This paper analyses how rural households engage in different segments of non‐farm wage labour markets using panel data from three Vietnamese provinces that also include perceived reasons for obtaining employment. We show that it is important to appreciate the heterogeneous nature of rural non‐farm wage employment from a livelihood perspective. Different jobs vary in terms of seasonality, earning potential, social insurances, location and entrance requirements. Most notably, public service jobs are most favourable from a livelihood perspective. Regarding factors influencing participation, education has a positive effect on engagement in public and private service jobs, a negative effect on participation in construction jobs and no significant effect on employment in industry jobs. Further, family contacts are crucial in the process of finding non‐farm employment in all sectors. The disaggregated approach allows a better conceptualisation and can lead to better targeted policy recommendations.