Recruitment - Michigan Collegiate Job Fair

I had signed up for this large recruitment event for March 23rd that was going to be held at Barton Manor in which 900 college students were going to attend.  I paid $1620 and signed up for advertising in their magazine and for a booth for recruitment.  I was actually on a trip to Hawaii during that time and I was going to cut my trip short, and come back just to recruit some recent college graduates.

Then I get the below email from the coordinator:

________________________________________________________________

Good Morning Vijay,

In processing your registration for the upcoming Michigan Collegiate Job Fair, I noticed that your organization is specifically looking for recent Master level graduates to do an internship with your organization followed by placement. I also see that those candidates who are not master level graduates will be charged $1500-$2500 for services provided. In reviewing your website and and the type of candidates you are seeking, I'm don't believe this fair will be the best venue for you in terms of recruiting candidates. This fair will primarily consist of graduating seniors (undergraduate) and recent alumni who is not your target population.

I will keep your contact information on file and notify you of any future opportunities that may arise that would be a better fit.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

__________________________________________________________

I called this young lady and explained to her our process and what we can do for these students.  She listened, but not really listened.

I saw the list of employers that are coming and if you are a recent graduate and  I can guarantee you that the job opportunities that are available will be in the $30,000-$50,000 with very slow advancement.

With us, we will pay $56,000 first year and by second year our employees will be close to $100,000.  Unless you got a job with one of the big consulting companies at these career events there is no way any opportunity they provide will come even close to what we can provide.

I was telling this young lady about the opportunity we provide and how much our employees make by second year, and she heard me, and completely ignored everything I told her, and then said that since I do not offer a position right away and that a position was not guaranteed after the training then I could not recruit at their event.

I can correlate this to an event that happened when I was a child.  I wanted this car racing set that also had a train set integrated into it.  We went to the toy store and they were all sold out, but there was another set that was just a car racing set without the train.  My mom told me to wait and they would buy it again when it came back in stock.  But I told my mom that I wanted that toy right away and I was unwilling to wait.  Even though I knew that waiting was the better option, I was unwilling to wait, and I got my car racing set.

These students are not children anymore, so would you take an entry level job paying $30,000-$50,000 a year now and take ten years to get to the $100,000 range or take training for 90 days with me, and get a chance to make $100,000 by the second year.   I assume that most of the students are not small children anymore and they will choose my option when they hear what I have to offer.

OK, fellow American kids, I tried my best to recruit and train you for free and then place you into high paying IT jobs, but other Americans are holding me back and not even giving me a chance to help you.  I will NOT make any extra effort anymore to recruit you guys at jobs fairs.  You will have to come and find me, if you want my help.

I really like and want to help Americans succeed in the IT sector.  There are currently 2,000,000 IT jobs that are currently unfilled, because there are no people available with that skill set that companies are looking for.

I guess I can just keep helping all these F1 students that come to me and be happy with that, but.... There is something that wants me to help these American Students that simply do not understand how to get high paying jobs.  The kids at Princeton, Yale and Harvard will always do fine, but for you kids from Central Michigan University, Eastern Michigan University and Western Michigan University, I would say that the large majority of you need my help to get a high paying job.

In life it is very easy to get a job that pays below $50,000 but to move to the next level of $100,000 and above you need my help.

He works like an American!

I got this comment about one of my employees.  What does this mean?  I trained an African American student that had dropped out of college and was working as a front desk clerk in IT and placed him in a Fortune 500 company.  I had another employee there already and when I asked her how my recent employee was doing.  Her comment was, "He works like an American." 

In the consulting world, when you work with most Indian Consulting companies, they bid very aggressively to get projects and the Indian consultants know this.  They know that they are expected to work nights and weekends without compensation so that the project can be delivered on time and budget.

Since most of my students are new in the field and relatively young, I hope that they realize how important it is to work, night and day for a few years.  Money should be secondary, experience is what is important.

To work like an American is to work 9-5 and that is it.  You can get back to working like an American after a few years of real experience, but until then, work like an Indian or a Chinese.

By the way my employee that works like an American is doing great, because he is very friendly and he gets along with the business side and the development side.  These two sides are always in battle on a project and he is able to bridge the gap.  But, please work harder at least for 2-3 years.  From the beginning of the 2nd year his salary will increase close to $100,000 and I am hoping that this will motivate him.

Is Placement Guaranteed?

Is placement guaranteed?  I just got this question, again, for the umpteenth time.

Listen everybody, I am going to say it one last time. 

Nothing in Life is Guaranteed!!!!!!

If life was that easy, then each and everyone of us would be a millionaire. 

To be conservative about 70-80% of my students get placed.  (I think the it is even higher).

I will get you the best teachers for the subjects that you take with us and I will spend whatever it takes to get you trained and placed.

Sometimes the way I am and what drives me is almost a curse.  I strive to have the BEST.  I strive to be the BEST.  I work tirelessly and spend everything I have to achieve that.

I see most of my friends reduce costs in their company and stash all the money they can into investments.  Money does not drive me.  What drives me is perfection.  What drives me is to be the best at what I do.  I see all my friends with millions in investments, but I do not think that I will ever get there, because as much as I make, which is a lot, I will continue to spend most of it on improving our facilities for students so that each batch of new students will have a better experience with us.

I see all the other consulting companies squeeze every penny and keep buying land in India or buying Gold or other silly investments.  I can guarantee you that I will never do that.

In the end I may not end up super rich, but I will know that I effected my students lives in a positive way, and that makes me super happy.

Why is our Fridge Full of Food!

All my friends that own consulting companies are making fun of me that I fill our office fridge full of food and drinks for my students. 

I think it has been a long time since they have been students, but I do this for one simple reason.

I never know which student has money and which students do not have money, so I buy food and keep the fridge always full with the intent that in case any of my student do not have money they can always have a meal for lunch and dinner.  It was not some sort of benefit that I am offering to attract students.  It was done purely altruistically.

By the way I do not use company money for this purpose, I use my own money for this.

Benefits to my Consultants

What are the real benefits that we offer to F1 students over other consulting companies:

1) Direct Deposit - This is such an important feature and you will not realize how important it is until you have to wait for a check to come in the mail and the consulting companies keep giving you excuses as to why your check is late.  With us it is quite simple, your check will be in your account on the 15th of the month, and it is that simple, no ifs ands or buts.

2) F1 to H1B - We have a 100% approval rate for getting H1B's for F1 students.  Why is this?  We follow the H1B rules, 100%.  It is that simple.

3) If you are eligible we do EB2 category for Green Card processing instead of EB3.  This is such an important benefit, because you will get your Green Card in 2 years instead of 5.  You guys will not realize how important this is, until that Green Card is in your hands.

4) If I promise you something, I will never and I mean never go back on my word.  I will not lie to you.  Good news or bad news, I will tell you man to man and not avoid you like all those other consulting companies.

5) If you call me, I will pick up the phone.  If I am awake I will pick up the phone, no matter what the time is.  If I am on another call, I will call you back right away.  I have seen so many consulting company owners that look at their phone to see who is calling before they decide to pick up the phone or not.  I will not do that, if I am available, I will pick up the phone.

6) We have such a wide breath of training and when you are one of our consultants all support and training is always FREE for you.  I encourage you to take more training with us so that you can improve your bill rate.  I LOVE students that like to learn and will help you to become a better you.

I believe that these are some of the real benefits that we offer.

Unusual Placement

Today we did an unusual placement and I though that I would mention it.  I got a call from an F1 student that said that he was already trained in Informatica and could I place him? 

I told him to send me a resume and I would have my Informatica teacher talk to him and judge his skill set and if he was good, I would market him and place him.  He turned out to be very good and we are currently marketing him and I think he will be placed this week.

One of his friends call me and told me that he was trained in .NET and would I place him?  Same procedure and he also turned out to be excellent.  I placed him today and I got his Purchase Order today for him and his start date for his project is Feb 27th.

I am used to teaching my students and then placing them, but this was absolutely the first time that I placed someone that I did not train.

I am obsessed with quality and I know the quality of my students that I train, so I am very comfortable when I place them, and I am sure that they will succeed.  A lot of times, companies call me for newly trained students, since they know how I am and have liked my past students that work(ed) for them.

Our marketing division has become fantastic at placing students and I am now getting students that others have trained.  It is an interesting facet to our business.