Career Transition for Workers from an Expert's Perspective

The Institute of Policy and Management had a conversation with Mr. Bach Ngoc Chien to spread the proactive spirit of workers facing major changes in future careers.
Reporter: Could you please tell us what skills and knowledge public sector workers need to prepare when changing careers from the public to the private sector?
Mr. Bach Ngoc Chien:The first thing that workers need to have when entering the career transition process is confidence – confidence in the knowledge, skills and experience accumulated during their time working in the public sector. Because most officials and civil servants have gone through a rigorous recruitment process and have been trained systematically and regularly. Those abilities can completely become a solid foundation for effective contribution in the new working environment.
The second luggage is the attitude of being ready to adapt to change. In previous administrative mergers, such as the merger of Ha Tay province into Hanoi, many public sector workers fell into a state of confusion, even feeling guilty when they thought they were being "eliminated". Inferiority and internal discrimination can become the biggest barrier. Therefore, proactively preparing mentally and seeing career change as a normal thing, even a new development opportunity, is extremely necessary.
The third provision is to equip oneself with knowledge and skills that are suitable for the requirements of the private sector – if one chooses to move to this environment. Workers need to proactively study, participate in training courses or improve their skills to improve their self-worth. When combining the existing strengths of the public sector with the standards and expectations of the private sector, workers can be more confident, adapt better and be ready to welcome new career opportunities in an open and effective manner. This is also one of the distinct advantages of public sector human resources after the streamlining of staff and administrative apparatus." Reporter: After the period of streamlining the apparatus and reducing staff, workers can switch from public to private, from the public sector to startups. In your opinion, what is the difference in these conversion options?
Mr. Bach Ngoc Chien: These are extremely different options, but in general, it is impossible to successfully switch while you are still hesitant. When working in any area, you need to pay attention to discipline, procedures, standards, and a diligent attitude towards work. Or as people often say, "attitude is not as good as qualifications".
If workers want to start a business, they need to pay attention to capital and resources. First of all, they need to have a unique and creative business idea or product to have a chance to start a successful business. If they offer the same products and services as others, it will be difficult to create a difference. Many people still confuse the choice between working and starting a business. For example, opening a coffee shop to start a business is different from selling sticky rice or bread. Startup products must have creativity and the potential to generate profits.
The key point of a startup is capital. Capital is very important because there will be a long period of spending capital, or we often hear the saying "snake eats its tail". Any business can enter the borrowing phase, needing financial resources to survive. Therefore, it is necessary to build financial projections for at least 5 years with many revenue and expenditure scenarios to have solutions suitable for each scenario. When I did my MBA project, I only calculated the loss of the business in the first year and the profit in the second year, the thesis was immediately returned by the lecturer because it was "absurd". Technology businesses can lose capital for 2-3 years or even longer. There are fields that lose up to 7-8 years, for example, investing in schools. Sometimes it takes 9-10 years to complete a cycle for the product to prove its value and generate profit. Startups need to be creative, unique, not follow trends and need to choose the right market segment.
People often say "Capital is not as good as talent", startups often encounter difficulties when they do not have collateral in the early stages when borrowing capital. Many startups are successful when they sell products early, can use revenue to cover expenses and create profits. As we know, Apple is a very successful technology corporation and they also have interesting financial principles. They extend the payment period to suppliers as long as possible and collect debts as quickly as possible. They can delay payment up to 03 months and require buyers to pay in the shortest time. From there, they can take advantage of other people's capital, turn around to focus on business development items. One of the very important factors is that if you start a business, you need to find suitable partners, people who are capable of constructive criticism. Many startups are initially successful but later lack unity and consensus, so they quickly go bankrupt and are separated. When starting a business, you should not rush things, but focus on building a solid legal foundation for the business. Partners in the early stages need to share benefits fairly.
As for workers who want to move to the private sector, my advice is to focus on work efficiency, be serious in cooperation and work hard. When accepting workers from the public sector, businesses themselves have to prepare for the retraining process. Reporter: You shared about “actively preparing your mind” for a career change, so in the journey of finding a new job door, have you ever felt “passive”, worried or pressured when looking for new job destinations? And how did you overcome it?
Mr. Bach Ngoc Chien: I don't think about being proactive or passive, when we have to find a job we are already proactive!
In 1997, I started working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After a week, I felt discouraged because the job was different from my previous job - proactive, flexible, with income and lots of experience. When I worked here, I spent all day using a typewriter to "produce" a document. But I typed quite slowly, sometimes taking the whole day while the person in charge only processed it within a few minutes. One day, I was frustrated, stopped halfway to work, and intended to turn around and go home and quit (although at that time, working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was extremely difficult). After a while of "mental struggle", I told myself: "If others can do it, I can do it too". And so I continued working and my work improved from then on. Since then, I have been a "changed person". At the most difficult times in life and at work, I thought that I could only rely on myself. I had to be confident, I had to "wind myself up" to have the motivation to move forward.
From a “pecking” person when typing on the computer, I was determined to learn to type with 10 fingers and later I became one of the fastest typists in the office. After the meeting, I also finished typing the minutes. It was a very simple skill that made me want to quit my job, but when I overcame it and improved this skill, I rose up. Another difficulty was being discriminated against. Some colleagues thought that I was a “Russian speaker with poor English”, an “outsider” because I did not study diplomacy. I asked to learn more English at the home of Mr. Luu Doan Huynh, a famous expert at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at that time. He saw that I was a “Russian speaker” so he put me in a class with students, one of whom was still in high school. But after a while, Mr. Huynh and his colleagues realized that my English was not as bad as they thought. I was even trusted and chosen to be the interpreter for the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at regular international press conferences in late 1998. At the end of 1999, I won a Master's scholarship in diplomacy and trade in Australia, and at that time no one called me an outsider anymore. The discrimination of some colleagues in the early stages gave me more motivation to strive. Thanks to my high motivation and eagerness to learn, from a low starting point when I first entered the industry, 10 years later I was appointed Deputy Director of Department.
I always keep in mind that there is no such thing as "easy job with high salary", whatever job you have, you must strive to earn, you must earn your reward.
Reporter: Among the workers who change careers, there are many middle-aged people. Do you think that this workforce will face many huge challenges after the period of streamlining the apparatus and reducing staff?
Mr. Bach Ngoc Chien:The average age of Vietnam is 79-80 years old, so middle-aged people have 30-40 years left to live. Therefore, they have to look at the length of their lives and find opportunities. People's attitudes are very important. You cannot use age to say that you cannot do it. That is the excuse of a loser. No matter what age you are, you need to strive. No one can have enough "dry food" to live a lifetime, because just a few small accidents can "burn up" all this dry food. Only a sustainable livelihood is very important. Even if you start changing careers at the age of 40-50, workers still need to maintain the same enthusiastic and eager attitude as when they were young. When you are young, you have many motivations, but when you are 40-50, you still have to live healthily and decently with a sustainable livelihood and take care of yourself. There is nothing better than a life of labor and work. I myself have never thought about retiring, working to make my life meaningful. Many people who retire at 60 years old are depressed because they do not work, go out or find entertainment but then feel bored and quickly get bored. The fun of working is to create value for life and have the motivation to develop yourself.
Reporter: What is your opinion on the current labor market and the impacts on career transition after streamlining the apparatus and staff?
Mr. Bach Ngoc Chien:It can be seen that the Vietnamese labor market is going through an unprecedented period of strong fluctuations, under the impact of both domestic and international factors. The US government's imposition of high reciprocal tariffs on Vietnamese goods is a typical example, which can lead to many businesses being forced to reduce production, even close or go bankrupt, leading to the risk of a series of workers losing their jobs. This is a period of major career transition on a national scale, affecting from senior leaders to workers at the lowest positions. In that context, the policy of valuing the private economy as a pillar of the national economy is expected to create positive changes, notably the emergence of many new businesses, thereby opening up many job opportunities for workers.
The rapid development of science, technology, and especially artificial intelligence (AI), is posing huge challenges to the labor market. Automation can lead to mass unemployment, even for routine or specialized jobs that can be replaced by machines and algorithms — for example, cashiers, accountants, lawyers, or even doctors. In some Amazon stores, the automated sales model has completely eliminated the role of cashiers, showing that the trend of replacing labor with technology is completely feasible.
In that context, an important challenge is the future of youth employment. In Vietnam, although the young workforce is abundant, most of them are still concentrated in low-knowledge jobs. Automation not only creates the risk of unemployment, but also poses an urgent requirement for each individual to proactively learn and update new knowledge and skills to adapt to change. Besides, there are still thoughts such as "If artificial intelligence (AI) can do everything, what can humans do?". In this context, focusing on developing a basic science foundation becomes even more important. In a recent speech, General Secretary To Lam emphasized the need to study advanced mathematics and train in basic sciences, so that learners can master basic principles and theories to apply to practical solutions.
The government needs to invest more heavily in education to help Vietnamese people have enough knowledge and courage to cope with future changes. In fact, it is in times of transition or crisis that self-training and self-development is the most sustainable path. Currently, many online learning platforms such as Coursera have opened up widespread learning opportunities, where many people have grown up and changed their lives thanks to the spirit of self-learning and continuous adaptation.
Reporter: What are your predictions about the career transition process taking place after the current period of streamlining the apparatus and staffing in Vietnam?
Mr. Bach Ngoc Chien:We have reason to be optimistic about the movements of the labor market, but it should not be a ridiculous optimism. In particular, the career transition process for workers in the public sector needs to be considered carefully. In my opinion, people and society always aim for better development. To survive, people need a livelihood and to adapt, each individual needs to have the motivation to live and work in accordance with the new circumstances.
Streamlining the apparatus and streamlining the payroll, if accompanied by appropriate support policies, can become a boost to promote individual development. It is important to identify risks to proactively deal with them, thereby determining the skills, knowledge or experience that need to be supplemented to adapt to changes in the labor market. Another positive point is that today's labor market is no longer limited to national boundaries. We are living in a global labor market where the gap in skill levels still exists but also creates many opportunities. I hope that Vietnamese people will not only be known through the service industry but also affirm their position in many other fields, especially engineering and technology.
Vietnamese people are very adaptable. New government policies are helping to open up more opportunities for lifelong learning and entrepreneurship, helping workers gradually reshape their roles in a rapidly changing world.
Reporter: Do you have any advice for young people today about choosing a career in the near future?
Mr. Bach Ngoc Chien: As a university student, you must be very proactive. Instead of waiting for the school to change or adjust the program, students must first have their own action plan, depending on each person's conditions. You should not follow the trend, but should develop your own abilities and strengths. From the school's side, you should create conditions for students to have opportunities and be encouraged to develop their abilities. A fairly common trend is that students rush to study majors that are considered "high-income", abandoning basic majors, especially social sciences. An interesting story is that most senior leaders of large corporations in the world study social sciences. Because all problems are related to people, technology needs to be oriented towards people, human values. My advice to students is not to choose a career based on trends but to choose a career based on their passion and strengths. Passion will give rise to creativity, so young people need to pursue their passion. Discipline is a very important asset for students because only discipline can change themselves. In addition, students need to pay attention to their health, improve their physical fitness and personal qualities to be able to face difficulties when entering life.
The young generation - especially students, regardless of their career, need to practice communication skills, especially speaking skills, as an important foundation to prepare for building a well-rounded person. A worrying reality is that many university graduates have very limited foreign language skills. This is a major barrier in the process of international integration and career development. Therefore, it is necessary to promote foreign language learning in and out of school, especially emphasizing the role of self-study and proactive spirit in learning, lifelong learning.

Mr. Bach Ngoc Chien is one of the few people who have held senior leadership positions in the public sector and successfully transitioned to the private sector. His career journey is a vivid demonstration of the ability to adapt, innovate and create new roles after a career transition.
Currently, Mr. Bach Ngoc Chien is the General Director of Vovinam Digital Company, Vice President of Vietnam Vovinam Federation and World Vovinam Federation.
Previously, he held key positions in the public sector, including:
- Specialist of Press and Information Department - Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- Press Attache - Embassy of Vietnam in the United States.
- Deputy Director of Foreign Policy Department - Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- Head of Foreign Television Department (VTV4) - Vietnam Television Station.
- Vice Chairman of Nam Dinh Provincial People's Committee.
- Vice President and General Secretary of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations.
From 2020 to 2023, he moved to the private education sector as Vice President of EQuest Education Group, in charge of strategic planning and communications.

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