Testing skills at the factory gate is a common FDI recruitment habit, and the law does not prohibit it. But an internal test result has value only inside the company’s own hiring decision; where the position belongs to an occupation requiring a national occupational skills certificate, the employer must rely on assessment results from a state-recognised assessment organisation.
Employers may run their own skills tests for screening
Labour law allows the employer to set its own recruitment standards and test candidates before signing a labour contract, including practical skills tests on the shop floor. This is an internal HR activity: the result serves only the company’s own hiring decision, creates no legally recognised credential for third parties, and does not replace any certificate the law requires for a specific position.
The boundary to respect lies in naming and using the result. The company may not present an internal test as a ‘certification examination’, may not issue documents resembling a national occupational skills certificate, and may not collect money from candidates as an assessment fee for certification. If candidates need a real certificate, the company must send them to a recognised national skills assessment organisation.
When a private center’s results carry legal value
Under Articles 24 and 25 of the Employment Law No. 74/2025/QH15 (effective 1 January 2026), national occupational skills assessment is performed by national skills assessment organisations — legal entities licensed by the competent state authority with a certificate of assessment activities once they meet conditions on facilities, equipment, assessors and personnel. The national occupational skills certificate itself is issued by the competent state authority based on those assessment results, against the national skills standards for each occupation and level.
The practical consequence: a private center can perfectly well be a recognised assessment organisation if it meets the conditions and obtains the activity certificate — its results then form the legal basis for certification. Conversely, an unrecognised center may only provide training, exam preparation or mock tests; a certificate it issues on its own is not a national skills certificate and does not qualify workers for mandatory-certificate positions under Clause 1 of Article 26 of the 2025 Employment Law, such as safety-critical occupations.
Who bears the cost, and how to handle mass recruitment
Article 24 of the Employment Law 74/2025/QH15 requires applicants for issuance or re-issuance of the national skills certificate to pay fees under fee legislation, while assessment organisations may charge service fees at prices they set and must publish under Clause 2 of Article 25. Where the assessment serves the employer’s recruitment need, the compliant pattern is for the company to contract the assessment organisation and bear the cost for its own candidate cohort, rather than shifting the cost to candidates as a condition of being hired.
For an FDI plant hiring at scale, the usual compliant route is: screen free of charge with internal tests to shortlist candidates, then sponsor an official assessment round at a recognised organisation for shortlisted hires in mandatory-certificate positions. This preserves recruitment speed while keeping personnel files defensible when labour inspectors verify the qualifications of strict-requirement positions.
Frequently asked questions
May an employer organize its own skills assessment when recruiting workers?
Yes. An employer may organise its own skills tests as an internal recruitment screening step and use the results for its hiring decision. But the result is not a legal credential: the test may not be presented as a certification examination, documents resembling a national skills certificate may not be issued, and internal results cannot replace the mandatory certificate for listed occupations.
Are assessment results from a private center valid?
Only where the center is a national occupational skills assessment organisation holding an activity certificate under Article 25 of the Employment Law 74/2025/QH15 do its results form the basis for the national occupational skills certificate under Article 24. An unrecognised private center may only train, coach or run mock tests; a certificate it self-issues has no value as a national certificate.
Who bears the skills assessment cost?
Certificate applicants pay statutory fees (Clause 2 of Article 24 of the Employment Law 74/2025/QH15), and assessment organisations charge service fees at self-set, publicly listed prices. Where assessment serves recruitment, the employer normally contracts the assessment organisation and bears the cost for its candidates; candidates should not be made to pay as a condition of hiring into a mandatory-certificate position.
This article has been quality-reviewed by the FLAW AI Legal Council