TTLV: Strategies for young workers to enter professional life.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE MASTER'S THESIS

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. Decision on student admission No. 3683/2015/QD-XHNV-SDH dated December 31, 2015, by the Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

6. Changes in the training process: None

7. Thesis title:Strategies for young workers to enter the professional world.

8. Major: Psychology Code: 60.31.04.01

9. Scientific supervisor:Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Thi Hong Thai

10. Summary of the thesis results:

Based on theoretical and practical research on the career entry strategies of young workers, the research topic "Career Entry Strategies of Young Workers" addresses two major aspects: job-seeking behaviors of young workers and positive behaviors in the workplace once these workers are recruited into a specific organization.

The job-seeking behavior of young workers is manifested through their preparations before applying for jobs, the job search process: when do they start? where do they access recruitment information? what factors do they believe will hinder their job application process and how do they prepare to overcome those difficulties? and their expectations for the jobs they intend to seek. The survey results show that young workers in this study were conscious of preparing themselves with the necessary information before applying for jobs through the following behavioral patterns: "researching job and organization information"; "seeking job search experience"; "identifying goals and sources of job information"; and "building a network of relationships". Among these, the behavioral patterns related to researching the job and organization received the highest positive feedback from the research subjects.

Regarding the job search process, the majority of young workers in this study began their job search while still students through various recruitment sources such as newspapers, radio, flyers, the internet, company websites, and job fairs. Their most frequent source of information was referrals from friends and relatives. Several factors were identified as obstacles for job seekers, including "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 regarding factors related to their own abilities and market demand for their field of study. However, they also demonstrated a certain level of awareness in preparing to overcome these difficulties through various behavioral patterns, such as "lowering standards for work and organization" for all the presented difficulties, and especially showing a strong positive attitude in the behavior of "improving self-capacity and seeking external assistance" for some difficulties related to soft skills and difficulties related to the employee's personal characteristics. For factors considered important in an employee's job selection, such as "job suitability to personal desires and professional development potential," "financial development opportunities in the job," or "job suitability to family desires," the factors related to "financial development opportunities" and "choosing a job that suits oneself and professional development potential" scored the highest. This reveals the needs of employees when approaching a job or organization. It's also crucial for organizations to understand employee motivations, enabling them to develop strategies to stimulate and motivate employees, leading to more efficient work performance and contributing to the organization's long-term growth.

Regarding the process of being hired, the study showed that, on average, young workers in the study spent nearly a year searching for their desired job, submitting applications to different organizations approximately three times, primarily through competitive examinations and personal connections. In terms of work experience, most subjects in this study found their first jobs to be five years long. The study revealed a strong correlation between the factors young workers considered important in job selection and their actual suitability to their desired career path after being hired. The results indicate that the more accurately young workers assess their core factors and determine their desired career goals based on reality, the less disillusionment and difficulty they will experience in the initial stages of their professional lives.

Positive work behavior among young workers is demonstrated through four types of behavior: "building professional relationships"; "viewing the situation positively"; "self-management"; and "seeking job-related information." The research results show that young workers have very positive perceptions of their work behavior when entering an organization. Among these, the group of behaviors that view the situation positively received the highest level of support from the study participants. Instead of facing new, difficult, and challenging problems as obstacles or reduced motivation, they saw them as career opportunities and challenges to overcome in order to improve themselves and gain recognition from those around them. This indicates that the young workers in this study have a very open, modern approach to problem-solving and are keeping up with general development trends. When measuring the time it takes to master a job and the amount of assistance required, the workers in this study took an average of more than half a year to become self-reliant in their work. When encountering difficulties at work, they often sought help from various sources, such as managers, colleagues, themselves, or by trying to solve problems independently. The survey results showed that these subjects primarily sought support from colleagues—those who performed the same tasks—with the highest percentage of choices. This is entirely consistent with reality because colleagues are the closest people at work, at the same level, and responsible for similar tasks, thus able to understand and provide the most thorough and effective professional assistance.

11. Practical applications:

The research findings of this thesis serve as a useful reference for young workers in general, and students in particular, to help them develop appropriate strategies for securing their desired jobs. Furthermore, it provides managers with a practical perspective to develop solutions to improve the quality of their workforce.

12. Future research directions:

If conditions and time permit, we will further research the topic by examining the impact of organizations on the career entry strategies of young workers and the relationship between work and personal life for each worker.

13. Published works related to the thesis: None

MASTER'S THESIS INFORMATION

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

3. Date of Birth: 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