What kind of pathology is behind this common behavioral pattern?

In today's society of "disposable" employees, there are two possible motives for this behavior:

The person really doesn't know what they want in the first place.

The person is seeking self affirmation that they have marketable skills. Once you call them to arrange an interview then they feel better about themselves.

In neither of these cases the individual really wants to change jobs, they just want to know that they can.

Cheers,
James     Expat-blog Experts Team

Thank for sharing your idea James..basically I am guessing parallel mechanisms with you about the possible reasons.

Just I could not find any explanation about how (or why) this is happening in this much high ratio for this country...
Statistically minimum "3-4 appointments / in every 10 appointments"  are ending with this same story...never less...but sometimes even higher... in last 3 years I stably observed this.

Even they don't need a new job "applying to new job & accepting interview appointment" seems like a very common "Compulsive Habit" in Vietnamese working people.

Just guessing here but is it something to do with their history of occupying forces, is this behavior more apparent in Saigon than Hanoi? I wonder also if this thing of secrecy and suspicion has some bearing , just guessing here 

I experienced only Saigon...Maybe other areas are different..

MarkinNam wrote:

Just guessing here but is it something to do with their history of occupying forces, is this behavior more apparent in Saigon than Hanoi? 

I doubt so. Most of these folks were likely born after the war(s) and know nothing about it. And for many here who knew those times, Hanoi is occupying Saigon since '75, so maybe would have to look into this time frame to find reasons explaining this behavior.

randsteh wrote:

I am talking about a "habit" which I see in nearly 40% working population here.
If I see only in some cases I can say that "it is normal".
But many people here are repeating this "same pattern".

(By calling more than 1000 people for interview for different positions, after enough experience in last years, I can say minimum between 30%-40% is repeating this behavior pattern. And it is a big ratio for society to repeat the same pattern.)

PATTERN IS THIS:
1-Sending CV to a Job Application
2-When company calls, Making Appointment for Interview on the Phone, Fixing Date and Time
3-Calling the company exactly on Interview Day and Time, AND Saying "I am happy from my current job. I will not come"


If "Appointment Arrangement Time" & "Interview Time" has a big TIME GAP, It is still okay. Because we can think that "after thinking many days, candidate changed the mind"

BUT IN MOST OF THE CASES THEY AGREE INTERVIEW APPOINTMENT TIME "Yesterday Afternoon" AND DOING THIS "Today Morning".

What is wrong in minds?
What kind of factors and motivations are sitting behind this unhealthy behavior pattern?
Why many people like to do this very much here?

Are they satisfied from this?
Are they feeling important themselves when a company give them an appointment time?
Or, are they feeling important themselves when they refuse interview appointment of a company in last minute?

I am really curious about this 
Because this is my 9th country as an expat which I spent my years, I never see this kind of behavior pattern before.

If somebody has an idea to help me understand I will appreciate

I don't know why but we see similar things here.

Another few strange things I notice is the high turnover rate we see in lower positions. At record times we have over 20% quitting upon first salary. Half of them come back and ask for a job again once the salary has evaporated.

Quite often I also get CV's where the individual lists 10 jobs in 2 years, thinking it shows how diverse he/she is and how much knowledge they have gained.

Maybe it is a mentality thing of living into the day with no long term thinking process.

Hmm, how is your company's reputation?! Maybe they tell their friends, or google your company reviews, and find out "OMG that is the worst company!". And the 20% who quit, they found out first hand, and are kicking themselves.
Are your salaries competitive? Workplace have any issues? Long commute? Are you screening well during the interview?

Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps other reasons besides a cultural one.

Did you ask them?
Suggestion: Why not contact the last 100 cancellers and quitters, offer them 50.000 VND to take a survey with questions like:
- What do you think of our company?
- Compare where you are working now, to working at our company?
- How can we improve .. ?
You get the idea, an HR person could create better questions.
For $220 you might get clues how to retain people and waste less time with missed appointments.

snake77 wrote:

[I notice is the high turnover rate we see in lower positions. At record times we have over 20% quitting upon first salary. Half of them come back and ask for a job again once the salary has evaporated.

Yes that is another truth.
I observed and thought about this point too.

I think that all answers of these points are sitting inside "the relationship between Life & Work" in people's understanding here.

In my opinion chain of reasons is flowing like this below from end point to beginning :

1) "Working" or "Carrier" is NOT important or NOT serious matter for very big part of population here (I mean especially in Saigon).

2) Because being POOR or NOT POOR is NOT VITAL subject in this geography!

3) Because Life is EASIER in this Ecosystem when compare with other parts of the world!

4) So competition is LOWER and they can easily find any simple job whenever their money finishes + Their both "money earning expectation" and "life quality expectation" is relatively LOWER too .
(Just a temporary job & earning a small money can be enough for them to survive, and they are about about it. They don't want to make themselves tired for more)

IN MANY OTHER COUNTRIES, IF YOU DON'T WORK,
-THIS MEANS you don't have enough money to SURVIVE (But here they can still survive because life is not wild)
-THIS MEANS you cannot have an temperature isolated home to pass the cold WINTER (but here, all the time it is good & hot weather)
-THIS MEANS you cannot find clothes which protects you from winter's COLD (but here you can live 5 years with one tee-shirt)
-THIS MEANS you cannot find enough and healthy food to eat all the seasons of the year (but here you can reach to many kind of fruits, vegetables etc 365 days of the year with very low price, or from your family garden)
-THIS MEANS you will get health problems -and even maybe die- after this wild winter or poor eating conditions (but here the strongest event is big rain and what you must do is just waiting it will be finished, while you are eating your soya based lunch)
-THIS MEANS you will have depression while others has higher life quality and enjoyment than you (but here life quality expectation is not very high..only if you have one motorcycle you are the best)
....etc
....etc


FINALLY, millions of people here (especially in lower positions), They are "NOT WORKING" really. They are "PLAYING with WORK" as they want.

gobot wrote:

Hmm, how is your company's reputation?.

Not about reputation,
1-It is not bad
2-This is same from the first day

gobot wrote:

Did you ask them?
Suggestion: Why not contact the last 100 cancellers and quitters

Of course tried to talk with them by calling again, but not easy to receive answers. After they give false information about interview time, if we insist to ask more questions they are only giving untrue answers about why they cancel.

Most popular answers are, "I need to to my hometown", "I has an urgent thing that day and time", ..etc.

Even very frequently, you can hear reason as "I had motorcycle accident"  ... if all of them are true, in every week, our HR Dept. is causing many motorcycle accidents in the city

PS. We know it is not true..because we are offering second chance to them.... but they never come after accident(!), although we wait them for long term

It's not easy to quote a small part of your post, because I am using tablet. But I want to say what you think about people here are quite correct. Even I feel that. Many people think very simple, that why you always feel that they are very friendly than Northerners...
I am from the North, it's not easy to get a job with high salary there so people will really appreciate the chances to have one. But people there think very far and complicated , so they always want to work for government, and they are not easy to be fired hihi. I work for government University too hehehe, very poor but I can spend much time for family if I want...

Yes I observed this too; People from North are not same as here. They are thinking more complicated, taking the life and the  job more serious, & they are fighting with the difficulties and competing in life stronger.

The reason in my mind is same as I told in previous messages; "Ecosystem"
(It made different cultures and characters in people of different areas, in hundreds and thousands of years. )

gobot wrote:

Hmm, how is your company's reputation?! Maybe they tell their friends, or google your company reviews, and find out "OMG that is the worst company!". And the 20% who quit, they found out first hand, and are kicking themselves.

well, that would not explain why half of the quitters show up again once the money has dried up.

gobot wrote:

Hmm, how is your company's reputation?! Maybe they tell their friends, or google your company reviews, and find out "OMG that is the worst company!". And the 20% who quit, they found out first hand, and are kicking themselves.
Are your salaries competitive? Workplace have any issues? Long commute? Are you screening well during the interview?

Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps other reasons besides a cultural one.

Did you ask them?
Suggestion: Why not contact the last 100 cancellers and quitters, offer them 50.000 VND to take a survey with questions like:
- What do you think of our company?
- Compare where you are working now, to working at our company?
- How can we improve .. ?
You get the idea, an HR person could create better questions.
For $220 you might get clues how to retain people and waste less time with missed appointments.

Do leaving interviews! There might be bullying or some issues inside your company.

Decades ago, I heard a business man's tale of woe. He was in South Africa. And some locals would disappear after payday to return broke.

At one language center, foreigners were doing midnight runs. No good byes. But there is another side of the coin. There have been issues with punctuality when it comes to getting paid etc.

Common courtesy: call to cancel an appointment!

good observation Randset, I was talking to a US guy at Starbucks, he told he his story of cyclo guy, he made a deal for 1 days hire for many appointments, by lunch all was finished, so he gave a big tip + agreed price, 1 hour later US guy sees cyclo guy in bar drinking with mates, why aren't you working? it's only mid day! cyclo guy says " I have enough for today, tomorrow I get more"

hs0zfe wrote:

Common courtesy: call to cancel an appointment!

-If appointment time is 10:00 am,
-If you arrange your daily working schedule according to this interview
-If you even delayed some of your meetings because this interview timing,
And,
-If candidate calls you at 10:05 am and says "I changed my mind about coming"
And,
-If not only 1, 2 ,3 , but nearly 40% of them are doing this same thing,

Sorry But,
I cannot call  it as "Courtesy".
I believe that it would be too naive definition to explain the situation.

I am calling this total fact -from beginning to end- as "A Frequent Pathological Behavioral Pattern"
(as explained in details previously)



On the Other Hand,

The main reasons why they call are
"They don't want to make anybody angry directly to themselves"  (because they still afraid and avoid from this)
and
"They still want to keep their  'professional person' image in front of HR Department of companies"


They are calling BECAUSE they think that, by this simple call they can hide their pathological purpose about making this appointment,
BUT,
They don't know "We know their pattern very well, and we over memorized it",
They don't know "This is a frequent pattern, they are not the first one or they will not be the last one",
They don't know "It is too late to still keep their "professional" or "serious" person image after repeating this unprofessional,  and unnecessary behavior


IF they know,
maybe they will not call.
OR,
IF they know,
maybe they will cure themselves and not repeat this again  (I wish and hope)

BUT they don't know.
SO,
Probably they are believing that, they are the first person who thought and did this
They are doing this for just "their own personal satisfaction"...you know the word... I shouldn't type it here

MarkinNam wrote:

cyclo guy says " I have enough for today, tomorrow I get more"

LOL..exactly a good example and summary of mindset

http://www.stop.org.br/english/    this may help you understand the psychosociopathology of humans

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