HCM City (VNS/VNA) – As manyas 250 delegates from 22 countries and territories discussed career developmentin the era of Industry 4.0 at the 7th AsiaPacific Career Development Association (APCDA) conference that opened in Ho ChiMinh City on May 22.

The APCDA conference is arenowned forum for sharing career development ideas and practices in the AsiaPacific region, and engaging the world about these insights.

The annual three-day conferencetitled “Navigating Career Development in the Age of Industry 4.0” seeks topromote collaboration among career practitioners throughout the Asia Pacificregion, and inspire existing and potential career practitioners to delivertheory-based and research-driven career development services.

It also promotes research in thefield of career development, and advocates workforce policies and practicesthat foster inclusion and access to decent work for all.

Participants include career andschool counsellors, counsellor educators, workforce development professionals,human resource professionals, and career development practitioners at all agelevels and in all settings.

Felicity Brown, manager, careerconsulting and development at RMIT Vietnam’s careers and industry relationsunit, said the conference would help local schools, universities and companiesinterested in career development access a wealth of best practices across theAsia-Pacific.

The APCDA annual conferenceoffers its members excellent professional development opportunities andvaluable networks in this emerging field, he said.

The presentations at the APCDAconference covered the spectrum of career planning, development and jobplacement in school, university and private practice settings as well as labourmarket, workforce and international issues.

Tran Anh Tuan, Deputy Director ofthe Institute of International Economics Training and Research, said Vietnamhas in recent years experienced shortages for workers with high-level,high-demand skills.

“The shortages result from thechoice of majors. Some majors are highly valued though they do not meetthe needs of society. Career guidance services must be enhanced andembedded in secondary and high schools,” he said.

“At the same time forecastinghuman resource needs, labour market information and vocational trainingactivities are not synchronised and do not effectively link demand forvocational training, availability of vocational training and demand forworkers,” he said.

He forecast high demand incertain areas like information technology, bio-technology, automation,management, finance, logistics, tourism and hospitality, and the creativeindustry.

Dean of education and professorof educational psychology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Alvin Leung,spoke about the Career and Life Adventure Planning Programme (CLAP).

CLAP is a comprehensive careerdevelopment programme in Hong Kong meant to equip youths with careerdevelopment competencies to pursue their aspirations in a rapidly changingsociety.-VNS/VNA