Visa Issues / Bank Loan
Hi everyone,
I just wanted to get a confirmation/opinion on visa issues.
It seems to me that schools are not 100% straight forward in advising about the difficulties posed in staying/working, post studies, in the UK if one is not from European Union. The changes in the UK immigration law which come into effect from this year means that to be able to work in the UK one must be sponsored by an employer.
Now, for big banks and big consultancies, they have big HR set up to deal with the UKBA. But even in their case, they have to prove that they couldn't fill those vacancies with UK/EU nationals who have the right to work in the UK. This simply implies non-EU graduates stand second in line behind EU graduates during the recruitment process. Schools will never explicitly say that.
I am sure most of us have heard of the cuts in banking sector in London in the last quarter of 2011 and proposed cuts over the next 2-4years due to changes in the banking sector regulation proposed by the government. Most of it imply that the investment banking/ trading activities will be curtailed severely and hence result in a large chunk of jobs ( and the ones most sought after by MBAs) being lost.
School recruitment committees are dismissive of these facts (government regulation / banking job losses) as cyclical issues. However, its not....anyone who pays attention to market dynamics and to whats happening knows the regulation being pushed by the UK government are radical and will take at least 5 years to be implemented and are once in an era or generation thing. They are bound to curtail the London finance sector in a big way in the coming years. And thats why the government is trying extremely hard to prop up other sectors in london (east london specifically) and move away from london's / UK's reliance on finance.
My interactions with alumni reveal that a lot of graduates in the past got jobs in small private equity firms/ hedge funds/ boutique consultancies. These are small set-up but offer most lucrative opportunities. As such, they are lean and busy, and hardly want to bother with unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles in one of the least important chores - recruiting an MBA graduate. In case they do agree to recruit a non-EU candidate, they will have to once again prove non-availability of UK/EU national to do the same work.
Now speaking to alumni, it appears that its not as easy as appearing for the interview at the campus and walking out with a job offer. Its a real slog and lots of luck. They say (again in confidence) most of the jobs simply wouldn't be available if the firms are going to need to overcome this barrier - simply because, the supply(UK/EU candidates) far exceeds the demand.
This huge supply compared to contracting demand factor, in fact, is one of the reason that the UK government has made changes to its immigration policy to curb foreigners from getting jobs. Schools might try to give it a spin by saying "we are working with employers to make them understand the new rules" but the reality is rules have become more stringent and are aimed at preventing/making it more difficult for foreign students from taking up jobs in the UK.
As for past year statistics on jobs, they will be rendered mostly invalid for future job prospects given the changes underway. Even in its present form, most of us should know how they are manipulated with things like purchasing power parity, etc. to come out on top of rankings table.
Loans:
Banks know that given the future difficult, if not impossible, job/visa scenario, giving loans to foreign students is stupid. That is why HSBC withdrew its MBA loan scheme, which it had run for a number of years, in the middle/peak of admissions season. And that too, just before the visa changes come into play. They know the potential of that loan to turn into a bad asset is very high. You might still get a loan from some other source but obviously not from a bank which has a much superior risk assessment methodology.
Now the cost of MBA + living/other expense = 85k pounds. With no guarantee of any good future job prospects.
I am sure about some will get good jobs anyways. But what about the rest. What is promised is despair, uncertainty and insecurity at a very cheap price of $135k. Now that is a bargain , isn' it?
Sorry, if I sounded cynical or too critical here. I spoke (in confidence) to a number of Alumni recently. My impressions of those conversations is what I reflect here.
30 Mar 2012, 00:25
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