Information Technology Jobs in India for Americans

Some Experienced Professionals are Leaving the U.S. to Work in India

By Siddharth Srivastava

Infosys in Bangalore, India.

Faced with the prospect of job cuts due to work being outsourced to low-cost economies, skilled foreign workers from the U.S. and U.K. have been doing the next best thing—finding employment in India. If you can’t beat them join them. The number of foreigners working in India in the software and outsourcing industries is mounting at a rapid pace, surpassing 50,000 at the last count according to the registrar’s office in New Delhi.

“Many foreign nationals are looking at mid-level and senior level positions in India. Every week, we get at least one well qualified foreigner looking for a job here,” says Kris Lakshmikanth, founder CEO and managing director of the executive recruiting firm Head Hunters (India). “As IT product firms set up shop in India, experienced professionals from the U.S. are also on the lookout for jobs here and the trend is being witnessed by the top-tier recruitment firms.”

“Earlier only call-center jobs were being outsourced to India,” says Anil Mahajan, executive director of Talent Hunt Private Ltd.“ But now as companies start to ship high-end research and senior managerial jobs to India as well, foreign workers see a huge opportunity for themselves.

“Till recently, we were getting regular job queries from expatriate Indians who wanted to move back to India. But we were also taken by surprise when overseas professionals from countries as far as the U.S., Britain, and South Africa also started to call us up to inquire about job opportunities here. This has now become a trend,” says Mahajan.

The Information Technology Association of America (now owned by CompTIA) says only around 2 percent of the 10 million computer-related jobs have been sent abroad; 12 percent of IT companies have outsourced work, compared to 3 percent of non-IT firms. The most recent projection for outsourcing is by Forrester Research: a loss of 3.3 million U.S. jobs by 2015, including 1.7 million back-office jobs and 473,000 IT jobs, which creates only a small dent in the U.S. job market.

Foreigners are coming on their own to India for the opportunities available and because it is an attractive destination. An indication of the global reach of Indian IT giants can be gauged from the fact that Infosys Technologies, which has risen to become the country’s 2nd-largest software maker mainly due to outsourced work from the West, has reversed the trend by investing $20 million to create nearly 500 consulting jobs in the U.S. Infosys Management Consulting Services is “aggressively hiring in America,” Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani said in a statement. “As we are looking to expand our global footprint, we are creating local employment in the countries where we operate,” he said.

Resources for Finding Work in India

Consult sites such as Monster India, TIMESJOBS for more information. It is best to register with these recruitment websites, as employers and headhunters keep a constant watch. Prominent newspapers such as the Hindustan Times post job opportunity postings online every week. Another option is to visit the websites of prominent companies and look for job postings or submit your resume..

Siddharth Srivastava is a post-graduate in economics. He has worked for the Times of India, India’s largest selling English daily.