Turns out, my friend V, a contractor from India, got on the horn and put me in touch with various agencies he's worked with, primarily geared toward H1B visa talent. He said that there's a lot of lying in this business -- lying about your skills, not just bloating or puffing up your resume, but seriously lying about having skills you don't have. Thus, anyone who comes recommended, with whom someone's worked closely before, is a better risk than someone who doesn't. Of course, the lying goes on there, too -- lying about the recommendation.
The actual rates have not been less than what u.s. recruiters typically offer, either. Although, contrary to the kind of pseudo negotiation that goes on in these screens, no such thing typically happens as real negotiation. So, depending on whether I was that interested or not, I'll throw out whatever I think would make it worth it to live in Minneapolis or Phoenix or Denver for 6 months. The screener usually laughs and tells me the rate.
Why they bother, I don't know. I guess they're hoping that I will say lower than their top dollar.
Anyway, some folks have asked about this: where the push down on wages comes from, I don't know. In other words, this supposed push down on wages b/c of people from India competing for jobs -- it doesn't seem to exist. Of course, they may be offering me a different wage than they offer someone from India. But then again, V's brother's at Nike in Portland, raking in $75/hr for Java work. *shrug*
Michael Pollak also said something about changes in h1b visa recruiting. What were the numbers in the past and have they significantly reduced them in the last 8 years?
shag
http://cleandraws.com Wear Clean Draws ('coz there's 5 million ways to kill a CEO)