Yes. This shows they are highly motivated to hire an exceptional individual.
...or we could just not make them jump through hoops in the first place.
hazlnut said:
It's not about a hassle, it's about making them review American applicants first.
Why not just let them hire who they want?
hazlnut said:
A work visa essentially allows people to skip ahead in the immigration line. We should only hand it out when absolutely necessary for a firm to do business.
I don't understand what you mean by "skipping ahead in the immigration line." A work visa *IS* the immigration line. Or rather, it's one of four immigration lines (the other three being asylee/refugee status, family connections, or being an illegal immigrant before 1972).
hazlnut said:
This is the argument that I have the most problem with: The student who graduated #17 from Wharton business school can't get a job and goes home, complaining that many students who didn't do as well got jobs.
1) They all went to Wharton.
2) Getting A's doesn't necessary mean you'll be a great employee. A 'B' student with good people skills, communication, and leadership talent could be much more of an asset depending on the job description.
3) Getting those types of jobs is about connections, networking, and demonstrating the assets you bring are worth the 'hassle'. -- If the firm can get the same assets w/o the hassle, why would a firm spend the time or money? #37 and #17 from Wharton look the same in many ways. #37 may have gotten a lower grade on a final because he was busy networking or taking interviews.
I'm all for allowing firms to hire #37 AND #17 at Wharton. And for that matter, allowing them to hire graduates of Youngstown State. The fact that you are even wondering whether #37 at Wharton might be more or less qualified than #17 at Wharton is the height of absurdity. Yet this is exactly what we subject employers to.
ANYONE who went to college has some useful skills that can add to our economy. It's ridiculous that we are able to educate foreigners in our colleges, but then kick them out to be successful and start businesses back in their countries instead of here.
hazlnut said:
Why would we want to flood the job market with candidates when plenty of American kids are working their asses off and not finding work right away?
Because the labor market (especially the skilled labor market) is not a single pie, where more workers means you slice the pie thinner. More workers means that you grow the pie bigger because there are more talented people implementing their ideas, solving problems, starting businesses, creating value, and hiring workers.
hazlnut said:
U.S. Universities produce enough qualified candidates in most areas. If a certain area is short, like nursing, then we should address that. But the open-door policy you're talking about doesn't have an upside for Americans.
More skilled workers is about the closest thing to a free lunch we can possibly get in our economy. It is almost ENTIRELY positive. I've heard it said before (I don't know if these numbers are exactly accurate) that there will be 120 million skilled jobs in the United States...but only 50 million qualified Americans. That's pretty depressing by itself...but the reality is that if true, there will only be 50 million skilled jobs, and businesses will send the other 70 million elsewhere. We have (or will soon have) a massive shortage for skilled labor in nearly every profession. Allowing everyone who has a college degree to come here who wants to will greatly alleviate this problem, and will ensure that the United States remains a hotbed of innovation.