In a message dated 2/4/08 10:10:52 P.M. Central Standard Time, News@JobDestruction.info writes:

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER  No. 1817 -- 2/04/2008 >>>>>

Azim Premji turned his dad's million dollar cooking oil business into the
bodyshop we now know as Wipro. Premji doesn't do cooking oil anymore but he
is still a real slickster, as you will discover by reading this shameless
piece of propaganda that is appearing all over the mainstream media.

Premji is doing a big PR campaign to publicize the fact that he is setting
up shop in the U.S. -- and hiring Americans. He stipulates that he wants
graduates with little or no experience (i.e. young) because they are
cheaper than older ones. He says that many (i.e. almost all) of his
employees will be on H-1B or other types of visas. Premji didn't say what
other visas but it's a safe bet that he intends on hiring Indian graduates
that are fresh out of college by using OPTs (see previous newsletter).

Premji claims that in Atlanta 90 percent of his new hires might be American
citizens. I suspect that any citizens he hires will be Americans of Indian
descent who are still moldable into a Wipro employee. They will probably
undergo considerable psychological evaluation before being hired. The lucky
Americans that pass the Wipro tests will be sent to India for 3 months of
indoctrination by Premji's team of Indian-Wipro culture experts.

Premji must have a lot of confidence in his team of brainwashers because he
said the Americans will have long careers at Wipro. Somehow I just can't
help but think of the 1956 movie "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22988038/from/ET/

Premji: U.S. must fix IT worker shortage

By Justin Rubner
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Atlanta Business Chronicle
updated 5:00 p.m. MT, Sun., Feb. 3, 2008
Azim Premji, an Indian entrepreneur who became one of the richest men in
the world by transforming a small cooking oil business into a global
information technology powerhouse, says the United States' business
leadership needs to "take the problem by the horns" and better address the
country's growing shortage of high-tech professionals.

Premji, CEO and chairman of Bangalore-based Wipro Ltd., calls the lack of
technology talent in the U.S. a "serious problem."

"America does not have the talent," said Premji, 62, in a Jan. 29 interview
with Atlanta Business Chronicle. "There's a huge shortage of IT
professionals here."

Wipro (NYSE: WIT) is in the process of opening its first American software
development center in Buckhead at Piedmont Center and plans to hire 200
employees here within a year and up to 500 within three years. In two
months, Premji says, the company will start recruiting from the area's
schools and plans to partner with Kennesaw State University and Southern
Polytechnic State University. He says the company will fill positions in
software development and back-office processing.

Premji, whose net worth is estimated by Forbes magazine at $17.1 billion,
has become the world's 21st-richest person by offshoring work from the
United States and Europe. But now, he says, it's time to start creating
jobs in the very places that used to outsource them. He calls the decision
-- two centers similar to one coming to Atlanta are in the works across the
country -- "good politics." In addition, having a development center that
is closer to a client makes good business sense, he says.

While India has experienced an economic boom due to the increasing number
of students getting high-tech degrees there, the number of awarded
engineering degrees in the United States has dropped 20 percent over the
past two decades, according to pro worker-visa-advocacy group Compete
America. That fact can be seen with the growing demand for H-1B visas,
which allow foreigners to temporarily live here to fulfill specialty jobs,
usually in technology.

On April 2 last year, U.S. employers flooded the federal government with
requests for visas to hire thousands of foreign workers during 2008. By
late in the day -- the first day the applications were accepted -- the
government had received about 150,000 requests, a new record, and within
hours turned away all additional applications.

Premji has advocated that the visa cap hurts American competitiveness. But
he also says the high-tech industry here needs to proselytize more to
students about the benefits of computing jobs. Outreach, he says, should be
on the minds of any executive running a high-tech company.

Premji recently had lunch with a board member at Germany-based auto parts
maker Robert Bosch GmbH, who told him about the company's outreach policy.
All plant managers at Bosch's numerous facilities are required to adopt
schools to motivate students to pursue high-tech careers and to help
teachers make math and science more exciting. A similar mind-set, he says,
would benefit the American economy as a whole.

"Bosch figures 10 years from now, the talent won't be there," Premji said.

One problem technology leadership needs to address with students is the
stigma that it's futile to study for a high-tech career because all the
jobs are going overseas to India, which for years has been the No. 1 source
of H-1B workers employed here. While some positions are lost, he says,
there is ultimately a net gain of jobs. American companies that can
offshore, he maintains, are more competitive and create more jobs
domestically in the long run.

He says another problem is that too many Americans and Europeans find
high-tech and math courses boring or too difficult. Premji says schools
here have to find a way to make math, science and computing stimulating.

"It is such an exciting area if it's well taught," Premji said. "The
fundamental focus has got to be teachers. They have to be teaching math and
science in a way that's exciting to students."

Han Reichgelt, dean of the School of Computing and Software Engineering at
Southern Polytechnic, says the university is gearing up to partner with
Wipro to provide the company access to students. The dean agrees with
Premji and says the word needs to be spread that high-tech careers not only
pay well but also are relatively safe against offshoring -- if employees
are specialized and adaptable.

"We're simply not meeting the demands of companies," Reichgelt said of the
American higher education system. "There are more vacancies in IT than we
are meeting. Here's the thing that is frustrating for us: We know the jobs
are out there but we're still failing to increase enrollments. We're not
good at recruiting students to meet those jobs."

Southern Polytechnic, which has 4,300 students, plans to modify its
schedule to tailor it to Wipro's needs.

The upcoming partnership with Wipro, Reichgelt says, benefits both parties.
For Southern Polytechnic, the university gets exposure and can tell
students that good jobs are waiting for them when they graduate. For Wipro,
he says, the company knows that competition for trained high-tech
professionals is tight. Taking graduates with little or no work experience
is a way for the company to have an edge over companies such as Lockheed
Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT), which has an extensive operation in Marietta.

Premji says hiring graduates with little or no experience benefits Wipro
because they are cheaper than IT veterans. And hiring fresh graduates also
limits offshoring and decreases the need for imported talent, he says,
because the company can save on labor costs while at the same time having
young employees trained specifically for Wipro's needs.

The 'Wipro way'
The Financial Times lists Premji as one of the top 25 people who are
"dramatically reshaping the way people live, work or think." He got his
start in 1966, when he dropped out of Stanford University to take over
Wipro -- then a $2 million maker of cooking oil -- from his father, who
passed away. In the 1980s, Premji repositioned the company into one of
India's first providers of diversified technology services. Today, Wipro,
which also manufactures consumer goods such as soap, operates in 35
countries and last year posted $3.4 billion in revenue.

Premji touts that recent graduates working for Wipro will have a fulfilling
experience. Once hired, they will be sent to India for an intensive
three-month training program in which students will learn about Indian
culture, the global IT economy and the "Wipro way."

"I think Americans trained in our system can have long careers with us,"
Premji said. "The global experience is invaluable."

But he's not only looking for recent graduates. Some specialized,
experienced professionals will also be needed. In addition, Premji is
targeting military veterans, who he says are disciplined and tech-savvy.
Salaries will be competitive.

Wipro, which employs 8,000 people in the United States and 82,000
worldwide, has been engaged in a virtual hiring frenzy of late. He says the
company is hiring 100 people in the United States every month. Many are
H-1B or other visa workers. But in Atlanta, he says, 90 percent will likely
be American citizens.

Premji was in Atlanta Jan. 29 to pitch a large company here on the benefits
of outsourcing to Wipro. He also made an appearance at the Southeast CEO
Summit, held at the Atlanta Woman's Club.

Premji says he chose Buckhead because of its proximity to Georgia Tech,
KSU, Southern Polytechnic and other universities. Other reasons include
great weather, the airport's global reach and the fact that Wipro has a
growing list of big clients here, including Delta Air Lines Inc., The
Coca-Cola Co. and AGL Resources Inc.

Premji says Wipro already has customers who want outsourced employees here.
If demand continues to increase, he says, Wipro's 30,000 square feet of
office space may be substantially expanded to meet future needs.

From offshore to inshore
Wipro Ltd.

• Provides outsourced technology services and manufactures soap and other
consumer products.

• Posted $3.4 billion in 2007, employs 82,000.

• World's largest independent provider of outsourced research and
development services.

• Opening software development center in Buckhead, employing up to 500.

Source: Wipro Ltd.

© 2007 Atlanta Business Chronicle

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Newsletter Homepage:
http://www.JobDestruction.com/shameh1b/JobDestructionNews.htm

Support this Newsletter and www.JobDestruction.com by donating:
www.zazona.com/Donations.htm

To Be removed from this mailing list, reply to this
email with UNSUbSCRIBE in the subject window
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -