Vietnam is a rising dragon.
According to most estimates, its GDP increased by more than 7% in the past few years (pre-Covid19), beating most, if not all of its neighbours in Southeast Asia. Though its economy was hit by the novel Covid-19 at the start of 2020, the government in Vietnam has responded well by implementing swift and decisive actions to stem the contagion, earning well-spread praise from its neighbours.
Pre-Covid19, the youthful nature of its workforce attracted many companies and startups to set up their tech hub in Vietnam.
Companies such as Carousell, Ninjavan, and Grab from Singapore have a sizable developer teams working out of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
When aiming to follow in their footsteps, i.e., to hire some good tech talents or other manpower, there is a need to engage a top-notch recruitment firm or HR consultant. Without a manpower consulting & hiring firm to assist in your hiring process, more often than not, the speed of hiring will be slower and also, the risk of getting the wrong talent will be higher.
In the aim to search for the best recruiting firms, we have shortlisted a non-exhaustive list of recruiting firms in Vietnam to help in your search for your chosen manpower partner.
These are the notable headhunting, sourcing and HR firms in Vietnam, each with their own strengths and specialisations. We don’t claim nor purport to side with any.
- 9cv9
- Talentnet
- J-Job
- HR1 Vietnam
- Jellyfish HR
- JAC Recruitment
- HR Channels
- Getlinks
- First Recruitment Asia
- Vietsourcing
- Curran Daly & Associates
- Cekindo
- HR Strategy
- Worklink
- CxO
- Iconic Job
- Careerlink
- Topcareer
- Jobsrefer
The Covid-19 virus stuck us unexpectedly at the start of 2020 and with its advent, created a maelstorm of deep humanity crisis and widespread business pandemic.
We wrote this piece to compare prices and guarantee periods of the different HR firms in Vietnam. This helps companies all around the region to get the best hiring “bang” for their “buck”.
Additional factors to consider are:
- Does the Gross Annual Salary include a 13th month bonus?
- In the event of a non-replacement for the termination of candidate, is there a credit refund or cash refund?
There are some important disclaimers before you read further:
- We are from Jobsrefer Vietnam, a referral hiring tech platform.
- The judgement of hiring your HR and Headhunting provider rest solely on the company or on the reader of this article.
- The writer of this article and the affiliated company of the writer shall hold no responsibilities towards any mishaps or negative consequences either directly or indirectly caused by reading this article.
Ultimately, selecting the right HR partner firm is like choosing the right business partner just like any great business is powered by a great team of staffs, which depends on the HR partner firm’s attitude and aptitude (besides cost and risk considerations).
Some abbreviations to note before reading this article:
- Gross Monthly Salary: GMS
- Gross Annual Salary: GAS
9cv9 was birthed in 2016 to solve one issue: Help companies get the best talents in Vietnam. Since its pivot to focus on tech talents circa 2017 with its first client being the $46m-funded Honestbee (Source: Crunchbase), 9cv9 has not looked back as it has garnered more than 150+ clients in a short span of 2 years. Its client base comes from mainly Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Hong Kong, and of course, from Vietnam as well. Some of the big names in the business and startup world use 9cv9IT sourcing to enrich their tech team workforce in Vietnam. Plus, they are one of the most affordable sourcing and offshoring services in Vietnam.
Pricing: Starts from 12.5% of GAS (13th month salary included) or 1.5 times GMS, one time fee.
Guarantee Period: 3 months. If there is no replacement made, then a cash refund of 30% will be given.
Speciality: IT Sourcing (Frontend, Backend, UXUI, DevOps, etc).
Originated from PwC’s HR unit with its key management coming from PwC, Talentnet has over 20 years experience in the HR industry and has serviced many clients across different verticals. It also does Executive Search, Payroll & HR Outsourcing, and other job assessment tools. Some of its clients include: Bluescope, Global Cybersoft, Pernod Ricard Vietnam, etc.
Pricing:
- 14,000,000 VND to 25,000,000 VND: 2 times GMS or 16.7% of GAS
- <14,000,000 VND: 1.5 times GMS or 12.5% of GAS
Guarantee Period: If the candidate gets terminated, then a free replacement will happen. Otherwise, a credit refund will be applied towards subsequent hiring during the validity of the service contract. There is no cash refund.
- 14,000,000 VND to 25,000,000 VND: 60 calendar days
- <14,000,000 VND: 30 calendar days
Speciality: Varied. Multiple Industries.
Established since 2012, J-Job has offices in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Tokyo, Japan. It has roots that stems from Japan and has close links with several Japanese clients. Its services are Executive Search, talent assessment, customised solutions on recruitment and talent market reporting. They are reported to have insights on many industries, i.e., Communication, Health & Medicine, Information & Communication (ICT), Manufacturing, with more than 250,000 talent profiles.
Pricing: 20% of gross annual salary (12 months) or 2.4 times gross monthly salary, one time fee.
Gaurantee Period: 60 days. If the candidate gets terminated, then a free replacement will happen. Otherwise, a credit refund will be applied towards subsequent hiring during the validity of the service contract. There is no cash refund.
Speciality: Varied. Multiple Industries. Experience in finding talents for Japanese companies.
They are said to have 9 years experience with 3 offices in Vietnam and 40 consultants. They hire for a wide range of industries and sectors across Manufacturing, IT, F&B, etc. They also do other services such as Payroll, training, assessment, Out-placement and Advisory services. Some of their clients include: 3M, BMW, Total, BP.
Pricing: 16.7% of GAS or 2 times GMS, one time fee
Guarantee Period: 2 months. If the candidate gets terminated, then a free replacement will happen. Otherwise, a credit refund will be applied towards subsequent hiring within a 12 months period from the placement date. There is no cash refund.
Speciality: Varied. Multiple Industries
Established in 2013 from Japan, Jellyfish HR has offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, Vietnam, and Tokyo, Japan. Its services include in addition, hiring and recruitment of manpower in Japan for Vietnamese companies. It has two products under its belt, one of which is a IT portal to cater to the IT developer candidates and the other is a referral platform for Japanese speakers.
Pricing:
- If the candidate is Vietnamese, is 21.7% of gross annual salary or 2.6 times of gross monthly salary.
- If the candidate is Foreigner, it is 32.5% of gross annual salary or 3.9 times of gross monthly salary.
- If the service charge is less than 34m VND, the client has to pay a minimum of 34m VND.
Guarantee Period:
- Within 30 days of termination, the client can choose to get another free replacement or be refunded 80% of the service charge paid.
- From the 31st to the 60th day, the client can choose another free replacement or be refunded 50% of the service charge paid.
Speciality: Varied. Multiple Industries. Experience in finding talents for Japanese companies.
Possibly the oldest hiring company in Vietnam as it was founded in 1975 to support Japanese companies in expanding their business in UK. Since then, it has open up more offices inSingapore, followed by other countries in Asia. As of Jan 2019, JAC Recruitment is present in 11 countries and 26 offices. It started its Vietnamese operations since 2013 with its offices located in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Its services include: Recruitment and Management Consulting Services. It has sourced experienced local personnels, and multilingual personnels in Asia for companies.
Pricing: It follows a tiered pricing based on the gross monthly salary
- GMS: if below 21,000,000 VND, the fee is 54,600,000 VND (min.charge)
- GMS: if 21,000,000 VND– 41,999,999 VND, the fee is 20% of GAS
- GMS: if 42,000,000 VND to 62,999,999 VND, the fee is 25% of GAS
- GMS: if 63,000,000 VND & above, the fee is 30% of GAS
Overseas placement from Vietnam to another country is levied a fee of 30% of GAS and all GAS (include 13th month salary and all other perks and benefits).
Gaurantee Period: Within one month of termination, a refund of 75% will be given. Less than 3 months of termination, a refund of 50% will be given.
Speciality: Varied. Multiple Industries. Experienced in finding talents for companies in Asia.
HR Channels has 11 years of experience in the field and has served clients such as Coca-cola, P&G, Redbull, GM, etc to find talents in Vietnam. Its services include Executive Search, Post Jobs Online, Temp and Contract Staffing, Training and Business Restructuring Services.
Pricing: 20% of GAS or 2.4 months times GMS. If the service fee is lower than 25,000,000 VND the service fee will be 25,000,000 VND. Gross Salary includes 13th month salary and all allowances
Guarantee period: 60 days. A free replacement policy kicks in in the event of the termination of candidates. If no replacement is found after 60 days of the notice of termination, a credit refund is given based on:
- If the original candidate left within 30 days, a refund of 50% will be given.
- If the candidate got termianted from the 31st day to the 60th day, a refund of 30% of the fee paid will be given.
- The refund shall be transferred to cover the next candidate.
Speciality: Varied. Multiple Industries. Experience in finding talents for companies in Asia.
Getlinks started from Thailand in 2015 and has raised investment from venture capital firms such as 500 Startups, CyberAgent Capital, Axis Capital partners, SEEK Asia, etc. It operates a tech platform that enables companies to headhunt talents. However, it also does traditional headhunting by helping companies source for talents through its recruiters. They focus mainly on Developers, Designers and Digital Marketers positions.
Pricing: 15% of GAS (including 13th month salary and other benefits)
Guarantee Period: 60 days. A free replacement if the candidates gets terminated during this period.
Speciality: Tech related positions. Mainly in Thailand.
Founded in 2008, First Recruitment Asia helps a host of companies to find talents in Vietnam. It also operates a job platform online that enables users to apply for jobs easily.
Pricing:
- For a non-exclusive contract, it is 20% of GAS.
- For exclusive contract, it is 16% of GAS.
- Other extra admin fees are chargeable in the event there is no successful hiring of the candidates. For instance, there is an interview fee of USD 600 and USD300 for non-exclusive contract and exclusive contract respectively. The fee will be deducted from the hiring commission in the event of a successful hire.
- There are volume discounts for hiring between 2 to 20 placements for an exclusive contract.
Guarantee Period:
- For a non-exclusive contract, it is 2 months with 1 free replacement.
- For exclusive contract, it is 3 months with 1 replacement.
- Both are refunded 50% credit refund towards the next hiring in the event there is no replacement.
Established in 2008 under the Vietnam Human Resource Consulting JSC, it inherited the database from Vietsourcing Group. Its services include headhunting services, mass recruitment services, short-term and temp staffing, and training and development services
Pricing:
- 18% of GAS or 2.16 of GMS.
- The minimum fee is 30,000,000 VND
- If there is termination of position after sending offer letter, there is a fee of 40% of the estimated service fee
Guarantee Period: 60 days. Free one-time replacement in the event of the termination of employment. If there is no replacement, 50% of fees paid will be a credit refund against the next hiring.
Speciality: Varied. Multiple Industries.
Originated from Philippines, Curran Daly has both offices in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and Makati, Manila, Philippines. It also has an affiliate office in Hong Kong. Its services include headhunting, HR consulting, and offshore solutions across multiple verticals. They have two service structures, one of which is a Contingent only consulting service, which charge only when the talent is hired. The other is a retained consulting service, which the client needs to pay an upfront fee as a retainer (which is a pre-determined % of the fee agreed between the parties) as a pre-condition to commerce the project.
Pricing: For contingent only consulting service, it is chargeable at 20% of GAS or 2.4 times GMS.
Guarantee Period: 2 months. For the first year of engagement, they can offer a 4-month service guarantee period.
Speciality: Varied. Multiple Industries. Most sourcing done in Philippines and in Vietnam.
Coming from Indonesia, Cekindo has almost 10 years experience in the consulting and market entry industry. It does a wide range of services, which include legal, administrative, financial, marketing and HR services. They mainly focus on setting up of new business units in new countries for companies. They have different timelines for the headhunting, which range from 3 weeks to 3 months. Besides hiring, they can also do customised solutions such as drafting an offer letter to the candidates on behalf of the clients. The activities of recruitment are promotion of job vacancies, conducting pre-interviews, shortlist of candidates and arranging the final interview.
Pricing:
- 16.7% of GAS or 2 months of GMS.
- There is an initial fee of USD 300, which is non refundable but can be deducted from the service fee after the selection of the candidate.
Guarantee Period: 3 months. If there is termination, there will be a free replacement.
Speciality: Varied. Multiple Industries.
Originated in Vietnam in 2011, HR Strategy first dabbled in Training Services for companies. Due to the demand of headhunting and the lucrative rewards from it, they pivoted to focus on headhunting services. Their database is said to have 220,000 candidate data (levels from Deputy Managers, Managers, Directors to COO, CEO or GM), with more from the database of their consultants. They have so far received more than 1,629 job orders with a great number of them. They cover a wide range of industries and job functions.
Pricing: 16.7% of GAS or 2 months of GMS.
Guarantee Period: 2 months. If there is termination, there will be a free replacement for one time. If there is no replacement, then there will be 50% refund.
Worklink services mainly Vietnamese companies as seen from their website, which is written only in Vietnamese. They do HR recruitment consulting, i.e., the process of sourcing, screening, interviewing, short-listing of candidates to the clients.
Pricing: 16.7% of GAS or 2 months of GMS.
Guarantee Period: 2 months. If there is termination, there will be a free replacement for one time. If there is no replacement after 30 days, there will be 50% refund.
Originally under Le & Associates, CxO Search was spin-off in the early 2017 to provide greater focus for C-level type of sourcing (as what its name suggests). It uses an assessment system for its “Job Match and Cultural Fit” to spot and recruit the candidates for its clients. They are committed to a 3–5 day turnaround time for client servicing and provision of shortlisted talents. Their database is said to contain 50,000+ senior executives out of a total of 100,000+ mid-career professionals. They do executive search, and managerial and expert search.
Pricing:
- 16.7% of GAS or 2 months of GMS.
- There is a minimum fee of 30m VND.
Guarantee Period: 2 months.
- If there is termination, there will be a free replacement for one time.
- If there is no replacement from 21 days of the receipt of “Notice To Replace”, there will be 50% refund credit.
- This will be applied to the next placement fee within 12 months.
Founded in 2008 in Japan, Iconic expanded to Vietnam and now has offices in Ho Chi Minh City, and Hanoi, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Bringing in the Japanese experience in HR sourcing to the Vietnamese market, they mainly help Japanese candidates who want to work in Vietnam and in the wider Southeast Asian region. They also maintained different websites for candidates in Vietnam and in Japan. They have a team of experienced Japanese and Vietnamese career advisors, and a sizeable talent pool.
Pricing:
- For sourcing in Vietnam, the fee is 25% of GAS or 3 times of GMS.
- For sourcing in Japan, the fee is 35% of GAS or 4.2 times of GMS.
- For seasonal interpreter, the fee is around 140–250USD for 8 hours
Guarantee period: Unknown
Specialty: Finding Vietnamese and Japanese candidates for companies in Asia
Established in 2006, Careerlink provides headhunting services as well as a online classified services on their website. The interesting part about their service is that the client only needs to pay after the trial or probation period. If the candidate fails within the 2 month guarantee period, there are no fees chargeable.
Pricing: 16.7% of GAS or 2 months times GMS. This is payable only after the trial period.
Guarantee Period: 2 months. If the candidate fails the probation of 2 months, there is no payment required.
Topcareer promises to send CV within 3–5 days from the agreement confirmation date. They provide headhunting services, executive search, and selection, and traditional recruitment services
Pricing:
- 16.7% of GAS or 2 months times GMS.
- There are discounts available by the amount of candidates hired.
Guarantee Period: 2 months. If there is termination, there will be a free replacement for one time. If there is no replacement within 45 days from the date of termination, there will be 50% refund.
Founded in 2020, Jobsrefer is the newest kid on the block but one of the fastest growing HR startup in Vietnam. Jobsrefer is easily the most affordable services amongst all its counterparts due to the usage of an innovative tech platform to streamline recruitment and scale up the hiring process to be referred by 200 and more recruiters on its platform.
Currently available in Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, Jobsrefer enables companies who are expanding manpower in these countries, to hire better and faster.
Pricing:
- Employer can choose the referral fee.
- The minimum is USD500.
- Higher referral fees can get better and faster results.
Guaranty period:
- Prorated refunds will be given if the talent leaves the job within certain time period of his first date of employment.
- From 1st to 15th day, 75% of the fees paid will be refunded.
- From 16th to 30th day, 50% of the fees paid will be refunded.
- From 31st to 60th day, 25% of the fees paid will be refunded
Speciality: Varied. Multiple Industries.
With a wide plethora of recruitment agencies in Vietnam, there is definitely more than enough to whet your manpower appetite.
How then to choose the best agency?
It depends really on your hiring budget, the agency’s experience in certain sector, the guarantee period, amongst others.
The best value from looking at the aforementioned list would be from Jobsrefer as it only costs USD500 to get a top talent. Plus, it’s flexible for the companies and clients as they can choose and set the referral fees.
Moreover, the risk of hiring talents is much reduced due to Jobsrefer’s favourable refund terms, i.e., shorter guarantee period for a refund.
For more information, please send your hiring inquiries to [email protected] today.
Disclaimer: If any of the above information is found to be misleading or wrong, please send over a notice to [email protected] and we are happy to correct it (to maintain our high standard of journalistic level!).
