Attracting and Retaining Top Talent in Ho Chi Minh City
The Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee recently held a conference on studying and implementing the 2024 Topic: “Studying and Following Ho Chi Minh’s Ideology, Morality, and Style in Practicing Democracy, Strengthening Legal Culture, Ensuring Discipline; Attracting High-quality and Dedicated Human Resources in Building a Civilized, Modern, and Sentimental City”. Therefore, in addition to studying and following Uncle Ho’s example, attracting talented and dedicated individuals to Ho Chi Minh City is also a top priority.
Creating a Talent Pool from the Start
In the context of the digital age and globalization, especially during the implementation of Resolution 31/2022 of the Politburo and Resolution 98/2023 of the National Assembly, which introduce many new and challenging tasks, Ho Chi Minh City is particularly focused on building, developing, and attracting high-quality and dedicated human resources.
In recent years, Ho Chi Minh City has issued and implemented many appropriate policies and solutions to ensure that the workforce possesses the necessary moral standards, skills, and dedication for the public sector.
Nguyen Thi Hong Tham, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Internal Affairs, said that the city is implementing several policies to attract and recruit high-level skilled workers. Ho Chi Minh City has recruited outstanding students and young scientific professionals according to Decree 140/2017 of the Government. By the end of 2023, the city had conducted interviews for candidates who met the standards. The city plans to continue recruiting civil servants and officials in this group in the next phase.
“This is an important foundation for attracting and building human resources to serve the economic and social development goals of the city,” said Nguyen Thi Hong Tham.
For the first time, Ho Chi Minh City recruited 3 officials from outstanding students after 5 years of implementing Decree 140 – an important milestone in the city’s strategy to attract and develop high-quality human resources. The outstanding students who were recruited will be pioneers in further enhancing the quality of the city’s officials and civil servants.
In the near future, Ho Chi Minh City will continue to recruit according to Decree 140, expanding the target group based on the new policies issued by the People’s Council. Ho Chi Minh City ensures the employment of talented individuals and builds a workforce for public sector development that both nurtures and specializes, meeting the professional skills and attitudes required to serve the people and to build a sustainable development city.
As one of the three outstanding students recruited as a Secondary School Mathematics teacher at the III level by the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, 23-year-old student Luu Van Khoa said the city has more special preferential policies to attract and retain talented individuals. He stated that he would always strive and dedicate himself to the city’s education cause.
Expecting Breakthroughs
According to Nguyen Thi Hong Tham, from 2024, Ho Chi Minh City will apply new attractive policies that are higher than the period of 2018-2023 to attract talented individuals to work in the public sector, in accordance with the two resolutions of the People’s Council.
These are resolutions on income to attract experts, scientists, and individuals with special talents and a resolution on regulations concerning principles, standards, conditions, procedures, income, and other preferential policies to recruit civil servants and officials from outstanding graduates and individuals with high qualifications to work in the agencies and units of the Ho Chi Minh City political system.
Under this resolution, the income of experts, scientists, and individuals with special talents can reach up to 100 million VND per person per month. Supportive income for outstanding graduates and highly qualified individuals can be 2 to 4 times the basic salary in the region of Ho Chi Minh City. In addition, the city also offers many preferential policies to encourage research, innovation, and support in housing.
In the future, Ho Chi Minh City will establish selection boards and implement policies to ensure transparency, fairness, and objectivity. The city will carefully select the right number of experts, scientists, and individuals with special talents to meet the needs of the city.
Regarding the new policies, Nguyen Thi Hong Tham, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Internal Affairs, expects them to create a breakthrough in attracting and developing high-quality human resources. This also demonstrates the city’s openness and emphasis on employing intellectuals, especially young talents who are studying, living, and working abroad.
“These policies will gradually establish a foundation for Ho Chi Minh City to continue to attract and retain talent, contributing to the city’s development amidst the fourth industrial revolution and extensive international integration,” Nguyen Thi Hong Tham said hopefully.
Hoang The Ban, Director of the Vietnam-Japan Training and Technology Transfer Center at the High-Tech Training Center in Ho Chi Minh City, a city-attracted expert, believes that the policies recently issued by the city offer income levels that are comparable to developing countries. This will bring about attractive and wide-ranging opportunities not only for experts and scientists but also for the supporting staff who participate in projects.
Facilitating Career Development
Alongside the attraction, retaining talented individuals in the public sector is also a major focus for Ho Chi Minh City to prevent a “brain drain”. According to Nguyen Thi Hong Tham, the city is urgently completing the construction of the Operational Efficiency and Effectiveness Reform Project for the 2024-2030 period. This project will propose new policies to build a workforce of officials and civil servants with moral standards, talent, and dedication. In particular, it focuses on creating conditions for career development, creating work motivation, and encouraging innovative creativity, as well as promoting the capacity for innovation and proactive thinking of the high-quality labor force.
