Adecco Vietnam Releases Findings from the 5th Annual Career Survey of Children Living in Vietnam. This has revealed that being a Doctor is still the top choice among young respondents - similar to results from the same survey conducted in Thailand.

This career survey also shows that over 50% of the surveyed children picked Mathematics as their most favorite subject at school.

The survey – conducted by Adecco Vietnam, the Vietnamese subsidiary of the world’s leading staffing and human resources firm, asks children aged between 7 – 14 years-old five simple questions:

1. What do you want to be when you grow up? Why have you chosen this and how much do you expect to earn?

2. If you can live in any countries in the world, which one do you want to live most?

3. If you were the Prime Minister of Vietnam, what are the first three things you would do?

4. What is your most favorite subject at school?

5. What is the best/most enjoyable thing to do on weekends?

The survey has also been conducted in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and several other Asian countries.

Approximately a third of the surveyed children noted that they want to become a doctor when they grow up, showing that our children start thinking about good career choices at an early age. Those wanting to be a doctor had monthly salary expectations ranging from 300,000 VND right up to over 80 billion VND. Whereas others dream to become Teacher, Policeman, Fashion Designer and Chef; especially, a young boy hopes to become an explorer with an all-too-cute reason to “experience fear”, and a dream to save the environment from people’s damage.

Top Five “What do you want to be when you grow up” jobs as recognized in the surveys are:

1. Doctor

2. Teacher

3. Policeman

4. Fashion designer

5. Chef

Although often humorous in some of its findings, the survey indicates a serious side with many children wanting to support people in need when they grow up, such as healing the sick, conveying knowledge or protecting people, regardless of their career selection.

Another exciting point revealed from this year’s survey is that Vietnam ranked the top country to live in, followed up by Japan and the US.

While becoming the Prime Minister of Vietnam may be quite a daunting task for many adults, clearly, it can be quite fun for the children participating in this survey. When asked about the top three things they would do if they were fortunate enough to become the PM of Vietnam, the answers show how children look at the issues in society. Due to some big changes and challenges in education in recent years, children set their first priority after being PM is to look into these two areas. And, the second main task is protecting the environment.

1. Develop educational sector

2. Help poor people

3. Protect the environment

With the question “What is your most favorite subject at school?”, we can find which areas children feel most interested in, then nurture and orient them to start their career at an early stage. These answers are:

1. Mathematics

2. English

3. Computing

4. Science

For their best/most enjoyable weekend activities, the highest vote is spending time with their friends/families. This shows that they tend to be together with their families, relatives and friends.

This is the fifth year which Adecco Vietnam has conducted this survey which gives an insight into what the Vietnamese workforce of tomorrow thinks about the world they live in and their role in the future.

Tidarat Kanchanawat, Regional Director – Thailand and Vietnam, noted “This has been one of Adecco’s most interesting career surveys in Asian countries. The findings help us better understand our children’s career dream. Although they may appear as innocent dreams, they show how our children perceive the world around them and through this survey; we can support them in achieving those dreams.”