BAT Vietnam and UNESCO to foster young talents

BAT Vietnam and the UNESCO’s Center for Culture and Education start Talent Hub Grand Recruitment programme (Talent Hub 2016). Photo: Quoc Vu

The programme is run by Today’s Voice of the UNESCO Center for Culture and Education, in collaboration with the G.A.P Institute. Talent Hub’s aim is to recruit and build up a community of young Vietnamese talents who are ready to work for enterprises at the time of global integration. British-American Tobacco Vietnam (BAT Vietnam) is the strategic partner of UNESCO through the Talent Hub 2016 programme.

Vietnam’s productivity has been 20 times lower than Singapore’s, according to the latest announcement of the Central Institute for Economic Management, in its report on Vietnam’s labour productivity from 1992-2015.

The Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) said Vietnamese human resources’ (HR) quality and structure have critical shortcomings, reflected in the increasing trained worker unemployment rate: from 18.6 per cent in 2010 to 40 per cent in 2014.

Jean-Jacques Walravens, general manager of BAT East Asia Area, delivered speech at young talent connection of the BAT’s Global Graduate Programme. Photo: Anh Sa

According to CIEM, with their low labour productivity, Vietnamese workers may stand to lose big in the forthcoming free-trade era. The free movement of workers in the ASEAN region – in keeping with the tenets of the ASEAN Economic Community – is a great concern.

To address this, the Talent Hub, which runs from October 2016 to March 2017, intends to find the top students out of 1,000 outstanding candidates, through five rounds of training.

Candidates will get great awards, including scholarships worth VND200 million ($8,800), and chances to study and work abroad to acquire practical experience. Those who make it through the selection round of Talent Hub 2016 will be entered into the second round of the BAT Global Graduate Programme.

Dao Le Duyen, BAT’s director of Human Resources (middle, blue jacket) took photos with students and speakers after a seminar on human resources Photo: Minh Quan

With their rich experience and deep devotion to developing young talent, BAT and the Talent Hub have jointly developed training courses and business consultation, so that the Talent Hub community will be equipped with extensive practical knowledge even before embarking on a career.

According to Jean-Jacques Walravens, general manager of BAT in East Asia, through the partnership with UNESCO, BAT Vietnam wishes to develop young talents and bring them opportunities to access knowledge and skills that will help them to better engage in the imminent open labour market.

“To us, people are the most valuable asset and critical factor for BAT Vietnam’s success. As part of a global company, we want to join hands with UNESCO to build up and develop young Vietnamese talents,” Walravens said.

BAT has gained recognition for its emphasis on HR’s role in society. In September, BAT Vietnam was honoured with the “Manpower Planning and Resourcing” award at the Vietnam HR Awards 2016. The award was co-organised by Talentnet and the Labour and Social Affairs Newspaper, aiming to honour the best people in management strategy.