For many of us, Vietnam is a great place to vacation. With so many unique landscapes, such as rice fields, mountains, beaches and a really unique culture, there is so much to experience. It’s quite common for someone to visit Vietnam, and leave thinking only about how they can get back. Sure you could hop on a flight every weekend, but more likely you want to base yourself there.

But it’s not as simple as you might think. There are some things you need to keep in mind. Working in a different country means that you need to understand a different culture and need to handle certain situations with care if you don’t want to cause any issues. Luckily Vietnamese people are very understanding so that’s not too much of a problem. But Vietnamese is the language spoken in Vietnam. This is what people speak at work, this is what all documents will be written in, so in most cases, you will need to learn the language, although there are a few exceptions.

When moving to Vietnam for work, if people have the choice, most likely they want to be based in Da Nang or Hue if they love the nature, beach and fresh air, or Ho Chi Minh City if they like cities, parks, nightlife and more. Ho Chi Minh City is the business capital of Vietnam so you can expect most international companies that hire foreigners to be based there. Interestingly though Da Nang is becoming more and more popular as a technology hub, so many tech startups are choosing to be based there. Many foreigners also swear by Hanoi, saying it’s the country’s best kept secret while others have bad experiences. Either way, before moving to Vietnam for a job, you should take some time to visit first and see where you could see yourself living.  But most importantly let’s take a look at the kinds of jobs foreigners can take on in Vietnam.

Working remotely in Vietnam 

After the covid 19 pandemic, many employees adapted to a working from home routine and companies had to adapt or die. Now that things are getting back to normal some have decided to get employees back to the offices, while others decided that working from home is just fine and will continue to allow their employees to do that. For those of you who aren’t restricted to your country or city, Vietnam is a great location to work remotely from. With the low cost of living you can take advantage of your higher valued currency and live a great quality of life. This is especially a popular option for people from Singapore, but also South Korea, Japan and Australia.

Freelancers have already been doing this for years. Many freelancers work with clients in their home countries and base themselves in Vietnam. This way they can either work less or improve their quality of life with a higher spending power. This all comes down to preference. Freelance work could be anything from software development, website design, content creating, marketing, and many more. So even if you have never freelanced before, you could always get started. You will want to try and build up some clients in your home country first before making the move to Vietnam, but you could also use platforms like Fiverr and Upwork if you prefer.

Working as an English teacher

Probably the most popular choice for foreigners is to find a teaching job in Vietnam. This job requires a bachelor’s degree and a smile. You don’t need to be highly qualified, and you don’t need much experience. You don’t even need to learn Vietnamese as you will only be allowed to speak English in your classes anyway. More so than that, foreign teachers are also well paid. They average around $2000 per month, which is quite high compared to the average local salary.

English teachers are also able to work anywhere in Vietnam. The majority of jobs are in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, but there are schools in every city in Vietnam. So some foreigners choose to work in the big cities where there is a larger expat community, while others prefer small towns, where they can get a real feel for the local Vietnamese culture and enright the life of kids attending schools in that town.

Working as a digital marketer or social media marketer

Many companies have turned to the internet and social media to grow their brands. This means expanding to different regions or using multiple languages to reach both Vietnamese and English speakers. These companies are always on the lookout for foreigners who have skills in content creation, writing, video production and editing, search engine optimisation, photography, and social media marketing. These kinds of marketing jobs are mostly posted by foreign owned digital agencies, but also by local startups and even large media companies.

Working as a software developer 

Vietnam is becoming one the hottest spots for technology startups and software development, so you will find many startups and development companies based here. Software development is typically a field where English is the spoken language, no matter the country as most programming documentation and tutorials are in English. Even if you learn a language like Javascript or Python, you will need an understanding of English to know what different functions mean. Therefore hiring foreigners is really easy so many foreigners choose to come over to Vietnam to take on a new job as a software developer.

So whether you want to teach English in Vietnam, join a digital agency, or work in the technology industry, there are endless opportunities. Of course you can also work in pretty much any other field, you can even start your own business. The above jobs are just the ones that are the easiest and most common for most foreigners to take on. Jobs in manufacturing, finance and others require you to understand the language and have a higher barrier to entry so if you can speak conversational Vietnamese then your options will be much broader.