I cannot claim that I have traveled a lot. But, I do have my share of travels. Most of my travels were owing to IT boom in India - countries want our skills, and I was there to ensure they have the best. During these visits, the young me was amazed that literally the boundaries are diminishing. Jobs are there for anyone with skills. Only thing that stops anyone is there own limitations. Admittedly, this observation was before the world turned upside down i.e. before 2007.
Presently, I am doing my MBA from a college I am fond of and very proud of - hail Tar Heels. And I was also jerked to reality. Just having right skills is not enough. No I am not talking about different hiring process that is very different between India and USA, nor I am talking about cultural or other barriers that an international student face here. I am talking about much trivial reason - visa to work here!
In US, you can work here if your name was drawn from a lottery. Your skills are of no use for the draw. In fact, lottery has put so much misgivings among employers that even they seem reluctant to sponsor visa. I can understand companies misgivings. They don't want to invest on an expensive resource only to let them go because his/her name was not drawn in a lottery. A company that hedges all its risks, does not seem to have any answer for this risk. How can we hedge the "chance" which has odds that you are one of 65K out of 250K applications. Let the hunger games begin - and odd be always in your favor!
But what it means for international student trying to study in USA, or in any other country beside the homeland! I know European visas are almost as stringent as US. UK Business schools has already declared a low number for international students. As the higher studies became too expensive and the job prospects are diminishing - are we looking into the future where international students will not be moving out of their country for studies?. Is the exchange programs, online courses and immersion studies only way left to understand the culture and business of the other countries? Isn't a barrier created to learn from diversity? "Diversity" - every organization: for-profit, not-for-profit, academic, industrial - are trying to achieve respectable diversity to gain perspectives. But I see losing the edge. Because of one trivial reason - "unable to get visa to work". I have come from a country that was closed to external competition for a long time. But once it opened its arms and market - we are thriving! Competition never brings misery - it brings excellence, it brings ideas, it brings development, inventions! I hope we can overcome this final barrier soon!
Presently, I am doing my MBA from a college I am fond of and very proud of - hail Tar Heels. And I was also jerked to reality. Just having right skills is not enough. No I am not talking about different hiring process that is very different between India and USA, nor I am talking about cultural or other barriers that an international student face here. I am talking about much trivial reason - visa to work here!
In US, you can work here if your name was drawn from a lottery. Your skills are of no use for the draw. In fact, lottery has put so much misgivings among employers that even they seem reluctant to sponsor visa. I can understand companies misgivings. They don't want to invest on an expensive resource only to let them go because his/her name was not drawn in a lottery. A company that hedges all its risks, does not seem to have any answer for this risk. How can we hedge the "chance" which has odds that you are one of 65K out of 250K applications. Let the hunger games begin - and odd be always in your favor!
But what it means for international student trying to study in USA, or in any other country beside the homeland! I know European visas are almost as stringent as US. UK Business schools has already declared a low number for international students. As the higher studies became too expensive and the job prospects are diminishing - are we looking into the future where international students will not be moving out of their country for studies?. Is the exchange programs, online courses and immersion studies only way left to understand the culture and business of the other countries? Isn't a barrier created to learn from diversity? "Diversity" - every organization: for-profit, not-for-profit, academic, industrial - are trying to achieve respectable diversity to gain perspectives. But I see losing the edge. Because of one trivial reason - "unable to get visa to work". I have come from a country that was closed to external competition for a long time. But once it opened its arms and market - we are thriving! Competition never brings misery - it brings excellence, it brings ideas, it brings development, inventions! I hope we can overcome this final barrier soon!
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