Visa Statistics for Predictive Analytics

Last year, as the Big Data craze was starting to make its way into the headlines of every paper in the country, my candidates were approaching me and asking about their options. What’s the hottest industry for Big Data jobs? What cities are hiring quantitative professionals? Today, the demand for these workers is higher than ever and the ball is in the company’s court to fill the need.    

As a recruiter for predictive analytics jobs, I am in the unique position to follow trends in candidate demographics and client hiring practices. Recently, many clients have asked for data on visa statistics for analytic professionals, so I examined how many companies are willing to transfer visas and then compared this to the number of candidates on H-1Bs. 

In evaluating the transfer policies of over 50 companies, I found that over a quarter will not transfer H-1Bs.  

Number of Companies Willing to Transfer H-1B Visas:

Detail by Industry:

The analytic talent war is in full swing, and as a hiring authority, if you are not willing to transfer an H-1B, you are missing out on a substantial pool of highly qualified candidates. In a sample of over 7,000 quantitative professionals in our network with varying levels of experience, I found the following: 

Visa Status of Entry-Mid Level Candidates:

As the data clearly show, when recruiting for entry to mid level positions, companies are doing themselves a great disservice by hesitating to transfer H-1B visas. Because more seasoned workers eventually progress to a green card or citizenship, this is less of an issue with senior level professionals.   

Visa Status of Mid-Senior Level Candidates:

Overall, transferring an H-1B visa is a fairly straightforward process that will open the door to a significant number of viable candidates. To be sure, visa situations do require extra legal attention but when handled properly, it is an investment that more companies ought to be making.

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for a follow up on frequently asked questions regarding visa transfers, as well as more helpful information on the predictive analytics talent pool. As I delve deeper into the demographics of my candidate database, I am finding more insight into what companies can expect when making hiring decisions and how this impacts the Big Data job market.