Role reversal: Some Americans seeking jobs head to India

[babylonsister]

Role reversal: Some Americans seeking jobs head to India

By Ben Arnoldy | Christian Science Monitor


NEW DELHI and PUNE, India - IBM announced a major round of US layoffs on Thursday, even as the company has been hiring workers in developing nations like India.

But over the past year, the company began offering US workers who are facing a job cut a novel carrot: If you apply for a new IBM position in a foreign country and are hired again at local wages, we will cover some of the transition costs like visa fees.

Few IBMers have taken the offer, and the firm has taken public relations lumps over it. But a handful of pioneering Americans at other firms have started to shop their skills on the Indian market, finding fulfillment and job security at a time of deep recession back home.

The IBM offer hints at a future where it's not just skilled Indians who might have to travel halfway around the globe for a job. It's likely that more American job seekers will have to think globally, say analysts, and the experiences of Americans who have taken jobs with companies here say it's not something to fear.

"I was making six figures when I left the States. I'm making six figures here - in rupees," laughs Jeanne Heydecker, a marketing executive now living outside of Delhi and working at her third Indian company. Actually, it's more like seven figures, since the salary for this single mother translates to roughly $50,000 a year. But it would be a mistake to suppose her quality of life has gone down.

Most everything she could want is available in Delhi. The healthcare, she says, has been top-notch and bottom-dollar. And like most Westerners and wealthy Indians here, she is able to hire people to cook, clean, and drive for her.

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/64984.html

[Deja Q]

1. The ultimate proof -- H1Bs are NOT slave labor. America's cost of living is too high.

[ChromeFoundry]

7. No doubt about that! n/t

[sandyj999]

2. From what I just posted about Chrysler they may want to hold off a bit. n/t

[fujiyama]

3. Making 50K a year in India

Damn. You could live like a king with that kind of money over there...

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. Will they be taking the shortcut or will they be travelling by sea??

[sandyj999]

5. They did say it would take several months.

Maybe they will wait until they build a bridge.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

6. There's one in Alaska they could use... the one that goes "nowhere".

[OhioChick]

8. Wonder why the top brass at companies don't want to take their families and move to India? n/t

[Deja Q]

9. The same reason George Allen supported offshoring but still found time to call them "macaca"?

(lowest piece of vermin ever, George Allen... At least he got voted out...)