A while back, I responded to a want ad on one of the job search sites.<\/p>\n
Within a couple of days, I got an email from a company called Ace IT<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n This company is peopled with nothing but Indians and probably owned by Indians as far as I can tell. It’s located in Austin, TX and after much back and forth, several “pre interviews\u201d and their highly unprofessional cancellation of one of their \u201cevaluations\u201d. They finally got round to admitting that the position I\u2019d applied for didn\u2019t actually exist, but for an undefined \u201cFee\u201d or fees they would accept me into their training after which I\u2019d be sure to get a job, and they\u2019d help…<\/p>\n In other words they wasted a ton of time trying to lure me into plunking out a bunch of cash to them buying \u201cTraining<\/em>\u201d then would in all likelihood not come through with any real position.<\/p>\n Based on my experience with them, I concluded they were a scam and disengaged.<\/p>\n Jump forward 4 months and they call again. They\u2019re routed to voice mail and within seconds of them leaving a voice mail, there\u2019s an email about the Software Quality Assurance position I \u201crecently\u201d applied for.<\/p>\n The email was addressed to \u201cundisclosed recipients\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Uh huh\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n The sender was a different person but the game was the same. In the intervening time, I have very specifically avoided anything to do with Ace IT <\/strong><\/em>so as not to waste my time.<\/p>\n Later in the day, I got another phone call that went to voice mail from yet another person, followed by the exact same email with a new sender\u2019s name. Again the email was addressed to \u201cundisclosed recipients\u201d.<\/p>\n I was mildly annoyed, and again wondered if I should write a letter to the Attorney General of Texas to report these apparent scam artists.<\/p>\n While pondering what I would put in such a letter, I wondered if this sudden resurgence of Ace IT<\/strong><\/em> was due to more or less recent moves within the federal government. Specifically those moves concerning H1B visas.<\/p>\n Then my annoyance turned to a big smile.<\/p>\n Staffing firms have in recent years become overwhelmingly Indian, even those that were known for decades in my industry as being useful and reliable.<\/p>\n I haven\u2019t spoken to a native English speaker at any recruitment firm for at least a decade.<\/p>\n Aerotek, who for years was my \u201cGoto\u201d staffing firm during the 1980s, \u201990\u2019 & 2000\u2019s has been overrun by Indian workers. Back in the day, I had a particular guy at Aerotek that kept me working with pretty continuous contracts. We\u2019d sometimes have lunch or meet for happy hour in Irvine. He\u2019s long since gone and I haven\u2019t spoken with anyone at Aerotek for at least a decade. I stopped dealing with them because they stopped being able to get me in front of hiring managers.<\/p>\n If Ace IT<\/em><\/strong> is desperate, and it appears that they are, it may mean that the Trump administration’s stance on H1B visas is having an impact. I love that.<\/p>\n If they\u2019re not going to be able to funnel low wage, low quality H1B people from India into American jobs, they\u2019re going to have to become a real recruiter or<\/strong> they\u2019re going to have to close their doors.<\/p>\n I vote for the latter. I really hate people playing bait & switch. Especially when their game pollutes the actual hiring pool and creates postings for jobs that aren\u2019t real.<\/p>\n I know I\u2019m sounding more nationalistic, but the fact of the matter is these firms are nothing more than obstructions to the real job market. I\u2019d like to see them all investigated for fraud and where applicable deportation or criminal proceedings.<\/p>\n The H1B system has been abused for decades and I\u2019m all for it being completely reworked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A while back, I responded to a want ad on one of the job search sites. Within a couple of days, I got an email from a company called Ace IT. This company is peopled with nothing but Indians and probably owned by Indians as far as I can tell. It’s located in Austin, TX … <\/p>\n