Hanoi (VNA) - Human resources in the information technology (IT)sector have been head-hunted in large numbers by both Vietnamese and foreign employerssince the beginning of this year.

Japan remains a magnet for Vietnamese IT engineers. A quarterly survey conductedby the Japan Information Technology Service Industry Association (JISA) revealedthat the country is short of nearly 800,000 IT engineers and 80 percent ofJapanese enterprises are willing to recruit foreign workers.

Junko Kawauchi, Deputy Head of JISA’s International CooperationDivision, said that 95 percent of respondent enterprises said they would engageVietnamese engineers but 80 percent of these require Japanese languageproficiency at the N1 and N2 levels.

Meanwhile, the Republic of Korea’s Samsung Group recently invested anadditional 300 million USD in research and development in Vietnam and will require4,000 more IT employees in the time ahead.

LG has recruited 1,500 engineers, technicians, and workers to work at theLG Display Vietnam Factory. Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL), one of the threelargest tech companies in India, has developed a centre in Ho Chi Minh City and will require10,000 more engineers over the next five years.

Axon Enterprise, one of the leading US firms developing technology for lawenforcement, is also keen on developing technology in the city.

“Strong investment in IT is being seen in Vietnam,” said Nguyen HuuBinh, CEO of TopDev. “Leading tech companies from India, the RoK, Japan, andthe US are working with us to implement large IT projects and they have a pressingneed to attract young human resources in Vietnam.”

In addition, since the beginning of this year, many Vietnamese tech firmssuch as the Nexttech Group, BKAV, TDT, IBG, beGroup, and CMC Global have said theyplan to recruit more IT engineers.

CMC Global, forexample, has a plan to engage 5,000 high-quality IT engineers; a ten-foldincrease compared with the current figure.

According to the latest report from the Navigos Group, more than 90percent of IT enterprises in Vietnam wish to engage more staff and expand theirbusiness after the pandemic is brought to an end.

Half said they need to expand staff numbers by 11 to 20 percent, while aquarter need to expand by 21 to 30 percent.

The report also showed that demand for IT engineers in the first quarterof 2020 grew 7 percent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, a report from TopDev noted that Vietnam needs over 400,000 ITengineers in 2020 and 500,000 in 2021./.