

H1-B visas snapped up despite recession - gamble
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_51/b4160076970050.htm

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sriramk
Typically, the visas get overbooked (sometimes, twice over - leading to the
lottery system) on the first _day_. The fact that there are still opening
months later points to a dramatic slowown

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vitobcn
I totally agree. On April 2008, when my employer applied for an H1-B, there
were about 190,000 applications within the first week. Considering that the
available quota is 65,000, the odds of getting one were not very good.

The fact that there are 3500 positions not filled as of December 2009 cannot
be interpreted in any way as employers stepping up foreign workers hiring.

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roc
_"The numbers are surprising, considering the state of the economy,"_

To who? Study after study has shown that H1-Bs are paid less. Sure, the state
of the economy leads to local coders accepting less than before, but they
still can't match the salary expectations of an Indian or Asian import.

If you're looking to cut budget, or grow cheaply, it's still to your financial
advantage to seek H1-Bs.

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aditya
_Study after study has shown that H1-Bs are paid less_

Do you have a source? A quick google finds one real study:
[http://www.mygreencard.com/downloads/H1BWages_December2005.p...](http://www.mygreencard.com/downloads/H1BWages_December2005.pdf)
that was done on data from 5 years ago and a lot of echo.

Personal experience suggests otherwise.

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codexon
<http://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~matloff/h1b.html>

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aditya
Again, one study from 2003, and a lot of op-eds. I might just have to get
creative with the data myself.

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codexon
Why would you have reason to believe the situation has drastically reversed
itself in merely 6 years?

I would be more inclined to believe those congressional reports than the
anecdotal evidence you have.

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jswinghammer
I've had nothing but problems hiring good people in good times and bad times.
This doesn't surprise me at all. Finding good people is very hard.

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teeja
I'm not surprised (at least for people trying to hire online) because I've
never seen crappier job descriptions than those on the Web these days. Nobody
leaves a phone#, they expect CV and won't answer the simplest preliminary
questions by email. They ask for _outrageous_ qualifications for the
stipulated wages and positions. Very slipshod descriptions of the work, next
to no details about the company ... and most of their websites tell me that
they're strictly amateurs. That describes 85-90% of what I'm seeing.

It's has to be harder finding someplace worth replying to, when they act like
they don't really care, than it is to find good people. Very few who are
advertising positions know how to pitch a job.

