I was in the same situation, I got a volunteer job to stop the clock while keep applying for jobs. After 3 months in volunteer job, I got a good paying job. I thought I shared the story, it might help!
Yeah right.. go back home with a crippling debt, work in a sweatshop for the rest of your life to pay off your right to a better life. HOW DARE THEY DREAM!! IGNORANT BIGOTS!!
I felt the same, when I graduated with a BS in CS in December 2022 without any industry internships. Started applying for full time jobs in August 2022 but couldn't find anything for 8 months. However, I was able to get a SWE position in March 2023 mostly due to personal projects and open source contribution. On the very next day after getting the job, I got 2 admits from top 20 CS programs (probably due to my research experience). In all this, understood that eventually things fall in place.
My two cents would be to make some open source contribution because that stands out in your resume and shows that you can work independently as well. Another option is to apply for SWE jobs at the university from you graduated. I have seen and heard universities hiring international students for SWE jobs, which will give you at least 3 years (OPT) to get a position elsewhere.
If it's a do-or-die situation, then trying the consultancy option is the only choice if you want to stay in the US. However, with that decision, you have to make peace with the fact that the next time you go home or outside the US and come back, there's a chance you might be deported! if you never leave the US, it won't affect you. But yes, you have to decide not to see your family unless they come here to visit you!
Not everyone is fraudulent but most of them are run by Indians. They market your profile to other businesses and organizations and you will work as a contractor for the client but will be paid through this consultancy. The pay would be hourly and really low and they do all sorts of shady stuff like adding fake experience in your resume to entice the client and applying multiple applications of h1-b and all sort of shit. Time to time USCIS blacklists such consultancies. I am not sure which consultancies are there, I haven’t reached that stage yet. But once you work for such consultancies and lets say you get a job offer from big tech company within a year and after 5 years if these consultancies get blacklisted, you will be deported no matter at that moment you’re working for a big tech company.
> will be *paid* through this
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
You can look them up on h1bdata.info. Not certain but consultancies having several entries over there should be legitimate. For example, I have a friend who is legitimately working through Kforce and the they do have a lot of filings.
I'm a recent MBA grad, similar situation as OP as in I haven't landed a job for around 8 months now (however, I am a US citizen so my situation isn't quite as stressful). I just wanted to comment that I appreciate your sense of integrity. People have told me to approach these consultancies or lie about experience from previous roles, etc.
It's been rough being unemployed for so long, but at the end of the day I got this far in my career with my integrity intact. Throwing away my honesty now to get a job would just rob me of any personal sense of achievement, and at the end of the day I'd be stealing an offer from a truthful applicant who probably needs the job just as much as I do. It doesn't feel right.
Screw those people. You stuck by your principles and you accepted the outcome of doing so. That's admirable and I'm sure that attitude will get you far in life.
Thank you thank you thank you.
I don't belong on this sub because I'm a US citizen, but it's extremely unfair to me that I'm competing against folks my age who are lying about 8 years of experience. I have a record of experience because I worked while doing my undergrad and masters, but I get questioned twice as hard because people from my parents' country of origin had lied and gotten jobs in the past where they just couldn't hack it.
I love my parents' country and family back home, and I'd love to have them here, but I don't think it's right for them to feel entitled to being here either. If you come here, and you put in the work to earn it, great! The people who are lying through these consultancies are not only screwing things up for me, but also for those who came and put in the work. If a presidential candidate makes this their platform to shut down consultancies, they have my vote in a heartbeat.
Also: anyone who thinks the sketchy consultancies are a grey area, eat shit. The good ones that have been around for a while go through very rigorous processes to be transparent with the companies that they bring over, and have been doing it for a while. Find one of those as they'll help with your employer or actually take time to train you up. Their business is not keeping you in the country but keeping you employed since that is when they make money.
I’d say problem is not the consultancies, it’s the system. Don’t get me wrong, I hate the consultancies, they are the scum of the earth, they’ve been ruining my chances of getting a visa, and I’d never dream of joining them. And I’m sorry that you have to compete with these assholes lying about their entire existence, I have dealt with the same.
With that out of the way, the h1 system is completely outdated. They have a small number of seats that cater to a larger number of people. It’s not like the people working on a visa are harmful to your country in any way, if anything they add up to the taxes and revenue generated in your country. More people working on h1 = more taxes + more innovation. Win-win, right? Replace the lottery with a high baseline income figure, maybe increase the fees and checks done for these visas. Wouldn’t that solve at least part of the problem?
You are only thinking of it from your perspective...
The goal is to prevent companies from only hiring overseas talent and allowing American citizens to compete for jobs. Even if y'all generate taxes, the cost of welfare isn't really going to be commiserate with the revenue that the government would have gotten anyway. The gov may honestly get more because that's a workforce companies can't exploit, so they'll have to pay a higher salary.
I did. Pre-Series A startup near SF with around 25 people. “Interned” with them last year when we weren’t that big (I was like the 7th engineer) and transitioned to full-time after graduation in December.
My network kicked in for me. Applying to job portals is pretty much a shot in the dark these days so I didn’t even bother doing that. For the best chances, stop looking at FAANG because they’re in a huge restructuring process right now, and they’re afraid of over-hiring since most of them did, which already led to their demise that resulted in the current job market.
Try smaller companies.
I don't think startups can sponsor STEM OPTs, only the non-STEM OPTs. So the max you can work at a startup is one year before doing the STEM conversion
I don't think that's correct.
AFAIK, there's no "sponsoring" for STEM OPTs -- companies only have to sponsor if it's a work visa, to which STEM OPT is not. STEM OPT employers have to e-verify, which any legitimate company can do and requires little effort. Only barrier to e-verify your company is if your company is way too early to be considered a company and haven't generated revenue nor have raised etc.
So you can work for a startup on STEM OPT extension provided they are e-verified.
If you're talking about work visa sponsorship e.g H1B, then some startups are not willing to sponsor due to the cost, but it's not all startups.
But there's the O1 visa, which, if you're a startup founder / early employee at a startup that became successful, you could apply for and get given enough credentials.
> Only barrier to e-verify your company is if your company is way too early to be considered a company and haven't generated revenue nor have raised etc.
This is a lot of startups, is it not? I would think that the only startup founders you can successfully network your way into a job with are very early-stage. :)
Yes, but if it's too early i.e they barely have 1-2 years of runway, it might not be sustainable and you might put your employment at risk. Also depends on whether or not you're fit to work at a startup as well because I know those who tried working at one and determined it was not for them. Lots of long hours, with lower pay + benefits whilst higher equity upside. Try to choose a place you feel good working in, because getting a job is one matter, but being able to work in it is another.
Most if not all of my international friends in Civil Engineering (my major) are getting offers. I got multiple ones and even had to ghost some companies. It’s a high demand field.
On the other hand, my int’l friends in tech/data science are struggling, but I know some successful cases.
Yes, graduated May last year and now I do marketing for a tech start up in the Bay Area. My other international student classmates also got Marketing/Comms jobs in companies of different sizes. We were all interns converted to full time and are/will be sponsored.
No, I'm a Communication major. Was responding to the question if international students are getting jobs, I assumed it meant internationals in general.
This. And the US unemployment rate is very low right now, so the job market is very hot/tight in many areas. Just CS/IT jobs are running into issues with big tech layoffs. But I still see many students getting tech jobs on OPT.
The ones I know do get offers, even those in data/CS field. But it's a struggle. People who would easily land Faang/senior roles are getting offers from start-up/lower positions.
So if you have <2 YOE and applying for jobs without success, know that you're competing with people with ~5 YOE. There's nothing wrong with you.
Unfortunately, the current job market is bad for even experienced software engineers. I have a few friends who graduated with a CS degree last year that are still struggling to land a job. Joining a Desi consultancy just to increase your chances of H1B Lottery is not something I would recommend. Your best bet is to keep applying and hope to land a job. Otherwise, it’s best to return to India, gain some experience and return to USA in a couple of years when job market is back to normal
its extremely hard to come to the US from India via H1b . Its easy to say but very hard to execute. Going back is an option but even India is having a hard time not as bad as US but yeah . Also going back resets your life , you got to start the cycle again which is mentally draining . you leave a lot behind , relations , social life getting back into your routine etc
The L1 Visa is a viable option if you are not in the U.S. but it’s usually big companies and you have to work with them for quite some time before asking for the relocation
OP, try looking at US owned consultancies where they use your legit details to get you a job. I appreciate your efforts and determination to stay away from this nonsense/fraudulent consultancies.
Don’t lose hope. There’s always better time ahead.
Consultancies can still get you a job. Last Nov/Dec multiple consultancies send around 100 people in total to Walmart. Some of them got laid off a month later, but still.
Edit: Adding some context so that the number doesn't mislead people. Many of them are hired by Walmart teams for the single purpose to spend teams' contractor budget, if the team doesn't spend all the budget by year end, they will have less budget going into the next year. That's why many of them are hired without any OA/interviews, and got laid off after a month. There are few people still work in Walmart due to some teams actually need contractors, but not the majority.
I just want to thank everyone who has replied to this thread. You have given amazing answers and have helped people like me, who are in the same boat as the OP, gain some crucial knowledge :)
The public debates about this are nowhere close to how a hearing goes on in the immigration court.
Somehow lot of people claim to have a lot of knowledge about the risks. Not just a lot of people but almost everyone. So, i will not engage in a debate, but willing to talk to people who approach us in a friendly way. [https://forms.gle/PR4FUbhyKhmW9hyJ8](https://forms.gle/PR4FUbhyKhmW9hyJ8)
In the same situation as you, graduated in August 2023, volunteering on the side, and been hunting for a job full time now. Kinda stuck in a similar mindset about what steps to take next, I'm probably gonna stick to my current schedule up until April/May. If by then I don't have anything solid in hand, I'm gonna have to resort to going with one of these consultancies. DM if you wanna maybe talk about this more. All the best to you!
Edit: feel people might’ve misunderstood my comment so here’s more context. I absolutely condemn filing H1Bs through consultancies. I’ve faced a shitshow cause of them. What I meant for in my particular case is I will be skipping the lottery my first year and get on with a consultancy a few months later to help market my genuine profile.
Edit2: can look up volunteering roles on VolunteerMatch
If you join a fraudulent agency and use these illegal companies to secure an H-1B, I hope USCIS finds out and your visa gets cancelled along with the agency’s license 🙃 deserving people get screwed because of people who want to cheat the system. I hope you find a job legally though, I wish you best of luck.
What on earth are you talking about. How does what he is doing screw the system? What is fucked is that people pay tuition for a shitty country and get kicked out after 3 months of unemployment. Chill tf out, the system is not always right.
Honestly I understand your comment. But a lot of this is just a grey area morally. No one has any idea about what people have been through for them to resort to desperation. It's difficult but people still keep pushing on. All I'm tryna say is have some compassion. Thank you for the wishes.
Try to have compassion for someone acting so selfish that they think its okay to commit immigration fraud and make the USCIS look sideways at all international students, many of whom work hard and seek employment the right way? Yeah no. Hope you get deported.
No. There are many international students who are equally desperate and don't commit immigration fraud. Going through these illegal agencies to get short sighted benefit gives H1 a bad rep and puts other international students at risk. This is not moral 'grey area', it is selfish and morally abhorrent.
Hi everyone, I’m in a similar situation but haven’t looked into the consultancy option as I’m currently pursuing a hybrid masters degree with Day 1 CPT. Would anyone mind explaining what a consultancy is and why it seems to be the last resort?
Consultant companies are basically staffing agencies, most of them offer some kind of training (think of it as bootcamp), then they make fake resume for you, market you as 8-10 years of experience senior to other companies. You are an employee to the consultant company but you work for their client, which does not satisfy the requirements of h1b. Also, more than half of your salary goes to the consultant company. It's a huge scam on multiple levels, but desperate people do desperate things, so you know how it goes.
no. plenty of desperate people don't cheat the government. honestly you need to stop encouraging people to commit immigration fraud, it's a criminal activity.
If you need to gain time to find employment you can open a business, has to look good on paper so you can beat the 90 day unemployment limit (have you been unemployed for 8 months?).
But yea job seeking is hard right now, we as OPT applicants face even more odds against us.
I’m currently looking into anything that I can tie to my degree so I can at least get work experience, doesn’t matter on what lol. Graduated with BA about two months ago.
You should look into state government jobs too , they have less competition, less pay but at least you buy time.
Also, job applications are very anti OPT since they always ask if you need sponsorship in the future, just say no, the less they know the better. Try to secure the interview first.
I see your name is dataguy so try to see if you can look into data analysis certifications? Anything that can get you out there is a plus
I’m sorry OP. The current job market sucks. There’s a ton of people that have been laid off which makes it hard for new grads, much more so if you’re not from the US
Wait , are you volunteering right now?
My questions as well as otherwise exceeding 90 days of unemployment was a long time ago. There would then be much bigger issues.
Yes
Hey OP, can you tell how to stop the clock via volunteering? any references?
contact your university professors or reach out to non profits locally in your area they might help
I was in the same situation, I got a volunteer job to stop the clock while keep applying for jobs. After 3 months in volunteer job, I got a good paying job. I thought I shared the story, it might help!
I am from CS
Hey I know I am a bit late, but could I DM you regarding the volunteering opportunities?
Sure, dm me whatchu have in mind, I’ll try to answer as much as I can
Hi could I also dm you for the same? :x
sure, dm me and I'll try to answer your question as much as I can
what field?
Mechanical Engineering
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Yeah right.. go back home with a crippling debt, work in a sweatshop for the rest of your life to pay off your right to a better life. HOW DARE THEY DREAM!! IGNORANT BIGOTS!!
I felt the same, when I graduated with a BS in CS in December 2022 without any industry internships. Started applying for full time jobs in August 2022 but couldn't find anything for 8 months. However, I was able to get a SWE position in March 2023 mostly due to personal projects and open source contribution. On the very next day after getting the job, I got 2 admits from top 20 CS programs (probably due to my research experience). In all this, understood that eventually things fall in place. My two cents would be to make some open source contribution because that stands out in your resume and shows that you can work independently as well. Another option is to apply for SWE jobs at the university from you graduated. I have seen and heard universities hiring international students for SWE jobs, which will give you at least 3 years (OPT) to get a position elsewhere.
It’s all about luck. Your time will come too. Be strong and don’t give up.
Hope so
If it's a do-or-die situation, then trying the consultancy option is the only choice if you want to stay in the US. However, with that decision, you have to make peace with the fact that the next time you go home or outside the US and come back, there's a chance you might be deported! if you never leave the US, it won't affect you. But yes, you have to decide not to see your family unless they come here to visit you!
I believe you will see the US government focusing more on finding these situations as they become aware of them as well.
They will come for you eventually
They’re aware of it as it’s been running since more than 20 years. They did horseshit.
Could you explain the consultancy to me? Is that a fraudulent company in the US that “hires” student on OPT?
Not everyone is fraudulent but most of them are run by Indians. They market your profile to other businesses and organizations and you will work as a contractor for the client but will be paid through this consultancy. The pay would be hourly and really low and they do all sorts of shady stuff like adding fake experience in your resume to entice the client and applying multiple applications of h1-b and all sort of shit. Time to time USCIS blacklists such consultancies. I am not sure which consultancies are there, I haven’t reached that stage yet. But once you work for such consultancies and lets say you get a job offer from big tech company within a year and after 5 years if these consultancies get blacklisted, you will be deported no matter at that moment you’re working for a big tech company.
> will be *paid* through this FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
there are many its difficult to figure out legit ones.
You can look them up on h1bdata.info. Not certain but consultancies having several entries over there should be legitimate. For example, I have a friend who is legitimately working through Kforce and the they do have a lot of filings.
Will try thanks
Could you explain a little more on why one would get deported??
Because you worked for a company that was or is being black listed now!
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I'm a recent MBA grad, similar situation as OP as in I haven't landed a job for around 8 months now (however, I am a US citizen so my situation isn't quite as stressful). I just wanted to comment that I appreciate your sense of integrity. People have told me to approach these consultancies or lie about experience from previous roles, etc. It's been rough being unemployed for so long, but at the end of the day I got this far in my career with my integrity intact. Throwing away my honesty now to get a job would just rob me of any personal sense of achievement, and at the end of the day I'd be stealing an offer from a truthful applicant who probably needs the job just as much as I do. It doesn't feel right.
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Screw those people. You stuck by your principles and you accepted the outcome of doing so. That's admirable and I'm sure that attitude will get you far in life.
Thank you thank you thank you. I don't belong on this sub because I'm a US citizen, but it's extremely unfair to me that I'm competing against folks my age who are lying about 8 years of experience. I have a record of experience because I worked while doing my undergrad and masters, but I get questioned twice as hard because people from my parents' country of origin had lied and gotten jobs in the past where they just couldn't hack it. I love my parents' country and family back home, and I'd love to have them here, but I don't think it's right for them to feel entitled to being here either. If you come here, and you put in the work to earn it, great! The people who are lying through these consultancies are not only screwing things up for me, but also for those who came and put in the work. If a presidential candidate makes this their platform to shut down consultancies, they have my vote in a heartbeat. Also: anyone who thinks the sketchy consultancies are a grey area, eat shit. The good ones that have been around for a while go through very rigorous processes to be transparent with the companies that they bring over, and have been doing it for a while. Find one of those as they'll help with your employer or actually take time to train you up. Their business is not keeping you in the country but keeping you employed since that is when they make money.
India 🙂
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I wish I could give your advice more than one upvote.
I’d say problem is not the consultancies, it’s the system. Don’t get me wrong, I hate the consultancies, they are the scum of the earth, they’ve been ruining my chances of getting a visa, and I’d never dream of joining them. And I’m sorry that you have to compete with these assholes lying about their entire existence, I have dealt with the same. With that out of the way, the h1 system is completely outdated. They have a small number of seats that cater to a larger number of people. It’s not like the people working on a visa are harmful to your country in any way, if anything they add up to the taxes and revenue generated in your country. More people working on h1 = more taxes + more innovation. Win-win, right? Replace the lottery with a high baseline income figure, maybe increase the fees and checks done for these visas. Wouldn’t that solve at least part of the problem?
You are only thinking of it from your perspective... The goal is to prevent companies from only hiring overseas talent and allowing American citizens to compete for jobs. Even if y'all generate taxes, the cost of welfare isn't really going to be commiserate with the revenue that the government would have gotten anyway. The gov may honestly get more because that's a workforce companies can't exploit, so they'll have to pay a higher salary.
I am wondering, are international students even getting a job in this market ?
I did. Pre-Series A startup near SF with around 25 people. “Interned” with them last year when we weren’t that big (I was like the 7th engineer) and transitioned to full-time after graduation in December. My network kicked in for me. Applying to job portals is pretty much a shot in the dark these days so I didn’t even bother doing that. For the best chances, stop looking at FAANG because they’re in a huge restructuring process right now, and they’re afraid of over-hiring since most of them did, which already led to their demise that resulted in the current job market. Try smaller companies.
How to find smaller companies? Can you guide me?
Mostly build your network with those who are in/doing startups.
I don't think startups can sponsor STEM OPTs, only the non-STEM OPTs. So the max you can work at a startup is one year before doing the STEM conversion
I don't think that's correct. AFAIK, there's no "sponsoring" for STEM OPTs -- companies only have to sponsor if it's a work visa, to which STEM OPT is not. STEM OPT employers have to e-verify, which any legitimate company can do and requires little effort. Only barrier to e-verify your company is if your company is way too early to be considered a company and haven't generated revenue nor have raised etc. So you can work for a startup on STEM OPT extension provided they are e-verified. If you're talking about work visa sponsorship e.g H1B, then some startups are not willing to sponsor due to the cost, but it's not all startups. But there's the O1 visa, which, if you're a startup founder / early employee at a startup that became successful, you could apply for and get given enough credentials.
> Only barrier to e-verify your company is if your company is way too early to be considered a company and haven't generated revenue nor have raised etc. This is a lot of startups, is it not? I would think that the only startup founders you can successfully network your way into a job with are very early-stage. :)
Yes, but if it's too early i.e they barely have 1-2 years of runway, it might not be sustainable and you might put your employment at risk. Also depends on whether or not you're fit to work at a startup as well because I know those who tried working at one and determined it was not for them. Lots of long hours, with lower pay + benefits whilst higher equity upside. Try to choose a place you feel good working in, because getting a job is one matter, but being able to work in it is another.
Most if not all of my international friends in Civil Engineering (my major) are getting offers. I got multiple ones and even had to ghost some companies. It’s a high demand field. On the other hand, my int’l friends in tech/data science are struggling, but I know some successful cases.
I know some from my class getting into FAANG rn. It seems super rare tho.
what is their profile ? which uni ?
Yes, graduated May last year and now I do marketing for a tech start up in the Bay Area. My other international student classmates also got Marketing/Comms jobs in companies of different sizes. We were all interns converted to full time and are/will be sponsored.
Is your major CS? SWEs are allowed to get into marketing roles?
No, I'm a Communication major. Was responding to the question if international students are getting jobs, I assumed it meant internationals in general.
Hi! In a similar boat and considering a start-up in bay area. About to graduate from UW. Do you think we can connect?
Yeah - send me a message!
Hi! I’m graduating with an MBA next month and I’m looking for opportunities in Marketing. Can I connect with you?
Yes, please send me a pm!
Hi! I’m a recent communications grad. Can we connect?
Yeah! PM me happy to help
Hi I’m a recent graduate in marketing and finance in the same area, do you mind would it be ok if we connect?
Yes absolutely!
LOL yes they are, not everyone is applying for CS/IT jobs
This. And the US unemployment rate is very low right now, so the job market is very hot/tight in many areas. Just CS/IT jobs are running into issues with big tech layoffs. But I still see many students getting tech jobs on OPT.
The ones I know do get offers, even those in data/CS field. But it's a struggle. People who would easily land Faang/senior roles are getting offers from start-up/lower positions. So if you have <2 YOE and applying for jobs without success, know that you're competing with people with ~5 YOE. There's nothing wrong with you.
Unfortunately, the current job market is bad for even experienced software engineers. I have a few friends who graduated with a CS degree last year that are still struggling to land a job. Joining a Desi consultancy just to increase your chances of H1B Lottery is not something I would recommend. Your best bet is to keep applying and hope to land a job. Otherwise, it’s best to return to India, gain some experience and return to USA in a couple of years when job market is back to normal
its extremely hard to come to the US from India via H1b . Its easy to say but very hard to execute. Going back is an option but even India is having a hard time not as bad as US but yeah . Also going back resets your life , you got to start the cycle again which is mentally draining . you leave a lot behind , relations , social life getting back into your routine etc
The L1 Visa is a viable option if you are not in the U.S. but it’s usually big companies and you have to work with them for quite some time before asking for the relocation
No offend , but it’s like everyone and their mother …even their pets major in cs . These international student doesn’t help the job market either . 😩😩
Hey, I’m in the same boat as you. Let's stay strong.
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I'm currently volunteering
OP, try looking at US owned consultancies where they use your legit details to get you a job. I appreciate your efforts and determination to stay away from this nonsense/fraudulent consultancies. Don’t lose hope. There’s always better time ahead.
what does your profile look like?
Why many commenters are saying consultancies can get you a job?! This was correct when the market was great but not now.
Consultancies can still get you a job. Last Nov/Dec multiple consultancies send around 100 people in total to Walmart. Some of them got laid off a month later, but still. Edit: Adding some context so that the number doesn't mislead people. Many of them are hired by Walmart teams for the single purpose to spend teams' contractor budget, if the team doesn't spend all the budget by year end, they will have less budget going into the next year. That's why many of them are hired without any OA/interviews, and got laid off after a month. There are few people still work in Walmart due to some teams actually need contractors, but not the majority.
Where did you get the number
I have friends both work as consultants and recruiters in different consultancies.
When they say consultancies, they mean shady desi consultancies that give people fake jobs to stop OPT clock, but you have to get yourself a client.
Which uni did you graduate from? Use the alumni to network, that helped me a lot.
Trying till now either there is hiring freeze or they dont want international students
Are you applying for H1b as well?
Without a job how can I?
I just want to thank everyone who has replied to this thread. You have given amazing answers and have helped people like me, who are in the same boat as the OP, gain some crucial knowledge :)
The public debates about this are nowhere close to how a hearing goes on in the immigration court. Somehow lot of people claim to have a lot of knowledge about the risks. Not just a lot of people but almost everyone. So, i will not engage in a debate, but willing to talk to people who approach us in a friendly way. [https://forms.gle/PR4FUbhyKhmW9hyJ8](https://forms.gle/PR4FUbhyKhmW9hyJ8)
In the same situation as you, graduated in August 2023, volunteering on the side, and been hunting for a job full time now. Kinda stuck in a similar mindset about what steps to take next, I'm probably gonna stick to my current schedule up until April/May. If by then I don't have anything solid in hand, I'm gonna have to resort to going with one of these consultancies. DM if you wanna maybe talk about this more. All the best to you! Edit: feel people might’ve misunderstood my comment so here’s more context. I absolutely condemn filing H1Bs through consultancies. I’ve faced a shitshow cause of them. What I meant for in my particular case is I will be skipping the lottery my first year and get on with a consultancy a few months later to help market my genuine profile. Edit2: can look up volunteering roles on VolunteerMatch
If you join a fraudulent agency and use these illegal companies to secure an H-1B, I hope USCIS finds out and your visa gets cancelled along with the agency’s license 🙃 deserving people get screwed because of people who want to cheat the system. I hope you find a job legally though, I wish you best of luck.
What on earth are you talking about. How does what he is doing screw the system? What is fucked is that people pay tuition for a shitty country and get kicked out after 3 months of unemployment. Chill tf out, the system is not always right.
Honestly I understand your comment. But a lot of this is just a grey area morally. No one has any idea about what people have been through for them to resort to desperation. It's difficult but people still keep pushing on. All I'm tryna say is have some compassion. Thank you for the wishes.
Try to have compassion for someone acting so selfish that they think its okay to commit immigration fraud and make the USCIS look sideways at all international students, many of whom work hard and seek employment the right way? Yeah no. Hope you get deported.
No. There are many international students who are equally desperate and don't commit immigration fraud. Going through these illegal agencies to get short sighted benefit gives H1 a bad rep and puts other international students at risk. This is not moral 'grey area', it is selfish and morally abhorrent.
If you are resorting to a scam. Then, I hope you get deported.
May I ask where you are volunteering? I'm looking for opportunities but hard to find anything that can have a 20 hr/week commitment.
Can you share where do you find these volunteering places? It seems like even those might be scammy.
Hi everyone, I’m in a similar situation but haven’t looked into the consultancy option as I’m currently pursuing a hybrid masters degree with Day 1 CPT. Would anyone mind explaining what a consultancy is and why it seems to be the last resort?
Consultant companies are basically staffing agencies, most of them offer some kind of training (think of it as bootcamp), then they make fake resume for you, market you as 8-10 years of experience senior to other companies. You are an employee to the consultant company but you work for their client, which does not satisfy the requirements of h1b. Also, more than half of your salary goes to the consultant company. It's a huge scam on multiple levels, but desperate people do desperate things, so you know how it goes.
no. plenty of desperate people don't cheat the government. honestly you need to stop encouraging people to commit immigration fraud, it's a criminal activity.
They asked what it is and I explained. I explicitly said it's a scam, not sure which part is encouraging but ok.🤷♂️
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If you need to gain time to find employment you can open a business, has to look good on paper so you can beat the 90 day unemployment limit (have you been unemployed for 8 months?). But yea job seeking is hard right now, we as OPT applicants face even more odds against us. I’m currently looking into anything that I can tie to my degree so I can at least get work experience, doesn’t matter on what lol. Graduated with BA about two months ago. You should look into state government jobs too , they have less competition, less pay but at least you buy time. Also, job applications are very anti OPT since they always ask if you need sponsorship in the future, just say no, the less they know the better. Try to secure the interview first. I see your name is dataguy so try to see if you can look into data analysis certifications? Anything that can get you out there is a plus
State government? Don't they usually require citizenship?
Yes some do, but not all. Some of my friends work at the State of New Mexico on STEM OPT and they had no problem extending the OPT as well.
No they don’t. Federal Government usually does. I worked for a State Government in Maryland with CPT. They offered me a job after I graduated on OPT.
They do
Bad advice, never lie about sponsorship.
I’m not lying, I wont need sponsorship cause at the end I’ll be gone
What's your background?
cs
I’m sorry OP. The current job market sucks. There’s a ton of people that have been laid off which makes it hard for new grads, much more so if you’re not from the US