There were not a lot of companies that hired international students in 2009. Due to the global recession, companies hired few new workers and lay offs were common. Demand for fresh graduates was low. There were however, some companies that did hire international students in 2009. Indiana University Bloomington compiled a list of 55 companies where international students were successful in findings jobs in the last year. This is by no means a comprehensive list. There are many small companies that hire international students that do not show up in any lists or surveys. Also, companies tend to change their hiring policies often, largely due to changes in supply and demand in the market. Therefore, keep in mind that a company that hired international students last year may not do so this year.

Also read: Give Yourself 5 Months to Find a Job Before Your OPT Starts

If you know of companies that hire international students and are not on this list, feel free to add them to the comments below. If you are job hunting, it may be a good idea to bookmark this page for later reference.

• Bank of America
• Barclays Capital
• BMGI
• CashNetUSA
• CB Richard Ellis, Inc.
• Citadel Investment Group
• Citibank, N.A.
• Cook Incorporated
• Deloitte
• EASi Accounting Company
• Electronic Arts
• Ernst & Young US LLP
• ExactTarget
• Forensic Economics
• GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals
• GMAC
• Houlihan Smith
• HSBC
• Kohl’s Department Stores
• KPMG LLP
• Lin & Lincoln CPA’s, LLC
• Monsanto Company
• Polycom
• Radisson Hotel
• Seed Strategy
• Snap-on Tools Corp.
• Stryker
• Think Equity Partners
• Valuecap
• Walt Disney

Further reading: The Secret to How International Students Can Work Legally in the United States

The research was conducted in October, 2008 based on a survey of 1,224 foreign students enrolled in US institutions of higher education. The main intention of the study was find the factors that influenced an international students’ decision to stay in the US or move abroad. Traditionally, many international students have stayed back in the US and contributed to the economic and technological advancement of the US. However, this study shows that there is a new trend emerging that is seeing more and more international students returning to their home countries after the completion of their education. Some of the more interesting findings of the research are listed below:

• Students want to return home

Very few international students want to stay in the US and make it their home. Only 6% of Indian, 10% of Chinese, and 5% of European students would like to stay here permanently. Many would like to work for a few years if given the opportunity, before returning to their home countries. Most students would like to return home within five years.

• Most are worried about visas

The majority of students that would like to stay and work for a few years before returning home are worried about obtaining work visas. This concern is not unfounded because the number of applications for H-1B visas in recent years has exceeded the quota for number of visas allowed. Also, new regulations have made it difficult for TARP companies to hire international students. The survey found that this concern over work visas is greater than the concern of obtaining permanent residence.

• Jobs and opportunities

Majority of respondents to the survey think that the best job opportunities lie in their home countries, as opposed to the popular belief that the best jobs are in the US. Chinese and Indian students feel the the best days of their respective countries’ economies lie ahead. It is not surprising that international students are disillusioned with the US job market because of the economic downturn and subsequent job cuts in US companies.

• Why are students leaving?

The primary reason for students leaving the US is to be with their family and loved ones. Another reason is that students perceive the economic conditions in the home countries as better than those in the US.

Why do you think international students are leaving the US in greater numbers? Do you think it will be good for the US to lose these bright young minds to other economies of the world? Share your thoughts below.

Related Article: International MBA Students Bite the Dust: TARP Regulation to Blame

In this post I am going to share an email from an IT firm that I receive every week. The drill goes something like this. The firm calls me on my cell phone. I have their number saved, so I know its them and I ignore the call. The person on the other end then leaves me a long voice mail, the gist of which is that I am an excellent candidate for an IT job with that firm. Almost immediately, I get an email in my inbox detailing the exact same things on the voicemail.

On two separate occasions I took the phone call and told them that I wasn’t interested in their offer and to take my name off their calling list. The recruiter apologized and said that they would never call me again. They started calling again the following Monday.

So here is a copy of the email that they send me. I have blackened out any identifiable information so as to avoid any legal issues. Notice in the email how they promise to place you in “US Fortune 500 companies” and how they are ready to take in “Graduates in any stream”.

Did you get similar unsolicited emails like this. Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Further reading: Companies that Hire International Students & Sponsor H1B

The Bait
These IT consulting firms are mostly based out the tri-state region with a few scattered in cities with significant desi (people of Indian origin) populations. They have a handful of employees working in their US offices with the majority of their staff located in India. The companies collect information on international students from the career services department of various US universities. Their recruiters located in India then call up international students with job offers in IT. Students are qualified no matter what their GPA or major is. The recruiters promise salaries in excess of $50,000 per year and sponsorship for H1B and greencard. The IT firm promises to train students on technologies such as Java, .Net, SQL, SAP, data warehousing, Quality Analysis, Business Analysis, etc and then place them in jobs within Fortune 500 companies. Whats more surprising is that these companies guarantee to do all this within two months, even with students that have had absolutely no education in IT/computers. With the US economy at one of its lowest points in a number of years and the job prospects for any new grad getting bleaker by the day, it does not take long for these recruiters to sign up international students to join their company. The recent rule change in OPT that states that international students cannot be unemployed for more than three months while on OPT further helps drive international students looking for jobs to these companies.

Training
Training at one of these companies is a joke. When you walk in you’ll be handed books to study on your own. In most cases someone in India will train you for 30 minutes to an hour everyday through video conferencing. Although this person will be a whiz at Java, SQL, .Net or whatever else that you’ve signed up for, his English will be very limited, thereby making communication very difficult. You’ll be left to your own devices to learn as best as you can using books and the internet. You’ll have relocated by this time to whichever city the consulting firm is located in; which is New Jersey in 90% of the cases. The company will provide you with a room in a guest house which you will be sharing with 6 other consultants and scores of mice and roaches. One positive thing about training at one of these firms is that it is paid by the hour. Expect to be paid anywhere between $7 to $10. However, you will only be paid if your OPT has begun.

Marketing
Once the company determines through exams that you’ve completed your training, they will start marketing your resume to other companies looking to hire IT personnel. How long you take to complete your training really depends on your educational background but it is never within two months as initially promised, even for someone with an IT background. In most cases it takes people five to six months to pass the tests set by the IT firms. Building your resume is where the expertise of your IT company comes in. They will prepare a fake resume for you which will list between five to eight years of experience in the technology that you’ve trained for. They will make you memorize the resume by heart so you can answer any questions related to it during an interview.

Now the next step to getting the job is the phone interview. Once a prospective employer sees your resume, they will want to set up a phone interview with you first. You will be trained on all likely questions before the interview. During the interview, your consulting firm will have people with you listening on to the phone interview. These people will quickly write down answers for you if you get stuck on any technical questions. With all this help, students usually make it through the phone interview after a few failed attempts.

After the prospective employer is satisfied with the phone interview, they will call you for a face to face interview. By this time, you are a very strong candidate and the face to face interview is only a formality.

The job
One might be tempted to ask how these employees with spiced up resumes (no pun intended) do not get caught and continue to work in the industry. After all, they do not have the necessary skills to perform their job duties and surely are found out by their supervisors. I had the same question when I first learned about all this. So I spoke with some friends in the IT industry. I learned that any new employee, no matter how experienced, is not expected to perform right off the bat. They are given two weeks to a month to ease into their new positions. Also, any new IT project takes time to gather momentum. It is during this lull period that these fresh experienced IT consultants learn how to perform their jobs satisfactorily. They do this by mostly studying past projects of the company. This coupled with their training sees them through their first project. After they have successfully completed one project, they pretty much know all there is to know about their chosen technology.

Although at this point, the consultant has a job with a reputed company in the US, he is still formally employed by the Indian IT consulting firm. The firm takes a very large chunk out of the salary of their consultant. The reviews I’ve read about these companies and their practices in regard to paying their employees haven’t really been inspiring. You can read the reviews here and here.

I do not personally recommend taking this route to get a job as this is unethical and may also have legal consequences.

Do you have any experience in dealing with any of these IT consulting firms? Do you think what they are doing is ethical? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Further reading: The Secret to How International Students Can Work Legally in the United States
Companies that Hire International Students & Sponsor H1B
Email From an Indian IT Consulting Firm

If you have had a bad experience with Indian IT firms, please help to expose these companies by spreading the word. You can start by posting this article on your facebook profile.

If you like this article, please subscribe to my blog. You can read my articles in your RSS feed reader or have the articles delivered to your email inbox. To subscribe, please click here.

Full Disclaimer: ScholarshipForUSA or any of its writers do not endorse or engage in any of the practices mentioned in this article. The article has been written for informational purposes only. We respect all US laws (labor, immigration, etc) and ask you to do the same. ScholarshipForUSA or its’ writers cannot be held liable for any consequences that arise out of actions that you take after reading this article.

Next start hunting for a job. Most on campus jobs are usually in dining services as dishwashers and food preparers. Go to the offices of the company that manages your school’s dining services and fill out an application form. Similarly, go to the Residential Life office, public safety, campus recreation and the library and submit forms. Remember to submit your resume along side, even if they don’t require one. The school Student Union should also hires a lot of students.

The trick to getting a job is persistence or your application will gather dust. Speak to the supervisor in charge of hiring. Follow up by email, phone or in person once you have submitted your application. I can’t stress enough how important it is to keep in touch with the people who are hiring. This is because often the number of applications is far more than the number of open positions. Since campus jobs require little skill, the thing employers are looking for most is enthusiasm. Show them that you really want the job.

On campus jobs usually pay $7.50/hr but this varies among different states.

If you absolutely need an on campus job while you are going to college, my suggestion is to apply for admission to bigger state universities. This is because bigger universities will have more job positions and therefore more job opportunities for international students. Smaller colleges have less job openings and those usually fill up with American students on federal work study grants. The trick to finding out whether a particular college is “international student friendly” is to look at their international student enrollment. For example, Saint Cloud State University has almost 1000 international students and the number keeps increasing every year. Click here to read the article on Saint Cloud State University.

If you can get a job as a Residential Advisor/Community Advisor, then the school will probably give you free room and board and a little bit of money. Residential advisors are responsible for students who live on their floor. However, you can only get this job once you have studied at the college for some time and have experience of on campus living.