Home » US Immigration - Visas » F1 Visa » F1 visa to H1B visa: Consulting Career ? Pros and Cons of consulting ? New H1B Rules 2011 impact?

F1 visa to H1B visa: Consulting Career ? Pros and Cons of consulting ? New H1B Rules 2011 impact?

F1 Visa H1b visa consulting jobs One of the questions that bugs every international student studying MS or MBA in USA is: “after I graduate, what should I do ? Should I look for a full time job after MS or Should I take up consulting career?”  I was in the same boat few years ago. Consulting seems very attractive to many people for a number of reasons.  I will try to explain some of the pros and cons of  Consulting jobs and explain the new H1B rules impact a little bit.

Consulting Job after MS / MBA:

International students have big dreams to earn dream dollars and pay off all their loans back home and credit card bills here in US. The way most of them think is, the sooner I get out  of my debt, the better. So, what is the quick way to make money ? Few suggest, consulting career is best…if you work on H1B visa and as a consultant you can make more money.  The grass looks greener always on the other side, lets look at some of the pros and cons of Consulting career.

Pros of Consulting Jobs after MS :

  • You get to work in different companies
  • Experience of work culture of different companies
  • You have the opportunity to understand various business scenarios
  • You learn the standards and practices of different companies.
  • You gain more knowledge as you are challenged with different problems for different business situation.
  • Your communication skills improve as you interact with people working in different work cultures.
  • You may make a little more money. It is arguable though if you really.
  • Your professional resume and value increases because of variety experience.
  • Less responsibility as a consultant
  • If you work in expenses paid project , your expense will be paid by client, so your living expenses are very less.
  • You may have choice to choose your interests and get training in that area and then pursue that career.
  • You have the opportunity to see many places and meet more people as you may travel a lot depending on project.

Cons of Consulting Jobs after MS :

  • You may not have a stable job all the time; you may be on bench for a while depending on the market demand and time of the year.
  • May involve lot of travelling if you keep changing projects too often. If you hate travelling, then it is not a good thing.
  • You cannot plan your personal life well, as you do not know where the future job is. For instance, you want to learn an art or anything.
  • You may not be able to plan higher education like MBA or any education  because location is not stable
  • New H1B rules not favorable for consulting jobs unless you work for big consulting companies like Deloitte, TCS, Infy, Cognizant, Wipro, etc.
  • If you work on terms of getting paid only when you work, then you are losing money when not working. This can add up and your average salary might become low.
  • You are constantly challenged with lot of problems, you have to be willing to spend time and solve problems instantly.
  • You will have to be smart and have good communication skills otherwise you will have hard time working with clients.
  • Your green card process is in jeopardy sometimes, if you switch consulting firms at wrong times.
  • If you do not have proper contacts, you may have hard time to find a job
  • If there is a recession like now, you are the first one to be terminated.
  • There is a lot of job risk all the time, nothing is taken for granted. Your contact will be on many clauses and can end anytime.

I can keep on writing…but I tried to put in some points that I think are important.

New H1B Rules 2011 impact?

As most of you know, USCIS passed additional H1B rules or guidelines in January of 2010. You may read below articles for more info.

Anyways, the new rules are not favorable for consulting. Because, it eliminates the concept of Job-shop. I explained the consequences in detail in the articles listed above. The clear point is, F1 students cannot go to small consulting companies  that do not have any on-site implementations because of the new H1B rules which come in effect from 2011 H1B quota.  The options for getting into consulting for F1 students are only through big Consulting companies like Accenture, Deloitte, Cap Gemini, Infosys, TCS, Cognizant, etc. In all reality, if you join any of these companies, you are in fact joining as a full time employee to these big consulting companies.  You may not get all the benefits like making extra money that you thought of in consulting…But, you do get the consulting experience !  So, it is up to you to decide on what you really want to do…

I plan to write a similar article on Full time job Pros and Cons and how it can be good for F1 students. Stay tuned !

Image Credits : http://www.flickr.com/photos/bpedro/25436202/

   

Other Articles

8 Comments

  1. I would like to ask a question regarding this subject. Seniors say that it is very difficult to get a full time job for people with no experience and people from universities like mine(“B” rated univ).I have come to US immediately after my Bachelors, I want to do a full time job if possible,but don’t know how to proceed given my background.I’d really appreciate any guidance.

    Reply
  2. Hi , I am currently in my 2nd semester and actively looking for internship opportunities, I would like to know if anyone can throw some light on obtaining more opportunities for internships. Are there any consultancies which can help in internship or co-op? Please help.

    Reply
  3. Hi , I have finished my MS chemistry in 2011 and now pursuing my phd in chemistry. I finished my first semester. I want to discontinue my phd studies and get either in OPT or Directly to H1b from my current f1 visa student student. whats should I do ?

    Reply
    • Ram,
      I don’t know if you will be eligible for OPT, but an employer can file H-1 for you along w/ COS. Once approved, you can start working full-time on H-1.

      Reply
  4. hi,

    I’m not sure if I’m posting my question in the right link.
    A case of a hypothetical situation, where a person is in India. He has a valid I20 and also a valid H1 petition approved from USCIS.
    What is the best way to proceed for stamping and further steps?

    Reply
  5. As you have mentioned all the pros and cons of a consulting job and its impact on H1B then what should one do after completing MS if not consulting so he/she can pay off all the loans

    Reply
    • Well, there are couple of things to do either look for a full time job, delay graduation and work on CPT to clear loans, or work on OPT for 29 months and clear the loans . I have written an article before addressing the same. check it out : http://redbus2us.com/f1-students-applying-h1b-visa-2011-recession-impact-and-new-rules-%E2%80%93-what-are-my-options/

      Reply

Leave a Comment