Job Hunting in USA on H-1B–Initial Screening, Telephonic and Face to Face Interview

 

Usually the selection process starts with Initial Screening by the recruiter. In initial screening, recruiter will call you on your phone and will go through your resume/cv verifying what you’ve mentioned in your resume/cv regarding your education background and work experience.

Recruiter might also setup a first telephonic interview with one of the technical staff member from recruiter’s technical interviewer’s panel, to make sure you score well in end client’s interview.

Technical interviews, be they telephonic or face to face, can include:

• Typical What-is questions – What is OOP?
• Copy-paste bookish questions – How IoC is different from DI?
• Real-life troubleshooting questions
• Scenario based problems

[ Click to view list of topics for Java Developer roles (under section “Selection and Interview Process” ]

Make sure you know every single thing that you’ve mentioned in your resume/cv.

Make sure you state clearly, if you are guessing some thing and are not sure about it, honesty is very very important in such interactions.

It is recommended to always go for the face to face interview option; it is far more effective than telephonic or video interviews. You can communicate more effectively when you are interacting directly, you can make long lasting impression, you can establish more effective connections.

Job Hunting in USA on H-1B–Preparing your Resume/CV

 

You should have to two sets of Resume/CV – a brief one and a detailed one. Wherever you apply, you should use your brief Resume/CV. If, they need more detail, they’ll ask you and then you can send them the detailed one.

You should not mention any personal information in your resume – like:

• Date of Birth
• Age
• Nationality
• Religion
• Race/Cast
• Passport#
• Marital Status
• Languages

As for your educational background – use terms that are known in USA. For example:

In USA	In Pakistan
School - Grades 1 - 5	Primary
School - Grades 6 - 8	Middle
School - Grades 9 & 10	Matric / Matriculation / SSC / O-Level
School - Grades 11 & 12	Inter / Intermediate / HSC / A-Level / FSC / FA

Do not mention the location of your School/College/University. For example:

B.S (Computer Engineering) in 2001 from Sir Syed University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi, Pakistan.

Similarly, in your work experience, do not mention the location of your workplace. For example:

Java Developer – May, 2001 to Mar, 2003 – Al Ghanem Net LLC, Karachi Pakistan.

If you have worked in companies who are known globally or in USA or have a representation in USA, then also mention them. For example:

Senior Software Engineer II – Northstar Technologies Inc. (Sibisoft Pvt Ltd)

Make sure, you have clearly mentioned following in your work experience:

• What role you played in each of the projects you worked on
• What technologies and tools you used in each of the projects

Make sure you’ve mentioned your primary email and mobile/cell number clearly on your resume/cv.

Why Request for Evidence (RFE)?–Recent Trends

 

On a mission to eradicate fraud, USCIS is increasingly responding to petitions with burdensome Requests for Evidence (RFE). Over the past years, different trends has been observed, such as:

End Client

The USCIS recently changed the format of their Requests for Evidence (RFE) for petitions where the employee is located at a client site. In the past, the focus of these types of RFEs centered around the employer/employee relationship, but now, they have started questioning whether the position at the end-client requires a minimum of a bachelor’s degree.

These RFEs seem to be targeted at IT staffing companies because they include language that says that the record indicates the petitioner “is in the business of locating persons with computer-related backgrounds and placing these individuals in positions with firms that use such personnel to complete their projects.”

The RFEs suggest that in order to overcome USCIS's doubts, employers must provide copies of signed contracts, master agreements, work orders, statements of work, services agreements and letters between the employer and authorized officials of the ultimate end-client companies and that these documents should contain a description of the duties, the requirements for the position, salary, hours worked, benefits and a brief description of who will supervise the employee.

Education

The USCIS has in the past has placed an emphasis on education and has been issuing RFE where they are asking about:

1. Education evaluation from a reputable evaluation company. Further, if the evaluation requires a combination of education and experience to equate to either a 4 year degree or a degree that is relevant to the position, the USCIS is requiring evidence establishing the evaluator's credentials and qualifications. It is important that Sponsors who sponsor H1B applicants with foreign degrees get their evaluations from credible evaluation companies and that they submit the evidence regarding the evaluator’s credentials and qualifications.
2. How a person’s degree relates to the position. They are questioning this more frequently so it is important to verify that there is either classwork or experience that an H1B applicant can show in order to prove that their education/experience is relevant to the position that is being filed for on their behalf.

Right to Control

The USCIS continues to question an employer’s ability to control their employee when that employee is located off-site. Further, they question the employer’s employer/employee relationship and how the employer intends to maintain this while the employee is working at a client site.

These doubts have been raised since the Neufeld memo was published in 2010. An end-client letter which states that the project/assignment will last for 3 years resolves this issue, but in most cases, end-clients are hesitant to issue these types of letters as they feel that it can be construed as a contractual commitment to that consultant and their employer.

Other Notable Observations

• Although additional scrutiny has affected companies of all types and sizes, those that design and/or produce products are not nearly as hard hit as companies that provide IT services.
• USCIS is increasingly tallying and tracking cases filed by each company. Companies that file a disproportionately high number of petitions relative to its overall headcount often face more burdensome RFEs.

List of Document required by H-1B Work Visa Sponsor

 

This post is a part of series of posts that makes up “The Complete Process Trail for H-1B Work Visa”.

Once you have accepted the Offer Letter from H-1B Work Visa Sponsor. You will be required to submit following information and scanned copies of documents for the processing:

Information Required

1. First Name
2. Middle Name
3. Last Name
4. Any other Names used
   
5. Email Address
6. Contact Number(s)
7. Date of Birth
8. Country of Birth
9. Province of Birth
10. Country of Citizenship
    
11. Passport #
12. Date Issued
13. Date of Expiry (MUST BE VALID FOR A MIN. OF 6 MONTHS TO 1 YEAR)
14. Consulate/Embassy (City) in your Country
15. Country
    
16. Ever been on H-1B visa before?
1. If yes then provide all dates of previous stay in From Date / To Date format
17. Social Security Number / SSN (if any)
    
18. Highest Level of Education Completed
19. Total Years of Experience in IT industry
    
20. Additional info for those who are already in USA
1. Date of Last Arrival
2. I-94#
3. Port of Entry
4. Current US Address
5. Current Status
6. Previous Receipt / Case Number

List of Documents

1. Scanned Color Copies of:
1. Passport (Biographic Pages)
2. Resume
3. All Diplomas / Certificates
4. Degrees and Transcripts (with Translation into English, if required)
5. Previous Work Experience / Job Reference Letters
6. Additional documents for those who are already in USA
1. Scanned Color Copies of:
1. I-94 with visible stamped date of entry
2. Previous Approval Notice(s)
3. Recent Pay Stubs

IMPORTANT – Please make sure you have Machine Readable Passport which must be valid for a min of one year.

H-1B Work Visa Sponsors and their Selection Process / Criteria

 

This post is First of a series of posts that makes up “The Complete Process Trail for H-1B Work Visa”.

How to find H-1B Work Visa Sponsors?

So how you will find an H-1B Sponsor who sponsor candidates with similar expertise and skill sets as yours? There are different ways in which H-1B Sponsors float sponsorship opportunities in the market.

1. Join Local Office for some duration  – Some sponsors publish their local job vacancies with H-1B sponsorship as an “added” advantage. So once you are selected, you will have to join their local office for a year or more (depending upon your specific case) and thereafter they’ll process your H-1B. Also, some sponsors tie the processing of H-1B sponsorship with your performance in their local office, so it is not necessary that once you joined their local office, you are also selected for the sponsorship as well.
   
   So, in order to find such sponsors, refer to my post “Companies who Sponsor H-1B Work Visa for USA in Pakistan” and follow Job Opportunities from these companies on:
   
   Rozee.pk
   pak-jobs-IT
   Company’s own website
   
2. Trusted References Only – Some sponsors do not float their ads directly in the local market, they work through their existing established local trusted references. So, in this case, you have to leverage upon the professional and social circle you are in. In my opinion, I could be wrong, professional networks like LinkedIn.com or Rozee.pk might help in this case. Because your complete professional profile is visible to your contacts and they can see if you are a good fit for the opportunity or not.

Selection and Interview Process

In first case above, the selection process is pretty much the same as with any other selection process for local Job Opportunities. Therefore, I’ll now discuss the second case in detail below.

If an H-1B sponsor is interested in your profile, they will schedule your technical interview. The interview duration will be 30 to 60 minutes in which you will be evaluated in following technical and non-technical areas:

1. Technology (Java/.Net/C++/etc)
1. Hashing
2. Serialization
3. Collections
4. Multi Threading / Concurrent Programming
5. Network Programming
6. JDBC
7. Exception Handling
8. etc.
2. OOP
3. Frameworks
1. IoC (Spring, etc.)
2. MVC Frameworks (Spring WebMVC, Struts 1/2, etc.)
3. ORM Frameworks (n/Hibernate, etc)
4. Web Services (REST, SOAP)
4. Databases
1. SQL
1. Joins
2. Sub Queries
3. Views
4. Stored Procedures / Functions
5. Triggers
6. Query Performance & Optimization
2. Transactions & Locking
3. Big Data Handling concepts like Sharding and Partitioning
4. High Availability concepts like Clustering, Replication, etc..
5. Problem Solving – Scenario based
6. Communication
1. Command over English Language
2. Clarity of Thoughts
3. Confidence
4. Attitude
5. Mental Presence and Attentiveness
6. Punctuality

Besides above, you can be asked about any thing that you have written in your resume/cv.

As far as interview scheduling is concern, you can either receive an email or a phone call confirming your interview time and date. They will also let you know how your interview will be taken i.e. it could be over:

1. Skype
2. Your landline or Mobile phone
3. Goto Meeting Session
4. etc.

The interview could be Audio only (most probably) or both Audio and Video. Some important tips for the interview are as follows:

1. Make sure you are online/ready 5 minutes before your scheduled time. Save yourself from the embarrassment of last minute hiccups.
2. Make sure you are in a safe and sound place, where you can attend your interview peacefully with out kind of interruptions.
3. If you are giving interview on Mobile Phone, make sure it is fully charged.
4. If you are giving interview on Skype or Goto Meeting or any online audio/video service, make sure your Mic/Speakers/WebCam/etc. are all working correctly. Better make test calls to make sure every thing is fine.
5. Speak naturally with a medium pace (not too fast, not too slow) and slightly louder than normal voice.
6. Avoid short answers and very long explanations. Be specific with enough details to satisfy the interviewer.
7. Be prepared for the time when they ask you “if you any questions for us?”, keep a couple or more questions handy for the that time.

You’ll probably be notified within a week about the result of your interview and whether you are shortlisted or not. You will either receive an email (most probably) or a phone call.

In my next post, I will discuss what will happen once you pass the scheduled interview and make it to the shortlisted candidate?

H-1B Work Visa–Recent Trends–Salary or Compensation

 

Salary brackets for fresh H-1B Candidates, who do not have any work experience in USA before, are as follows:

Developer (0 – 5 years of experience)
US$ 3,500 – 5,500 per month (Employment Contract)
OR
US$ 40 – 55 per hour (Consultant Contract)

Senior/Lead Developer (6+ years of experience)
US$ 5,500 – 7,000 per month (Employment Contract)
OR
US$ 55 – 80 per hour (Consultant Contract)

Why there’s a difference between Employment and Consultant Contract? please refer to my previous post which discuss the topic in detail.

In order to come up with a realistic estimate of your salary, you should consider following factors:

1. State & City/Area – Each state has a slightly different salary scale because they differ with others on following:
   1. Taxation Laws – Some tax more while others tax less
   2. Economic Activity – Some are Hub of economic activity while others are not
   3. Cost of Living – Some are cheaper while others are expensive
2. Client Profile – Whether your Client is a small or medium or large Enterprise OR it’s a fresh Start-up company (low funding or high funding?)
3. Quality of your Experience – Your foreign experience counts when you have worked for companies that have International presence of at-least presence in USA. On the other hand, if you have worked for companies who are unknown in USA market than you might not be able to leverage upon your experience.
4. Time of Entry – This is also important as to when you enter the USA job market. Whether it is a hiring season or not. Whether supply is adequate or there’s a high demand.
5. First Impression – The most important factor, if you were able to market yourself effectively in your interview/test/meeting there’s a bright chance that you can tip the scale in your favor.