IT jobs are for H-1B, others need not apply

Lately we’ve been hearing a lot about how well the IT industry is doing in spite of overall economic conditions. We’ve been told also been told about an increasing demand for IT workers and professionals and how this demand is likely to increase during the coming years.

Large IT companies continue to complain that there just aren’t enough qualified IT professionals to fill the available positions and continue to lobby Congress in support of raising the cap on H-1B visas in order to hire foreign workers to take up the slack.

However, IT pros insist there is no shortage. They claim that there are plenty of qualified workers in the U.S. that can fill those positions but the industry is passing them up for foreign labor simply because it is cheaper. They contend that companies are lying about an IT shortage and lock out American workers by flooding the market with H-1B employees simply to pad the bottom line.

Bill Gates has told Congress that American companies need more H-1B workers. Apparently Mr. Gates feels there is a shortage of talent native to American soil in areas such as programming. Other companies agree. Yet there is a growing number of fully talented and capable American programmers and other IT professionals out of a job and looking for work. Some of them have been unemployed for years. How can that be?

Perhaps it isn’t just talent these companies are after. According to studies H-1B workers are paid about 15-30% less than American workers.  That is an attractive proposition for any company. Perhaps it is enough to falsify a shortage.

During the past year I did a little investigation of my own. I found a plethora of IT related jobs posted on company web sites, in publications and on job boards. No doubt about it, the jobs are there, but what about the applicants?

I submitted my resume for a few positions and when I followed up on my applications, what I found was very interesting. The companies were bombarded with hundreds of resumes for a single position and many used automated processes to narrow down the prospects. Many of these applicants are fully qualified for the position and it is necessary to eliminate them based on other factors such as availability and proximity to the employer. Shortage? What shortage? It just doesn’t add up.

Recently I read a CNet NewsBlog that reported on a consulting company in Pittsburgh that was accused of favoring H-1B visa applicants in job postings and fined $45,000 by the government. That could be a decent year’s salary for one entry level job applicant that didn’t get a job. Instead, it now goes to the feds.

Perhaps I should quit IT and work for the government.

 

 

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