Many young people do not understand and "position" themselves when choosing a career.

Sharing with TG&VN Newspaper, Dr. Cu Van Trung, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Education Consulting and Training Joint Stock Company, said that many young people have not yet positioned themselves, and do not really understand their own abilities when pursuing a certain field of study.

TS. Cù Văn Trung: Không ít người trẻ chưa thấu hiểu, 'định vị' được bản thân khi chọn nghề

Dr. Cu Van Trung believes that many young people do not understand and 'position' themselves when choosing a career. (Photo: NCVV)

Many young people have not "positioned" themselves.

According to you, what are the problems students often encounter in their career choices?

When young, it is difficult for them to choose the right career for themselves right away. This problem is understood as "age comes with awareness", growing up and maturing must go with the years. It is difficult to expect young people to choose a career without mistakes, some even have to go through several jobs before finding the right one.

Through my work and interactions with young people, I see that many people choose their career based on the market, their parents’ preferences, their temporary feelings, or the popularity of the industry. Some people follow that industry because they see it is popular, hot, or newly opened. Some people listen to their parents’ opinions that they should become teachers, nurses, pharmacists, so they study pedagogy, medicine, etc. Some people can study any major, as long as they are students of a major university.

That is, they have not positioned themselves, have not truly understood their own abilities when pursuing a certain field of study. This leads to long-term mistakes, waste of resources, initial excitement is quickly replaced by boredom and neglect. As a result, a group of young people study to finish, but when they graduate, it is difficult to find a good job because they are not trained in the profession they want and thirst for knowledge.

In the context of the current heavy emphasis on university admission and diploma preference, what should we pay attention to in career orientation, sir?

In my opinion, the mentality of preferring degrees will persist for a long time, still as heavy as a “golden hoop” that is always present in the psychology of many generations. The job of young people in the future is to gradually loosen that circle of prejudice, to create conditions for young people to change direction and follow many different paths, professions, and fields.

In fact, the mentality of being obsessed with degrees, wanting children to go to university and finding every way, advising them in every way, investing money to review and practice for their children to get into university has caused many talents to be stunted. Many students have talent, ability, and strength in a field and can become the elite, the pinnacle of a certain profession, but if they are not properly directed and oriented to a career, the possibility of success is not high. They may just be an amateur, unprofessional, or can only be "mediocre" in the career field oriented by their parents and find it difficult to shine on the path to establishing a career.

"I have only one piece of advice for young people: choosing a career must truly come from freedom of thought, independence in action and self-respect in life."

With great efforts over the past years of the Ministry of Education and Training; Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs, that situation has had many positive changes. Society gradually values people with skills and the ability to work practically in a proficient and competent manner compared to people with many degrees but are slow, clumsy and heavily academic and bookish.

Of course, to reduce the disease of achievement, it is necessary to continue to propagate and liberate the old thinking to the majority of people in society, it is necessary to focus on spreading this issue to teachers in secondary and high schools across the country. Teachers are the ones who understand the importance of strengths and weaknesses in each student as well as the level and capacity of the students they are in charge of, thereby advising them in choosing a career.

In my opinion, teachers are like messengers of inspiration, fanning the flames of aspiration for the career dreams that students desire. At the same time, it is the students themselves who will contribute to the opposite impact, shaking and changing the perception and prejudice of many parents about the current degree-oriented mindset.

Changing perceptions of achievement disease

Universities are springing up like mushrooms after the rain, with varying degrees of quality. If you are not qualified enough to enter a reputable, long-standing university, you should study at a vocational school. However, it seems that the obsession with degrees has not decreased and this has a significant impact on the career choices of young people today?

In our country, there is no shortage of sayings such as “first is scholar, second is farmer, one person becomes an official, the whole family benefits; men read books and recite poems, study hard to wait for the great exams, first is to be proud, then is to show off” (glory)… Thus, Vietnamese people highly value the role of educated people, teachers.

In the past 35 years, the professions in society have returned to their true value. The issue of profession has helped us perceive more clearly in the overall spectrum of the country's socio-economic situation. Nowadays, everything is easier than before, with many opportunities for workers to choose from. That said, changing a habit, a way of thinking of us Vietnamese people requires time.

The disease of being obsessed with degrees and formalities still exists. Therefore, we need a community to speak up and make efforts to awaken the majority so that the problem of vocational training and the mindset of being obsessed with degrees will be overcome in the future.

Even I myself have been asked many times about when I will become an Associate Professor or a Professor. The idea of "shopping" and "decorating" myself with some label seems to be a habit of many people. They think that adding more academic titles and degrees will multiply my value.

"When young people reach the capacity to become master craftsmen, golden hands, the essence of the profession, beauty comes from labor, from work. That beauty has the power to attract and give confidence to the other person. The products of a highly skilled person made by them are very valuable and that value can be sold in a very competitive market."

In reality, this is not the case, because currently, some individuals with high degrees are still not commensurate with the degrees they have. The press has also mentioned a lot about the large number of PhDs and Masters in our country, but the quality of research works and scientific topics with high applicability is still... absent.

If a young person came to you for advice because they were still wondering whether to choose vocational training, what would you say?

I think it is important to know why young people want to learn a profession, whether it is because of family economic pressure or poor academic performance that they have to change careers or because they like a certain career. And whether the young person has researched that career, where to find out, who told them… All of these things show the seriousness or superficiality of a young person who is wondering about choosing a career.

I have only one piece of advice for young people: choosing a profession must truly come from freedom of thought, independence in action and self-respect in life. Think about whether the decision to learn a profession depends on others or yourself, whether you like it or not. If you like it, you decide, if you find it suitable for your ability, level and strengths, then boldly follow it.

Independent people will grow up and overcome many difficulties and incidents in life. Self-respect comes naturally because they dare to make decisions and take responsibility. They can pursue to the end to protect their passionate career. They are people with identity, quality and will attract others later when working in the profession.

Looking outside, we can see that in Germany and England, farmers there are very confident about the sausages they make, the radishes they pickle… They do not hesitate or feel ashamed about manual labor or cooking. That is, when young people reach the capacity to become master craftsmen, golden hands, the quintessence of the profession, the beauty comes from labor, from work. That beauty has the power to attract and give confidence to the other person. The products of a skilled person made by them are very valuable and that value can be sold in a very competitive market.

Thank you!

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