In the past three years many well-trained veterans, including at the level of directors and managers, have made the move.

Large domestic companies like Kinh Do, Trung Nguyen, and Nutifood have been the beneficiaries with senior managers from well-known foreign firms like Unilever, Pepsi, Tiger beer, Nestle, and Dutch Lady joining them.

Tran Huu Duc, former personnel manager at BAT, Pepsi, and FV Hospital, is currently administration and personnel manager at G7 Trading and Service Co., an affiliate of Trung Nguyen Coffee Corp.

Nguyen Duy Vu, who worked for eight foreign-invested companies in senior posts like sales manager, business development director, and sales and marketing manager, is now deputy sales manager at G7.

Tran Dai Cat, another colleague of Duc and Vu, used to be brand manager at Unilever and Vietnam Brewery Joint Venture Co.

Banks too have seen senior officials switching allegiance after many years of working for foreign rivals.

Vo Trong Thuy, now deputy general director and finance director of Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), worked for HSBC for three years and the International Finance Company (IFC) for two years.

As newcomers, many local banks are taking advantage of the training people got at foreign banks to improve their human resource and management quality, Thuy said.

Phan Bich Van has moved to Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank) after working for six years for IFC and other financial institutions.

“When I was still at Sacombank I was impressed with this bank’s development strategies, diligence, and determination to realize its targets. So, I decided to move there,” Van, who is now general director, said.

Attraction

Vo Trong Thuy said the factors that lured people to local companies were high salaries, good working environment, and clear promotion opportunities.

“Many local banks have improved their quality and deployed sustainable growth strategies, attracting well-trained and quality employees,” he added.

They had also improved their human resource policies and offer good working environment, he said. This helped narrow the gap between local and foreign companies in the race to lure attract quality personnel.

Do Anh Thu, head of Navigos Group’s personnel consulting department, said besides offering very high salaries and bonuses – comparable with their foreign rivals – many of these companies also offered managerial positions to Vietnamese.

Many people claimed to move to local companies because they wanted to contribute to their development and that of the country, he said.

“After many years of working for foreign employers, my friends and I now want to build brands for local companies,” Tran Dai Cat said.