This guest post was written by “Hien Nguyen”, a Vietnamese student studying in Country X.  Hien explains some of the reasons why a significant percentage of young Vietnamese make the fateful decision to emigrate, to the benefit of their host country and, in some respects, to the loss of their home country.  (I say “in some respects” but emigration is not a zero-sum game.  Emigrants can benefit their home countries in a variety of ways, including remittances, investments, expertise and charitable donations.)

In addition to reasons related to culture and business culture, many students choose to remain in their host countries because of job opportunities and higher salaries.  Hien is currently working as an intern at a local company.  This post is one response to contributing factors related to this search engine term that recently brought one netizen to my blog:  how many vietnamese students stay in usa after study in america.  For “America” you can insert some other countries in which Vietnamese students have settled, including Australia, Canada, France and Germany.  Hien’s story is similar to these posts from earlier this year and 2012:

• Of Emigration, Brain Drain & Brain Gain: Some Reflections
• To Emigrate or Not to Emigrate, That is The Question (With Apologies to Mr. Shakespeare)

MAA

As far as I know, there is no “Sons and Daughters Program” here, so I think people are treated more fairly in organizations. In Vietnam, if you are a relative of someone with power, your chance of getting a job or getting promoted will be much higher; therefore, it is not the ability that counts, it is the relationship (i.e., in Vietnam).

The second thing I notice is the friendly, open-to-idea and non-judgmental working environment here. In Vietnam, the pressure to conform is too big, while here it does not really matter what your position is.  My current boss is a manager, but she is really friendly and she is always ready to listen to my talking (even if it is just about my days at school or my exams). My co-workers treat me really well even though I am much younger than they. Sometimes in Vietnam, people with more experience tend to look down on younger than people (though it is not true for every case).

I haven’t had any experience working in a company in Vietnam, but from my conversations with people who work there (even people working in big companies), most of them are unhappy with their jobs and their salaries. I am afraid that I might experience the same unhappy feelings if I work back home. I think I have had enough pressure in life so more pressure from work will just make me a grumpy, unhappy person.

Vietnam is changing with more foreign people coming to work in the country and they bring with them American (and other) working styles to organizations. You, for example, create a very friendly and comfortable working environment for Capstone Vietnam staff (I really like coming to Capstone because everyone in your office makes me feel welcome and comfortable). However, for most cases, many intrinsic problems still exist and the organizational culture is not likely to change much in the near future.  Hopefully, things will be different and the situation will improve!

Hien