High-class personnel demand on the rise  The demand for high ranking staff in 2014 is believed to be extremely high in the consumer goods, pharmacy, consumer lending, retailing and chemicals production sectors.   According to VietnamWorks, the demand for middle-class personnel would be the highest, about 74 percent of the total demand, while the demand for high ranking staff (managers, directors, CEOs) would be some 21 percent. A survey of the firm showed that in 2013, the production sector needed most high ranking workers (19.6 percent), followed by the tourism, restaurant and hotel (8.9 percent). The firm has affirmed that the demand would be higher in 2014. However, the job market reports all have pointed out the big difficulties in finding suitable candidates for employers. JobStreet in Vietnam said it is very difficult to find high ranking managers in Vietnam, because of the lack of the foreign language skills of the candidates with high professional qualifications and because of the high turnover rate. In principle, the high ranking officers are very demanding in salaries, allowances and job promotion opportunities. They would give up the current jobs to take the new ones which offer better pay and more opportunities. Therefore, VietnamWorks has recommended the employers to offer reasonable preferences to key staff. Meanwhile, according to Talentnet, in the context of the economic difficulties, the available candidates cannot meet the expectations by the employers. Therefore, the solution for a lot of domestic big businesses is hiring foreign personnel for the key posts. However, Talentnet has noted that the solution is not as perfect as initially thought. The big difference in the business culture between the foreign personnel and Vietnamese workers, the lack of understanding about the Vietnamese business practice and the lack of the relationships with the government agencies, partners and contractors all have put difficulties for the foreign workers. While Vietnamese enterprises tend to hire foreigners to manage business, foreign invested enterprises tend to employ Vietnamese workers to “localize” their workforce and save costs. However, they are meeting a lot of difficulties in the workforce localization strategy because few Vietnamese candidates can satisfy the requirements set by them. VietnamWorks believes that in 2014, marketing-sale, high technology, electronics, service, restaurant & hotel would be the sectors that most need workers. The firm has noted that the predicted strong investment waves from Japan and South Korea would lead to the higher demand for the information technology and polytechnic workers. Hanoi is believed to be the city where it is easier to find jobs than HCM City due to the lower competition rates, i.e. fewer candidates for the same posts. Talentnet has agreed that high technologies, insurance, pharmacy and consumer goods would be the business fields with the highest demands for workers. A survey by the State Bank’s Statistics and Forecasting Department in the first quarter of 2014 has found that 40 percent of commercial banks said they are lacking staff and planning to employ more workers in 2014. The others said the current workforce is sufficient for their operation, but added that they may employ more workers in the future as the banking sector is recovering. Kim Chi, VietNamNet Bridge