and interaction skills); Entrepreneurship; Psychology ; Design Thinking (approaches to problem solving according to design thinking), and Sustainable Development (awareness and action).

Second, UEH designs programs in a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary direction. In a major, subjects are always integrated with others in the same field or other fields. Thereby, learners are equipped with diverse knowledge to have a multi-dimensional perspective to solve problems.

Thirdly, internationality is expressed in 3 aspects: programs instructed partially or completely in English; international learning environment with foreign exchange students and UEH students participating in exchanges at foreign schools; and curriculum imported from the top 100 universities in the world with adjustments to suit the Vietnamese market.

Understanding yourself, understanding the labor market, and thoroughly understanding the opportunities of modern higher education help students and parents take the first steps on their future career paths. A solid future needs to be created from what is right for them and based on multi-dimensional, comprehensive and trustworthy understandings. The talkshow on sustainable career orientation 5.0 i "Empowering Tomorrow" is the way UEH accompanies and helps the young generation position their future on this journey.

News and photos: UEH Department of Marketing and Communication