Ho Chi Minh City college students are taking advantage of the summer break to do seasonal jobs in order to gain experience and save money for the next school year.

Nguyen Duc Bao, a sports major, has just been recruited as a security guard and parking attendant at a mobile phone shop in Thu Duc District for almost VND2 million (US$95) a month.

In the meantime another student, Le Van Thuan, earns a little more – VND2.2 million ($105) per month – as a chef assistant at a seafood restaurant in nearby District 2.

“I will find one more job to do on the side so that I can save enough money for tuition and a field trip next school year,” Thuan said.

Nguyen Thi My Hanh, a third-year student at the University of Economics – Ho Chi Minh City, was recruited as a waitress at a restaurant for foreigners in District 1 early this month.

Hanh works eight hours a day in shifts and earns VND2.6 million ($124) a month, a decent salary for a student in the city.

Jobs like this can help improve her time management and English skills, the girl said.

With her strong command of Japanese, Do Hoai Nho is paid VND23,000 (more than $1) an hour by a Japanese language teaching center in Binh Thanh District, where she is assigned to receive phone calls and translate for visitors.

“It was tough for me at first because Japanese is a hard language,” Nho, a foreign trade student, said. “But I made it through after a few days and my Japanese has improved a lot since.”

Thanks to her lecturer’s recommendation, Nguyen Dieu Hien, a junior at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Culture, gets VND150,000 ($7) an hour from teaching kids to play the piano and organ at a music school in District 3.

“I earn a little more than my friends in other fields, as more children are sent to the school in summer,” Hien said.

These students see their jobs as opportunities to get more life experience and acquire further skills outside their discipline so as to better prepare for the future.  

In Vietnam an academic year begins in late August or early September, and summer break often starts in late May or early June, depending on the college.