A conversation about skilled workers
Tom Mitchell is the owner of a company specializing in recruit Information Technology (IT) skilled workers for global companies. He said: “Today, every company needs skilled workers but they do not have the expertise to distinguish professionals from amateurs so they ask us to do the hiring for them. We recruit skilled workers from many countries, and from all levels and positions. We have offices in many countries, we know people and the cultures and we select the right workers for our customers. I have been in this business for over thirty years, but never seen such as high demand like today.”
I asked: “Why don't they directly hire workers but use your service?
He laughed: “Hiring foreign workers is not simple as you think. An U.S. company does not know anything about foreign applicants. They do not know about the education system in those countries. They do not know good schools from bad schools. They do not know “fake degree” from a real degree. They do not know how to interview people from different cultures with different languages. My company is experts in this area, our staff is local people, they live there, and they know the environment and culture there.”
I asked: “How do you distinguish a good applicant from a not so good?
He explained: “The key criteria for evaluating IT workers are: Formal training and experience. By formal training we look at the school, by experience we look at their performance. For example, a degree from top schools is a good indicator because it shapes a student's knowledge and skills as compare with average schools. Top schools carefully select top students during the admission. Good “input” gives good “output”. That is why we only select graduates from these top schools. We also review training programs, to make sure that they are compatible with schools in the U.S. Training programs that are not up to date are not desirable, so we do not recruit graduates from these obsolete programs. We also look at foreign language skills, communication skills, attitude, commitment, and assertiveness. We want to make sure that these graduates have similar skills with U.S. graduates so when they are hired, they could do well. If they do well, our customers are happy then it reflects our reputation and they will do more business with us. Of course, how much attention and detail are also depending on position levels. There is a difference between an entry level and an executive level. For higher positions, we look carefully at the experiences and attitudes.
I asked: “How do you qualify experienced workers?”
He explained: “For experienced persons, we asked for portfolios of past projects that they have worked on. The portfolio may include requirements specifications, architectural designs, test specifications, process definitions, presentations, lists of project that they have managed etc. This gives us the ability to distinguish the level of experience and ability. We have to be carefully and make sure that they have the knowledge and skills that match our customers' needs. Of course, some people are reluctant about it or have mixed reactions. I told them: “It would be impossible to think of hiring a senior position without any evidence of performance. When my customer is willing to pay two to three hundred thousand dollars a year to someone, they must be very good. The cost of obtain visas to bring someone into the U.S and pay them a lot of money requires thorough investigation of their skills and experiences. Of course, for recent graduates or someone with less than five years of experience do not require that type of investigation. For these workers, we want to know their skills in specific programming language or evidence in a particular project and tools. We want to know what kind of work that they have done, what roles that they have performed. We make sure that they have good English skills in communication, reading, writing and soft-skills such as presentation, teamwork etc.”
I asked: “How much do they got paid? How much a recent graduate can make?
He said: “Our customer hire them so they pay them according to the laws of that country. If they work in the U.S, the company must pay them the same wages and benefits like anyone there. They are legal workers and must receive the same legal protection under the U.S laws. Today a software engineer graduates can make $85,000 to $100,000 dollars a year in the U.S. The U.K and European countries pay about 20% less, so the average could be $70,000 to $80,000 U.S Dollars.
I asked: “How do you recruit these people? Do you advertise?
He laughed: “No, our company rarely advertises. Too many unqualified people apply and it takes too long to find qualified candidates. We have been in this business for a long time, we know much better to have good relationships with local universities and professors. We keep a list of top students based on recommendation from these schools and professors. We approach students at least a year before they graduate. We monitor their works such as their performance in classes and Capstone project. When customers ask us to recruit workers for them, we already have someone in mind. We approach students and make them offers before they graduate since it takes several months to get visas to bring them to the U.S. or Europe. We rely mostly on our own network of relationships and that distinguish our company from others.
I asked: “How do you obtain visas for them?
He explained: “Our customers, mostly software companies, file petitions to U.S government to request number of H1B visas. When they receive the approval they contact us. For example, a company receives permission for 25 visas then we have contracted to bring in 25 qualified software engineers for them. We do not get visas, our customer do that, we only hire qualified workers for them. We will help get paperwork necessary and bring them to the U.S. Our people often escort them to our customers and this is where our job ends.
I asked: “Where do you find most of your workers?”
He answered: “In the past ten years, we operated mostly in India, China, Russia, and Eastern European countries because there were abundant of skilled workers there. Today, there is a shortage of IT skilled workers everywhere. Even India and China do not produce enough skilled workers so we have to go to South East Asia countries and even Africa. We are learning about these countries and their education systems. We are beginning to build relationships with schools and professors there. Today, both the U.S and European countries are facing critical shortage of skilled IT workers and the demand is very high. In the past, many companies considered outsourcing as a solution but the political situation is changing now, due to a lot of citizens complains. Most governments do not favor outsourcing or export jobs to foreign countries anymore. They are passing more liberal immigration laws to allow skilled people to come in and work. In that case, most jobs remain in their countries and workers will pay taxes and contribute to the economies there. These changes are very favorable to my company and we expect to do well in the next few years.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
