Job situation in US

keerthanaS · Jan 7, 2010

Hello Friends,

I was on H4 and my H1B was approved in 2009. I am trying for jobs from the past 3 months in QA but I couldnt find any project. I heard that job market is improving but there are no calls.

Any one of you trying for jobs? Please share your experience

Regards
Keerthana

reshsabu · Jan 8, 2010

I gave it a shot last year and here is the idea i got based on interviews I attended.

If your H1 is filed by a consultant, you will be most probably eligible to take up corp-to-corp contracts and most clients want to avoid that ( I guess because they have to deal with the hassles of multiple-layers). The first priority of clients is to get direct-hires and they prefer folks with EAD/citizenship for that.

Another feedback I got directly from couple of consultants is that for contract positions( many of which are short term), since there are many H1 candidates to choose from, the clients dont prefer candidates with more than 2 months break in career.

I had a break of almost 1 yr at that time and a couple of consultants I spoke to said that they cant consider my resume because of the break.

Here in IL, I have read about many women getting jobs after several years of break in career.
So,I am not sure if the break is a problem for all employeers.

writeme · Jan 8, 2010

Few tips keerthana.. Dont send a generic resume to any opening you see; make appropriate modifications according to the job profile. Employers usually do a CTRL + F for certain keywords in the resume based on job profile, and choose resumes based on the search results. They will never have time to go in detail thru 100s of resumes they receive every day.

Also make sure you apply for jobs mostly in the morning, say from 8-9 am. Even if you find a job posting at 4 or 5 pm, wait till next day morning to apply. Usally many employers post the jobs in the evening before they leave and choose the top few resumes in their inbox next day morning. If you apply in the evening, you resume will be one of the last ones in the inbox, and if you apply in the morning, the probability of choosing your resume increases as it will be somewhere on top in the inbox.. This may not work in all scenarios, use ur discretion..

writeme · Jan 8, 2010

The website corp-corp.com is worth looking for contract jobs..

keerthanaS · Jan 9, 2010

reshsabu said: ↑

I gave it a shot last year and here is the idea i got based on interviews I attended.

If your H1 is filed by a consultant, you will be most probably eligible to take up corp-to-corp contracts and most clients want to avoid that ( I guess because they have to deal with the hassles of multiple-layers). The first priority of clients is to get direct-hires and they prefer folks with EAD/citizenship for that.

Another feedback I got directly from couple of consultants is that for contract positions( many of which are short term), since there are many H1 candidates to choose from, the clients dont prefer candidates with more than 2 months break in career.

I had a break of almost 1 yr at that time and a couple of consultants I spoke to said that they cant consider my resume because of the break.

Here in IL, I have read about many women getting jobs after several years of break in career.
So,I am not sure if the break is a problem for all employeers.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much reshsabu. I had 3 years experience in india so now I added another 3 years experience(fake) to my resume.I dont have any other option. I think the problem is about my communication skills.

keerthanaS · Jan 9, 2010

writeme said: ↑

Few tips keerthana.. Dont send a generic resume to any opening you see; make appropriate modifications according to the job profile. Employers usually do a CTRL + F for certain keywords in the resume based on job profile, and choose resumes based on the search results. They will never have time to go in detail thru 100s of resumes they receive every day.

Also make sure you apply for jobs mostly in the morning, say from 8-9 am. Even if you find a job posting at 4 or 5 pm, wait till next day morning to apply. Usally many employers post the jobs in the evening before they leave and choose the top few resumes in their inbox next day morning. If you apply in the evening, you resume will be one of the last ones in the inbox, and if you apply in the morning, the probability of choosing your resume increases as it will be somewhere on top in the inbox.. This may not work in all scenarios, use ur discretion..
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips writeme. Till now I was not modifying the resume based on the requirement. I will do that from now onwards.I am looking for jobs in dice and corp-corp.
Most of the time I am receiving calls from vendors but not clients :bonk.

mchillar · Jan 29, 2010

Thanks writeme...will do this form now on.
Even I have 3 yrs of exp in India and here 3 yrs is not even being considered
Getting frustrated..But still I am not gonna quit.
Will try and try with my 3 yrs...
All the Best...I hope we all will find a good job as early as possible...