End of Q2 2026: A Talent Review Checklist for Vietnam Employers

By Valerie Ong, Regional Marketing Manager, Reeracoen Group

Q2 closes at the end of June. For FDI employers in Vietnam, this is one of the most important talent review moments of the year: the mid-point at which the first half’s hiring performance is assessed, retention risks are identified, and H2 headcount plans are confirmed or revised.

Employers who use this window well — completing a structured talent review in the last week of June — consistently enter Q3 with better pipeline visibility, fewer reactive hiring emergencies, and a clearer picture of where their people risks sit. This checklist gives you the framework to do it in under two hours.

The Q2 Talent Review: 8-Point Checklist

1. Assess H1 Hiring Performance

How many of your planned H1 hires were completed? For roles that are still open, what is the root cause of the delay — brief quality, candidate pool, compensation, process speed, or something else? Document the answer and carry it into H2 planning. Repeating the same search with the same brief and expecting a different result is one of the most common and costly hiring mistakes.

2. Identify Your Top-Five Retention Risks

Name them specifically. Who, in your organisation, would be most damaging to lose in H2 — and who is most likely to be approached by competitors? For each person, what is the current retention status: secure, uncertain, or at risk? Has there been a meaningful compensation review or career conversation in the last six months? If not, schedule it before July 15.

3. Confirm Your H2 Headcount Plan

Which roles are approved? Which are pending? For approved roles, have you briefed your recruitment partners and set a target in-seat date? For pending roles, what are the decision criteria and timeline? H2 searches that are not initiated by late July will not complete until Q4, which creates operational risk for year-end delivery.

4. Review Your Compensation Positioning

Run a quick market check on your three most competitive talent segments — typically bilingual roles, compliance/risk, and your highest-performing mid-level band. Are your current salaries in these segments at or above the market midpoint? If not, you are carrying passive retention risk that will materialise as active resignations in Q3. Proactive adjustment is almost always cheaper than reactive replacement.

5. Audit Your Open Requisitions for Brief Quality

For every role currently open or planned for H2: is the brief specific about the success criteria for the first 90 days? Is the salary range competitive with the current market? Is the hiring manager aligned with HR and the recruitment partner on what ‘good’ looks like? Brief misalignment is the leading cause of extended time-to-hire in Vietnam. Resolve it before the search, not during it.

6. Assess Your Manager Quality Across Teams

Which teams have the highest turnover or the most engagement concerns? Who are the managers leading those teams? Manager quality is the most consistent predictor of team retention in Reeracoen’s data. Identifying the bottom quartile of your management population and deciding what to do about it — development, support, or structural change — is a Q2 action that will significantly affect Q3 and Q4 attrition rates.

7. Review Your Onboarding Track Record

Of the people you hired in H1, how many are performing to expectation at the 90-day mark? How many have left, or are showing early disengagement signals? If your onboarding results are below expectations, identify the specific point in the first 90 days where things are going wrong and address the process before your H2 hires arrive.

8. Confirm Your Recruitment Partner Relationships

For your H2 critical roles, are you working with specialist recruiters who have genuine access to the talent pools you need — particularly bilingual, BFSF, and technical engineering roles? Generic recruiters and job boards reach a fraction of the qualified candidate pool for specialist roles. If your H1 searches took longer than expected and resulted in fewer strong candidates than anticipated, review whether your recruitment approach for H2 needs to change.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do we prioritise which retention risks to address first?

By the combination of two factors: impact of losing the person, and likelihood of losing them. The highest-priority retention conversations are with people who are both high-impact and at genuine risk — typically your top performers in functions with thin replacement talent pools. Address these first, with substantive actions (compensation review, career conversation, expanded scope) rather than symbolic gestures.

What should we do if our H1 hiring was significantly behind plan?

Diagnose before adjusting. Was the shortfall caused by budget delays, brief quality problems, process speed, compensation competitiveness, or candidate pool constraints? Each has a different solution. Accelerating a fundamentally broken process in H2 without fixing the root cause will produce the same result faster and more expensively.

Is it too late to start a search for a role needed in Q3?

For most roles: not yet, but the window is closing. Mid-level professional roles started in early July can realistically close by September. Specialist, bilingual, or senior roles started in July will likely close in October at the earliest. If you have a Q3 operational need and have not started the search, brief your recruitment partner this week.

Related Articles

You may also find these useful:

• H2 2026 Hiring Outlook for Vietnam: What the Mid-Year Data Tells Employers

• Labour Day 2026: What Vietnam’s Workforce Data Tells Employers About Retention

• Salary Expectations in Vietnam Q2 2026: What Employers Must Budget

About the Author

References

1. Reeracoen Employer Hiring Study 2026

2. Hiring Pulse Q1 2026. Reeracoen Group.

3. Reeracoen Vietnam Placement Data Q1–Q2 2026 (internal)

4. Reeracoen Salary Guide 2025–2026 

Disclaimer:
The information provided in our blog articles is intended for general informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional advice and should not be relied upon as such.
While we strive to provide accurate and up-to-date information, the ever-evolving nature of certain topics may result in content becoming outdated or inaccurate over time. Therefore, we recommend consulting with qualified professionals or experts in the respective fields for specific advice or guidance. Any actions taken based on the information contained in our blog articles are solely at the reader's discretion and risk. We do not assume any responsibility or liability for any loss, damage, or adverse consequences incurred as a result of such actions.
We may occasionally provide links to external websites or resources for further information or reference. These links are provided for convenience and do not imply endorsement or responsibility for the content or accuracy of these external sources. Our blog articles may also include personal opinions, views, or interpretations of the authors, which do not necessarily reflect the views of our organisation as a whole. We encourage readers to verify the accuracy and relevance of information presented in our blog articles and to seek professional advice when needed.
Your use of this website and its content constitutes acceptance of this disclaimer.