This is an excerpt of the interview with Ms Nguyen Thi Van Anh, Navigos Group’s Regional Director, Executive Search and Selection, about the trend of recruiting senior executives in Vietnam. She says Vietnam will face a serious shortage of CEO (Chief Executive Officer) in the next four years, and this will pose a huge challenge to organizations in need of Vietnamese talented executives.
Being a leader with profound experience in executive recruitment, according to you, what’s the biggest weakness of the local managers(from middle level upwards)?
In my opinion, the major weakness of Vietnamese executives (from middle level upwards) is a lack of necessary soft skills to be successful in their leadership roles.
These are, for example, the decision-making ability, the skills of motivating and delegating their staff. Being a leader means being able to achieve the business goals via leading other people. So the question here is how to make employees feel motivated so they can work effectively. Besides, the middle and senior level managers in Vietnam still lack necessary practical management knowledge and experience for the global integration period. This somehow lowers the competitive advantage of local middle and senior level managers compared to their foreign counterparts.
The solution to these challenges…
The management experience gap between local and foreign executives will be quickly narrowed down with Vietnam’s integration into the global economy. By involving directly in the management tasks, local managers will improve their management skills. Besides, they should improve their leadership skills by joining advanced training courses. There’s a current trend that foreign corporations operating in Vietnam invite well-known foreign experts and lecturers who help train their local managers on effective leadership skills.
One example is the “Route To The Top” conventions organiazed by VietnamWorks by January 2008. The conventions saw the impressive presentation of Michael A. Podolinsky, the leading speaker in Asia. The inspiring presentations on leadership skills were delivered to over 500 managers having 3-5 years of experience in Ho Chi Minh city and Hanoi. The conventions have received a lot of positive feedback from the participants as it addresses the key skills that Vietnamese managers at middle level still lack and help them overcome these challenges. The major skills include decision making, motivating and delegating staff etc.
In your opinion, will Vietnamese businesses need to recruit foreign CEOs?
At least Vietnam will continue facing a serious shortage of senior executives within the next four years as training can hardly provide enough executives on time to meet the increased demand. Thus, the truth is that within the next four years, Vietnam still needs foreign executives to overcome the shortage of senior employees, helping Vietnam to be more competitive on the world area.
Vietnam did have, does have and will have a certain demand of foreign labor force simply because we don’t have enough experienced experts. This problem is the same as other developing countries. The hiring of foreign executives will be beneficial in training Vietnamese managers who will have valuable chances to learn from their foreign experienced counterparts.
Ms Van Anh also revealed more than 80% of Vietnamese businesses are small and medium-sized enterprises. Most of these businesses are run with a family-centered style. As Vietnam is now a member of the WTO, the competition to get talented people will be fiercer. Hence, these local enterprises must improve their management style to stay in the business game, or they will lose this most valuable asset – their people.
