TTLV: Career entry strategies for young workers

MASTER'S THESIS INFORMATION

1. Student's full name:Trinh Thu Huong                           

2. Gender: Female

3. Date of birth: October 3, 1990

4. Place of birth: Hai Phong

5. Student recognition decision No. 3683/2015/QD-XHNV-SDH dated December 31, 2015 of the President of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

6. Changes in training process: No

7. Thesis topic name:Career entry strategies for young workers.

8. Major: Psychology Code: 60.31.04.01

9. Scientific instructor:Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Thi Hong Thai

10. Summary of thesis results:

Based on theoretical and practical research on young workers' career entry strategies, the research topic "Young workers' career entry strategies" approaches two major contents: job search behaviors of young workers and positive behaviors at work when these workers are recruited to work for a specific organization.

The job search behavior of young workers is expressed through their preparations before applying for a job, about the process in which workers search for a job: when does it start? What are the sources of recruitment information they access? The factors that they think will cause obstacles in the job application process as well as how they prepare to overcome those difficulties, and about the expectations for the job they intend to find. The survey results show that young workers in this study were conscious of preparing themselves with the necessary information before applying for a job through the following behavioral patterns: "finding information about jobs and organizations"; "finding job search experience"; "determining goals and sources of information about jobs" and "building a network of relationships". In which, the behavioral patterns in the group of finding information about jobs and organizations received the highest positivity from the research subjects.

Regarding the job search process, the majority of young workers in this study started looking for jobs while they were still students through various sources of recruitment information such as newspapers, radio, flyers, internet, agency websites or job fairs and the most accessible source of information was referrals from friends and relatives. There were many factors identified as causing many obstacles for workers when applying for jobs such as "difficulties related to soft skills and external support"; "difficulties related to training"; "difficulties arising from personal abilities and market demand" and "difficulties related to personal characteristics". The subjects expressed the highest level of apprehension with factors related to their own abilities and market demand for their majors. However, they also had a certain awareness in preparing behaviors to overcome these difficulties through many different types of behaviors such as "lowering standards for work and organization" for all the given difficult factors and especially showing a very strong positive attitude in the type of behavior "improving personal capacity and seeking external help" for some difficulties related to soft skills and difficulties related to personal characteristics of workers. For factors that are assessed as important for workers to choose a job such as "suitability of the job to personal desires and professional development ability"; "financial development opportunities in the job" or "suitability between the job and the wishes of relatives", the group of factors related to "financial development opportunities" and the group "choosing a job suitable for oneself and professional development ability" had the highest scores. Through this, we can see what the needs of employees are when approaching work as well as the organization. This is also very important for organizations to understand the motivation of employees to work, thereby building measures to stimulate and motivate their employees so that they can perform their work most effectively, contributing to the long-term development of the organization.

Regarding the way to be accepted into a labor organization, the study showed that, on average, young workers in the study had to spend nearly a year searching for the job they wanted, with about three applications to different organizations, mainly through the form of exams and through acquaintances. Regarding the work experience of the subjects in this study, most of them were their first jobs, with a maximum working time of five years. This study showed a fairly strong correlation when examining the correlation between the factors that young workers consider important in choosing a job and the reality of the suitability of their desires after being recruited into an organization. The results showed that the more realistic the assessment of key factors and the more realistic the determination of their desires, the more it will help workers avoid disappointment and difficulty adapting in the early stages of entering the profession.

Young workers' positive work behaviors are expressed through four types of behaviors: "building professional relationships"; "perceiving situations in a positive way"; "managing oneself" and "seeking information related to work". The research results show that young workers have very positive perceptions in implementing positive behaviors in their work activities when entering an organization. In which, the group of behaviors that perceive situations in a positive way received the highest level of response from the subjects in the research. Instead of facing new problems, difficulties, challenges such as obstacles, reduced motivation, they consider them as career opportunities, challenges that need to be conquered to improve themselves as well as gain recognition from those around them. This shows that young workers in this study have a very open, modern approach to problems and keep up with the general development trend. When measuring the level of time to master the work and the support in the work, the workers in this study took on average more than half a year to be able to master the work and when encountering difficulties in the work, they often have many different sources to seek help such as managers, colleagues, themselves or find ways to solve it themselves. The survey results show that these subjects mainly seek support from colleagues, those who perform the same work content with them with the highest selection rate. This is completely consistent with reality because colleagues are the closest people in the work, peers, and undertake similar work content, so they can understand and provide professional support in the most thorough and effective way.

11. Practical application:

The research results of the thesis are a useful reference for young workers in general and students in particular to help them have appropriate strategies to achieve their desired jobs. In addition, managers also have a practical view to provide solutions to help and improve the quality of their organization's labor.

12. Further research directions:

If we have the conditions and time, we will research the topic further with the impact from the organization on the career entry strategy of young workers and the relationship between work and personal life of each worker.

13. Published works related to the thesis: None

MASTER'S THESIS INFORMATION

1. Full Name: Trinh Thu Huong 2. Gender: Female

3. DOB: 3^rdOctober 1990 4. Place of birth: Hai Phong

5. Admission decision number: No. 3683/2015/QD-XHNV-SDH issued on December 31, 2015 by Dean of University of Social Sciences & Humanities, Vietnam National University.

6. Changes in academic process: None

7. Thesis title: Young people's tragedy on acceding to professional life

8. Major: Psycology Code: 60.31.04.01

9. Supervisor: Ass. Prof., Dr. Bui Thi Hong Thai

10. Summary of the thesis' findings:

Based on theoretical and practical research on young people's strategy on acceding professional life, the thesis named “Young people's strategy on acceding to professional life” approaches two main tenors which are young people's behaviors to look for jobs and positive behaviors at work when these young people are recruited into a specific organization.

Young people's behaviors to look for jobs are demonstrated by their preparations before job search and job search process: What is the starting point? Where do they get the vacancies information from? What are the challenges they might face in the job search and how have they prepare to overcome? And what are their job's expectations? The research findings show that the young people in this research are aware of the preparations of information before applying for jobs via such types of behaviors as “looking for organizational information and vacancy information”; “looking for job search experience”; “defining interviewees and job information” and “building relationship network”. Among all, the behavioral type of looking for organizational information and vacancy information receives highest positivity from research interviewees.

Regarding job searching process, most of the young peole in this thesis begin their job search in student life via various recruitment channels such as media, leaflet, internet, official websites or job fair, and the most reliable information channels are family and friends' reference. There are some factors considered as challenges for young people in looking for jobs which include “soft skills and external support challenge”, “training challenge”, “self competencies and market demand challenge” and “personal characteristics challenge”. The interviewees show their most concern for the challenge about self competencies and market demand on their educated profession. However, they are aware of preparations to overcome these challenges through many different behaviors such as “lowering expectations for job and organization” for all the stated challenges and especially shows their positivity in “improving self competencies and looking for external support” for some challenges related to soft skills and personal characteristics.

For the factors which are considered to be important for young people's job selection such as “matching with personal expectations and professional development opportunities”; “financial improvement opportunities in the job” or “matches between job and relatives' expectations”, the groups of “financial improvement opportunities in the job” and “matching with personal expectations and professional development opportunities” get the higest points. This helps to explain people's interest when approaching the job and organization. It is also important for organization to understand employee's motivations so that they can develop measures to encourage them to work effectively and contribute to the sustainable growth of the organization.

Regarding the way of being selected by work organization, the research shows that, in order to be selected to the desired job, it takes young people a year on average for the searching with at least three job applications to different organizations mainly via public selection process or personal connection. Regarding job experience, it is the first job for the most interviewees with working time no longer than 5 years. The research shows a strong correlation between the factors that young people consider to be important to choose a job and the fit to their expectations after recruiting into an organization. Based on the findings, the fact that key factors are properly evaluated and positive expectations are based on reality will prevent people from feeling dispirited, unadaptable in the first stage of their career path.

Young people's positive behaviors at work include four types of behaviors: “building work relationship”; “looing at circumstances in a positive way”; “managing self” and “looking for work-related information”. The research shows that the young people are willing to behave positively at work when joining an organization. The behavior type of looing at circumstances in a positive way receive most responses from interviewees, instead of seeing issues, difficulties, challenges as trouble, demotivation, they consider those as career opportunities and challenges that need to be conquered to improve themselves and gain credits from others. It shows that young people in this research possess an open, modern approach that matches the common development trend. When measuring the time to self manage and support at work, the people in this research need around half a year to be self managed when facing work issues, they usually find support from different resources such as managers, co-workers, or try to resolve it by themselves. The findings also show the option that interviewees seek for support from co-workers who work in the same role are most selected. It absolutely matches with normal practices because co-workers are the closest people at work, at the same level, doing the same job so they can understand and provide professional support in the most effective way.

11. Practical applicability:

This thesis' findings can be used as a useful reference for young people in general and students in particular to help them develop a proper strategy to obtain their desired job. Besides, it also provides practical views for managers to provide support and improve work quality of their organization.

12. Further research directions:

Deeper research about the organization's impact on young people's trategy on acceding to professional life and the relationship between work and personal life will be carried out if time permits.

13. Thesis-related publication: No