VietNamNet Bridge – In order to practice English and have money to fund their studies, a lot of university students now work as domestic helpers.

Students preferable

It seems that university students have more advantages than other people in the competition to obtain the job as domestic help. High income earners like students because they have knowledge and can work more effectively than old people. Thanh, an office worker who lives in Thanh Xuan district noted that students are usually more dynamic and they can easily get adapted to the new works.

Hanh, a student of the Vietnam Trade Union University, has found a good job after the Tet holiday. “I need to come to clean the house three times a week and give private tutoring to a 7th grader. I get 100,000 dong for every cleaning and 80,000 dong for a private lesson,” she described her job.

Phuong, a student of the University of Culture, also said she feels happy when finding a job as a domestic help. “I need to earn money to fund my study,” Phuong said.

Hieu, a third year student of the Transport University, said he has 2-3 working shifts per day. He has to get up early in the morning to give deliveries for a family company, for which he gets 100,000 dong for every two hours. After that, he needs to bring a child to school, for which he gets 80,000 dong a day.

“The work is not too hard, while it can bring money,” Hieu said.

Hanh, a student of the Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanity, said that the demand for students – domestic helps is very high, especially after Tet. Therefore, a lot of students have been working as domestic helps and get pay based on the working hours.

“Some of my friends take 2-3 jobs at different houses. It is now the beginning of the second semester, when the curriculums are not too heavy. Therefore, it is now the right time to earn money and gather more experiences for your future life,” Hanh said.

Working as domestic helps for foreigners

While many students just intend to work as domestic helps only in free time to earn extra money, many others consider this a serious job.

Nguyen Thi Xuan, a second year student of the University of Labor and Social Affairs, is one of them. She now works for a foreigner who lives and works in Hanoi.

Xuan said that she went to many foreign language centers to practice English, but she could not improve much with her skills. One day, Xuan heard from her teacher that the best way to learn English is to communicate with native speakers.

The teacher then introduced a foreigner to Xuan, and she accepted to work as domestic help for the foreigner for two reasons. First, she can practice English, and second, she can earn money.

The things that Xuan needs to do everyday are cleaning houses, washing dishes and ironing clothes. Sometimes, Xuan goes to the markets with the owner to help him more understand about Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Pham Xuan Lan from the Finance Academy, said she has learnt many things, especially the professional way of working, since the day of working for a foreigner. She accidentally broke a glass and the foreigner deducted 50,000 dong from her monthly pay, without any complaint.

Most of the foreigners, who hire Vietnamese students as domestic helps, are the ones who live and work for a long time in Vietnam. They are open hearted and have sympathy to the Vietnamese students who try to work and study.

C. V