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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have no idea what the H1B scam supposedly is, but we struggle to find qualified candidates.

It's not that there aren't candidates who have a CS degree or something - there are plenty of mediocre candidates - there are very few quality ones. That's true whether we are talking us citizen or not. Generalizing a bit, we tend to see better poise and prescence from us citizens who are perhaps more culturally acclimated, but we see generally weaker mathematics and critical reasoning skills as well. On the flip side the the H1Bs tend to be on the stronger end of the bell curve in mathematics and related disciplines, and usually somewhat weaker on the presentation side.

We've never said "hey let's hire an h1b cause he's cheaper" or "let's hire a us citizen because they are a citizen". We hire those that pass the screening and testing process. Many citizens don't, many h1bs dont.

There seems to be this idea that because someone has completed a degree they are "entitled" to a job - or deserving of one - or because they've done a program they are equally qualified, but of course that's simply not the case. H1Bs exist because there's a desire to hire top talent, and some H1Bs - just like some citizens - are truly exceptional talent. [/quote]

H1Bs are not being used to hire exceptional talent. Let us know more specifically what it would take to get hired by you. Stronger in mathematics, meaning what precisely?[/quote]

Well you are obviously baiting ....

It's not that H1Bs are used to hire exceptional talent - it's that we hire those pass the process. Some are H1B. Some are not.

As an example, we might ask a candidate to assess three projects: project A costs $50K and returns $20K a month for 12 months. Project B costs 90K and returns $55K for 8 months. Project C takes costs $10k and returns $5K for 28 months. Each project takes 1 month to complete per $10K. The boss wants the biggest return possible by the next board meeting in 24 months. What do you do?

Most people can't solve this. If you then ask them how much cheaper or faster project X had to be to be equivalent to project Y, many can't solve it at all.

Few who solve these kinds of problems probe at all - some can do the math but they never ask what the projects are, or if they can be run in parallel or have to be in sequence (most assume in sequence). A lot of candidates don't even contemplate doing more than 1 project.

And this is the basic stuff. Perhaps this seems simple to you - which if it does - congrats, you are already better than probably 70% of candidates

[/quote]

Interesting. How long do you have to discuss? It doesn't seem like a very hard question.[/quote]

It just starts with something like that.

They might then ask you to evaluate the different projects from a strategic lens. That might uncover a probability adjusted likelihood of success - or it might uncover that one of the projects is converting existing customers to a more expensive plan per month. Good candidates might then question what the attrition would look like in the future. Great candidates might probe if the fees are monthly or yearly. You might then be asked to graph what the attrition curve might look like.

Those that get that far might be probed on competitive responses or asked about pricing promotion strategies, etc. How deep it gets really depends how well the candidate is doing. As I said, most can't solve for X, much less a simultaneous eq. It may seem absurd to ask technical people to do this, but we've historically empowered people to design and execute changes, so they need to be able to asses the value of a particular project and at least have some thoughts around how useful it might be or how it could play out for customers.

The case typically ends with asking the candidate to make a recommendation. By now, if they've done well, they'll know which project is stealing competitor share, which one is converting existing customers, which one has a high probability of success and which a low (so they'll have figured out the probability adjusted payout streams), will have probed about simulteanous vs sequential, etc.

Strong candidates will make a clear and concise case ("you run into the CEO in the elevator, he wants to know what to do, you have 60 seconds to convince him."), weaker ones will hedge and ramble.

FWIw I've seen this same approach at other companies too. At one firm I was given 100 or so pages of a presentation and asked which 3 slides I would bring to the board.

And then of course, there's the technical part of the interview.[/quote]

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