Another Job Ad Seeking OPTs

In my last post, I noted a job ad (spotted by an alert reader of this blog), apparently for a position as an insurance agent, in which the employer was encouraging workers on the OPT portion of the foreign student visa to apply. My main point was that, for all the hoopla we are seeing about the Infosyses’ use of the H-1B work visa, any punitive measure will simply result in the Infosyses’ former clients then turning to hiring OPTs. Now the same alert reader reports another ad seeking OPTs, announced through the same employment service.

This ad is much more explicit about hiring OPTs:

About American Technology Consulting LLCH1B sponsorship for OPT candidates: 
We have sponsored many H1B’s for candidates on F1 Visa and have been consistent in receiving approvals of visas even though the quota for visas have been running out really quickly in the last few years. Our immigration team is top notch with a proven track record of consistency with approvals on applications for OPT candidates.

OPT Candidates looking for Training & Placement: We are also providing training for candidates with an interest to pursue a career in the IT field. We specialize in Business Analyst and Quality Analyst training and have placed a lot of candidates in this position. We are very interested in talking to candidates who need help. We have many positions currently open and would be excited to talk to you further to see if you would be a fit for the same.

This is for IT jobs, no prior background required:

Preferred Skills: 
Proven ability to work independently and as a team member.

Good communication (written and oral) and interpersonal skills.

Good organizational, multi-tasking, and time-management skills.
OPT/ CPT students and willing to relocate anywhere in the USA
Encourage an atmosphere of trust, openness and communication and an attitude based on working together and shared objectives.

The only concrete “qualification” seems to be being on OPT/CPT. So, just about any foreign student should qualify. OPT does require that the work be in the student’s field, but this could include lots of fields, certainly at least Business.

I’ve emphasized over the years that a major reason why H-1B and related programs are so attractive to employers is that it widens their pool of YOUNG job candidates, youth being important because of lower wage and benefits costs. This ad is titled “Quality Analyst – recent graduates preferred!”, and generously adds that “2015 graduates also can apply.”

In reply to a reader comment on my last post, I speculated that the judge in the case currently pending against the Bush/Obama OPT extension may be reluctant to cause “disruption” for OPT workers and their employers by making good on her promise to vacate the extension (i.e. dismantle it) if the government doesn’t meet her conditions by February 12. One reader took that to mean that I myself would consider such an event an unacceptable disruption. On the contrary, I told him today that if the OPTs are indeed sent home, he should immediately re-apply for a position he had been rejected for, in a group that apparently hires lots of OPTs from China.

In other words, OPT matters — a LOT. The Cruz/Sessions bill is the only one to do away with OPT. The bill is lying dormant for now, but in the event that the judge does vacate the extension, OPT is sure to become an urgent, priority issue in Congress — with lots of politicians lining up to codify OPT (extension and all) into actual law, in contrast to its current status as administrative action. That would at least give the Cruz/Sessions bill more attention.