The Good, the Bad and Supriya's View

Supriya e-mailed me in response to my blog and I found her feedback poignant and true! The point of my posting was to play a bit of a devil’s advocate. I constantly hear American media tell the story of outsourcing/jobs from a standpoint of fear. It’s always about American jobs going away and lack of educated talent in the US. I wanted to provide an added point of view or perspective around this. But for every good usually there is a bad. Supriya makes some very compelling points around the down side. I will let you read for yourself.

From: Supriya Venkat
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 12:01 PM
To: Steve FogartySubject: A comment on your blog entry

Hello Steve,

I occasionally look up your Recruiting Revolution blog (as a PR/Wagged job seeker) and just wanted to share my thoughts on your entry today ("the Emigration Zone") and your closing comment: "If we see an up swing of emigration how does this affect consumption of American products overseas. In a way we are teaching people how to consume like American’s. This may mean more jobs in the grand scheme of things."

I'm originally from India but came to the U.S in the very late 80s to go to grad school. I get the opportunity to go back to India frequently to visit family and I must say that in recent years, I've been stunned at the growing consumerism of middle-class India. A large catalyst for this phemonemon has been the surge in the "returning Indian" population with its significant disposable incomes. And while much has been made in the Western press (including Friedman in his articles about India) about how middle class India is in fact "consuming like Americans" as you state in your blog, I've been disillusioned about how little has been said in the media about the downside and serious pitfalls of "importing" America's vision of "growth" and "prosperity" to a country like India, which is still largely illiterate and a rural-based economy. Sure, a small segment of the 1 billion + population has benefited from the "boom", but try telling that to the maid who cleans my brother's home in the hi-tech mecca of Bangalore for less than $20/month! She (and her daughter) know that the only jobs at their reach --now and in the future--- are the ones they have right now. I know this observation has little to do with recruitment woes in the United States but it's just something that struck me and I thought I'd pass it along...

Happy blogging and best regards!

Supriya Venkat

Supriya—Thanks for your point of view. It’s one thing for us to discuss this from our cubicles behind our computers. It’s a whole other thing to experience it first hand! Your perspective is invaluable.