Career Orientation

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The second type of career orientation is the more common definition. This refers to an individual's job preferences and choices, or the way he or she orients him or herself in her career throughout her life. Many individuals naturally develop a pattern of job preferences based on not just their interests, but on the way they prefer to work. Each of these personality aspects can help to make up a career orientation.

- The importance of orientation:

Career orientation plays an enormous role in deciding the future of a student. As all know, career orientation is a pattern of job choosing, depending on the personalities, and the interests of the student. In the nowadays world, with so many career choices and information overload, it is rather hard for a graduate to pick a job of their interest without any form of influences. Under such circumstances, any student can, and could make a mistake without realizing about it. At first, the problem is small and therefore, unnoticed; but with time goes on, the mistakes that were made in the past now become threads to the employees. They might fell unhappy, unsatisfied with the job that they had, they might see themselves deserved more than just sitting in a desk with piles and piles of paperwork. If the situation continue, they would feel fluctuate, and then rethink about their decisions in early life, disoriented and questioning themselves whether they were right or wrong, wising that they could go back in time to fix everything.

Career orientation will help people to avoid such terrible prospects happen to anyone. It will helps graduates to decide for themselves which career should they choose, and to see if it suit their characters and interests or not.

Career orientation tests are frequently given in high school to assist students in preparing for their future, and to begin deciding what career paths they want to pursue in college. Of course, adults who want to change course, or who feel dissatisfied in their jobs, are free to take career orientation tests as well. There are a number of them available for free online, or they may be accessed at libraries or other career resource centers. Individuals who pursue a career that meshes well with their personalities and desires for a working environment tend to be the most successful, so it can certainly be beneficial to try.

- Problems

- Situations.

According to a research conducted by University of Social Sciences & University - Vietnam National University, Hanoi (USSH - VNU), most of asked students have not got a specific orientation for their career after graduating. 70% of them answered that they “have thought about a career but do not have much information about its system and orientation”. Because they do not know exactly what they will do in the future, students have not known what skills and knowledge they have to prepare in their studies.

- The reason for problems.

Dr. Trinh Van Tung, senior lecturer of USSH, said that: the reason for these problems is, students have not got correct career orientation, they are only oriented to study some majors which are easy to pass and get a bachelor’s degree. Therefore, after graduating, although they have a little knowledge, students still have difficulties in determining a suitable career for themselves. All in all, it is hard for them to be white-collar or blue-collar workers.

- Solutions

- Common directions.

- Provide better Vocational Education generally known as career and technical education, which prepares high school students for basic information and knowledge at various level from a trade, craft, and technician to high professional such as engineering, accountant, nursing, etc.

Vocational Education should be now at all levels of national education from primary school, secondary school to further education.

For example, in Germany a law (the Berufsausbildungsgesetz) was passed in 1969 which regulated and unified the vocational training system and codified the shared responsibility of the state, the unions, associations and chambers of trade and industry. The system is very popular in modern Germany: in 2001, two thirds of young people aged under 22 began an apprenticeship, and 78% of them completed it, meaning that approximately 51% of all young people under 22 have completed an apprenticeship. One in three companies offered apprenticeships in 2003; in 2004 the government signed a pledge with industrial unions that all companies except very small ones must take on apprentices.

- Introduce more details about all the majors at the university so that freshmen can check out which majors are suitable to them. University can be more flexible in freshmen ‘wishes of changing majors if they want to change majors.

- Hold more Talk shows and Workshops with the aim of provide more information about current labor market as well as make the interactions between employers and university students.

Major findings

- How is the state of career-orientation among AEP students nowadays?

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From the bar chart of career orientation, there is more than a half choosing 'Yes' giving that they have already determined their future career. Therefore, it is obvious that over half of the interviewed students know about their job in the future. However when compared to the chart below showing the percentage of students whether they understand the academic knowledge in terms of practical uses and theory with 40.9% of the students do not completely, or partially understand the academic knowledge in terms of practical uses and theory. It may inform that knowing the future career doesn’t mean they prepare for that as lack of academic knowledge and skills. The fact is that the rate of unemployment among graduate students overall are quite high nowadays.

According to Vietnam Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs report 2014, more than 162 000 university graduates failed to find jobs in the first quarter of 2014.

The latest figure of unemployment is equivalent to 4.14 percent of the total number of university and post-graduate students in 2014.

Moreover, the quantity of student that hasn’t determined the future is quite high about 18 students, in the total of 45 interviews. It is very alarming in case of highly completive market labor