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February 19, 2014

Out Of The Closet

Filed under: H-1B,Job Searching — admin @ 12:42 am

I was recently accused of being hateful and venomous towards H-1B visa holders. That said, I am coming out of the closet. Yes, today is the day I came out for all the world to know who I really am. Are you ready?

In my IT Consulting career, I PREFERRED to work with H-1B colleagues.

There I said it. I got it out and I have bared my soul for all the world to see. Yes, I preferred to work with my H-1B colleagues for a wide variety of reasons. I can only share from my personal experience and I am only offering it as a generalization.

First and foremost, I generally found them to be very agreeable. In meetings, they would say something only when they thought it was significant and relevant. In contrast, my fellow country men would always try to say something if just to feel like they were helping. I found my H-1B colleagues to be very polite and considerate as well. This doesn’t mean my U.S. colleagues weren’t, but my H-1B colleagues were exceedingly so.

Outside the office, I enjoyed their company as well. They introduced my to a wide palate of foods from around the world. After working late hours we would head off to Indian, Ethiopian, Turkish and Latin American restaurants to savor a wide variety of savory dishes that they enjoyed and recommended. The conversation was always worldly and scintillating. I had the pleasure of playing tennis, golf and even doing a little bar hopping with them. I can say that I never had a bad working relationship with any of them.

So what’s the problem? My point is that there were too many of them to ignore. When I went to meetings, I was an American minority in my own country. The room was dominated – saturated -with STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) workers from overseas. If they were there just to shore up a shortage, why wasn’t there just a token amount of foreigners in the room to fill the gap? How come there weren’t STEM workers from high wage countries in northern Europe? The reality was glaring – it was too good of a deal to hire large swaths of these guys from third world countries on the cheap instead of paying extra for their fellow countrymen.

How many up and coming college graduates decided not to pursue a career in a STEM field for fear that the salaries would remain stagnant? How many college applicants decided to forgo the rigors of a STEM curriculum because it would never pay well? A tidal wave of 65,000 STEM workers a year is nothing to sneeze at, yet our congressmen – people who are supposed to be working for us – are trying to increase the figure from 65,000 to as many as 180,000 a year. Thanks, but no thanks.

In closing, I preferred working with my H-1B colleagues.  It is true and I will not deny it.  However, we need to support the home team!  Need to come out of the closet? Share your working experience with H-1Bs in the comments section below!

John Coffey is the President of JobTabs, LLC.  Through JobTabs Job Search & Resume Builder and JobTabs Free Resume Builder, thousands of job seekers have taken control of their destiny in finding new and fulfilling careers. JobTabs Job Search & Resume Builder and JobTabs Free Resume Builder motivate job seekers by making the job search easier by a huge order of magnitude.  John Coffey can be reached via his website at JobTabs Job Search & Resume Builder, by email via jpcoffey at jobtabs.com, and by phone at 404-255-0248.

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February 18, 2014

Hiring Americans Is Not Hateful Nor Venemous

Filed under: H-1B,Job Searching — Tags: , — admin @ 12:38 am

I received a really disconcerting email the other day from one of my blog readers. They accused me of focusing “on hateful and venomous aspects of immigration reform.”

Huh?  I have never printed venomous or hateful speech about anybody, I immediately reviewed my posts on the H-1B issue and found neither venom nor hate. All, my issue is that there are many Americans that would be employed if it were not for somebody from somewhere else doing the same work for a lot less. What is hateful and venomous about that?

I can’t blame the employers. If 65,000 people are available to work for less, don’t the employers have to hire them if just to keep themselves from being undercut by their competitors?

I can’t blame the people from overseas because even though they are being paid less than Americans, it is much more than what they would be making in their home country.

I can’t blame the unemployed guy, because he did what he was supposed to do. He was encouraged to study technical subjects because they were the future of the country. He did, but he has been cast aside for an employee that will work for less and never complain for fear of being deported.

Deported?! Allow me to clarify. The way the law is written is if the H-1B visa holder “doesn’t work out” they get to send the person back to where they came from. They H-1B Visa employee isn’t allowed to leave a job with low pay and bad working conditions for better pay or better working conditions. If they leave the employer they are deported immediately. H-1B employees are indentured servants for the length of their visa. This has turned employers into sweatshops where they can work these people to the bone. The price of speaking out against shoddy working conditions or low pay is deportation.

The blame for all of this is the federal government for betraying their own citizens by bringing in 65,000 STEM workers when there are plenty of people here who are more than capable of doing the work. The federal government is discouraging its citizens from pursing STEM fields, by stagnating salaries with cheap labor. Again, what is hateful and venomous about that?

Have something constructive to share? Express yourself in our comments section! : -)

John Coffey is the President of JobTabs, LLC.  Through JobTabs Job Search & Resume Builder and JobTabs Free Resume Builder, thousands of job seekers have taken control of their destiny in finding new and fulfilling careers. JobTabs Job Search & Resume Builder and JobTabs Free Resume Builder motivate job seekers by making the job search easier by a huge order of magnitude.  John Coffey can be reached via his website at JobTabs Job Search & Resume Builder, by email via jpcoffey at jobtabs.com, and by phone at 404-255-0248.

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June 4, 2013

Letter to Senator Johnny Isakson – REF: Immigration-Amnesty Bill, H-1B Visa

Filed under: H-1B,Job Searching — admin @ 1:19 am

Dear Senator Isakson,

As a Georgia voter, I am far more involved in political action at the grass roots level than most. In light of the Amnesty Bill being broached for debate on the floor, I am believe I am about to become even more involved.

Isakson photo.

Friend or foe?

The Amnesty Bill, in particular the provisions for STEM workers, is an egregious betrayal of the American people. To dole out 180,000 blue chip, family feeding jobs to foreigners is lunacy. There is no shortage of STEM workers in the U.S. An elementary understanding of economics is enough to understand that when there is a shortage of STEM workers, STEM salaries will rise. When STEM salaries rise, job seekers will rush to fill the void by learning new skills or transferring existing skills to fill the void. Plain and simple. Given that salaries for STEM workers in the computer programming field are roughly $70K per year, one can hardly make the case that there is a STEM worker shortage. I consider $70K a year a modest income.

Even if there was a shortage, I wouldn’t advocate for anyone filling those STEM jobs other than our fellow country men! We have to support the home team. As of June 3, 2013 NumbersUSA.com has given your advocacy for support of American workers an “F”. This is sharp contrast to what you profess to stand for on your web page at,

http://www.isakson.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/immigration.

I don’t know who to believe. That said, let me tell you what I believe.

I have no tolerance for any office holder who cannot wrap their head around the common sense need to provide Americans with decent jobs with decent salaries – particularly in light of this job less recovery. While I am sure you will vote against even bringing the Amnesty Bill to the floor for debate, if any Georgia congressman/senator votes in favor of the Amnesty Bill, I will do everything I can to remove them from office beginning at the primary level. I will vote for their opponent in every election that congressman/senator campaigns in. If their candidacy survives to the general election, I will vote for their opponent regardless of party affiliation. This issue is a deal breaker and is all I need to draw a clear line as to who I will and will not vote for.

Anybody, who sees doling out good paying American jobs to foreigners as a “solution” – may as well be a flag burning, communist. Please vote NO to Harry Reid’s motion to proceed when he brings the Amnesty Bill to the floor.  Thank you.

Sincerely,

John P. Coffey, Voter

 

All, please help spread the word by clicking the Twitter/Facebook buttons above.  We are trying to kill this job stealing legislation and showing lots of opposition to it will do much to get the message across!  Hopefully others can use this letter as a template when writing their people in congress.

 

John Coffey is the President of JobTabs, LLC.  Through JobTabs Job Search & Resume, thousands of job seekers have taken control of their destiny in finding new and fulfilling careers. JobTabs Job Search & Resume motivates job seekers by making the job search easier by a huge order of magnitude.  John Coffey can be reached via his website at JobTabs Job Search & Resume, by email via jpcoffey at jobtabs.com, and by phone at 404-255-0248.

 

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May 9, 2013

H-1B Visa Program Mutates Far Beyond Original Purpose

Filed under: H-1B,Job Searching,JobTabs — admin @ 1:04 am

The H-1B Visa program of today is a perversion of its original charter. In no way shape or form did congress or any political body ever design the program as it exists in its present form. That hasn’t stopped big business from milking it, but nonetheless it does not serve the good people of this here United States of America.

Karl Kiefer compiled a fantastic article on the history of the H-1B program on NumbersUSA.com. In 1952 the program was designed to provide a temporary arrangement for high tech professionals to come to the U.S. and share their expertise. It was never designed to be a path to citizenship or even a residency program. Fast forward to today and you’ve got a wholesale immigration program that stands on its own with the almighty green card as the begin and end all for their efforts.

Throw some gasoline on the fire in the form of the Immigration Reform Bill and you have a perverted H-1B program that goes mongoloidal. According to the IEEE, in addition to raising the absolute minimum cap of visas from 65,000 to 115,0000, the bill is loaded with loopholes to provide even more working visas,

  • Exempting graduate students from the cap, resulting in around 30,000 more visas
  • Allowing spouses of H-1B workers to work, resulting in approximately 20,000 more STEM workers
  • Creating a “market-based” escalator that allows the base cap to quickly rise to 300,000 visas each year.
  • Maintaining the uncapped exemption for non-profits and research institutions, including universities, resulting in approximately 85,000 visas annually.

Taken together, these changes will authorize between 400,000 and 450,000 H-1B visas each year.  For perspective, the U.S. economy averaged 56,000 new STEM jobs annually over the past decade.  How are we going to fit all of these H-1B Visa people into our economy and why the heck do we want to encumber ourselves with the problem in the first place?

The labor force’s only real leverage is to contact their people in congress and let them know that their ass is grass if they allow it to happen. Fortunately, there is a fantastic organization by the name of NumbersUSA.org that will do all of the work for you. They will type up the first draft of the letter and let you edit it to your hearts content. Then, with your permission, they will fax it for you for free. Best of all, it is all done online and done automatically!

So, you can click a few buttons and do your part to prevent it from happening NOW . . . or you can spend the rest of your life as a ‘disenfranchised professional’ hauling trash to the dumpster at WhatABurger. Think about it. : -)

 

John Coffey is the President of JobTabs, LLC.  Through JobTabs Job Search & Resume Builder, thousands of job seekers have taken control of their destiny in finding new and fulfilling careers. JobTabs Job Search & Resume Builder motivates job seekers by making the job search easier by a huge order of magnitude.  John Coffey can be reached via his website at JobTabs Job Search & Resume Builder, by email via jpcoffey at jobtabs.com, and by phone at 404-255-0248.

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May 8, 2013

180,000 Blue-Chip, High Paying, American Jobs – Down the Tube

Filed under: H-1B,Job Searching,JobTabs — admin @ 12:23 am

If the Immigration Reform Bill passes in its present form, you can say goodbye to 180,000 high paying, blue chip jobs that would otherwise go to Americans. To be fair, only 110,000 jobs will be flushed down the tube in the first year. Given that the number of H-1B visas issued can increase at the rate of 10,000 per year up to 180,000 – depending on demand – 180,000 jobs flushed down the tube is assured.  See, the allotment for all of the H-1B visas for this year was filled in just five days.

For the uninitiated, the H-1B program is a federal program to allow foreign workers, typically Indians and Pakistanis, with college degrees to work in the U.S. The program is focused on bringing in graduates with backgrounds in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, aka STEM employees. At present, the program is only authorized to allow 65,000 STEM employees a year to work in the U.S., however the Immigration Reform Bill being put forth in congress is angling to have the limit lifted to 110,000 and then gradually to 180,000 by the year 2020.

That the U.S. Congress s allowing foreigners to flood the market because, supposedly, there aren’t enough Americans to do the work is an affront to its own citizens and only serves to circumvent the problem instead of solving it. While I firmly believe that there are enough qualified workers in the U.S. to do the job, let’s say for the sake of the argument that there are not. Well, what has this country done with every other supply/demand schism that we have ever faced? We let the price go up or down as the market dictated! Therefore, if we don’t have enough highly skilled workers to do the job why don’t the employers offer more money to fill the void? Wouldn’t this prompt more people to get training and pursue degrees in STEM fields in light of the higher salaries?  The answer is yes.  However, it costs corporations less to import foreigners to do the job at a lower wage.

The U.S. could easily solve this “shortage of STEM workers” by letting the free market run its course. If qualified STEM employees are making $100K two years out of college, what do you think incoming freshmen are going to choose to major in? STEM subjects of course! The purported shortage of STEM workers would be filled in the blink of an eye. In keeping with basic demand/supply theory, the salary for STEM employees would actually begin to decrease as more and more home grown students graduated into the market place. This is a simple solution to a simple problem. Why bring in all of these foreigners, pass all of this legislation, and hire all of these government employees to manage the program when we can just let the market run its course? Because the corporations would have to pay American workers fair market value for bringing their skills to them and that is something they have no interest in doing.

You can do something about it. It is easy as can be. Go to NumbersUSA.com and they will contact your congressman on your behalf  Let your senators and representative from your district know that you are adamantly opposed to the Immigration Reform Bill. You will vote for the congressman who opposes it and you will vote against the congressman who endorses it in the next election. We encourage you to use the resources availed by NumbersUSA.com to do all of this for you. NumbersUSA.com will provide the online fax service for you to fax your letter to your congressman for free! They will even help you type it up! Please do not join the docile and lazy people ‘sheeple’ that the corporations so desperately want you to be. Do not succumb to inaction. Go to NumbersUSA.com, click some buttons, and let the your congressman know that you are there to reign down holy hell if they allow this Immigration Reform Bill to be passed!

John Coffey is the President of JobTabs, LLC.  Through JobTabs Job Search & Resume Builder, thousands of job seekers have taken control of their destiny in finding new and fulfilling careers. JobTabs Job Search & Resume Builder motivates job seekers by making the job search easier by a huge order of magnitude.  John Coffey can be reached via his website at JobTabs Job Search & Resume Builder, by email via jpcoffey at jobtabs.com, and by phone at 404-255-0248.

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