Many Ho Chi Minh City graduates, fresh out of vocational schools and junior colleges, now resort to buying work experience instead of gaining it to qualify for admission exams at undergraduate levels.
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| The trading of a work experience certificate between two men, with the one the right being the 'supplier' |
Đ.M.T., one of them, wanted to bypass the regulation, so he ‘bought’ a stamped certificate that showed he had been an employee at a company in the city for a period of time at VND300,000 ($14.4).
“This document was issued by my own firm so I myself will answer any verifying calls from your future schools,” Thuy, who sold the certificate to T., assured him after the ‘transaction’.
As a ‘bonus,’ T. could at will fill in the amount of working time at the firm, whose address was not printed on the paper.
A college student told Tuoi Tre that it had cost him a similar amount, VND300,000, to purchase three years of professional experience from a man who specializes in selling work experience certificates.
T.V.K., who also bought a work experience certificate to qualify for university entrance exams, revealed that many of his classmates also use similar tactics to cut corners on the work experience requirement.
“With several hundred thousand dong, you can ‘buy’ as much professional experience as you want,” K. said.
Nguyen Van Ai, a business owner who signed many work experience certificates for free, said many students had paid companies to get this kind of certificates.
One student even worked with no pay for a month at a company in return for a certificate of one-year work experience there, an academic affairs official at a university in the city said.