My R2I planning experience
Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2016 2:48 am
Short bio:
We are a family of 2 living. We both are working and on H1B. I came to the US in 2006 on F1 got a job in 2008 and working since then in software. Got married in 2011. DW came to the US in Jan 2012; she did her masters and has been working since 2013 in finance. GC is still in progress; priority date is September 2011 (long way to go!!).
FYI I plan to write this diary over multiple parts as and when I get some time in the night or during my commute time. But I hope that prospective R2I?s can get some help from our experience.
Our R2I conversation started back in November 2015 on the flight from Delhi to San Francisco after celebrating Diwali etc. with our families (3 weeks in total). The situation on the IGI airport was the same, a glass pane between us and our family. Although, we could not hear them or vice-versa but we could clearly understand each other through our eyes. I thought why did I go to the US, my wife definitely thought that I should have never married a guy who lives in the US.
For the first time, we were able to make a good use of our flight time back to the USA. After a couple of discussions, one thing was crystal clear to us that although we want to move back (ASAP!) but at the same time we do not want to compromise on our careers. Our conditions were the following:
1. Gain another 4 ? 5 years of US work experience
2. Maybe we will have GC by that time
3. Kids will be USC
4. Get comparable salary in India to be able to manage the same lifestyle.
5. My designation is at least director level or above and my wife is a manager or above.
6. If for any reason our parents need us in India (medical or whatever) then none of the criteria?s above will apply and we will move and take whatever we can find in India. Since family is important and supersedes everything else.
One of the conditions above was out of our control (#2). But for point #4, 5 we knew that it was under our control and that we should do some homework about it.
Another thing we realized as we went through this thought exercise was that we both did not know exactly how much experience they need for a director position and above and the compensation slabs. The easiest and most accurate way that we could think of finding that was to actually enter the market as a passive candidate, talk with recruiters / consultants and go through a couple of interview rounds to get a sense of what is actually happening on the ground in India as compared to assuming it. We thought that even if they reject me, it will be a good since we will know why that is, what they are looking for so that I can work on my profile to ensure that when I enter the Indian job market as an active candidate then I will meet almost all of those criteria?s.
In the next part, I will go over how I reached out to the consultants / recruiters in India to get the initial ball rolling.
We are a family of 2 living. We both are working and on H1B. I came to the US in 2006 on F1 got a job in 2008 and working since then in software. Got married in 2011. DW came to the US in Jan 2012; she did her masters and has been working since 2013 in finance. GC is still in progress; priority date is September 2011 (long way to go!!).
FYI I plan to write this diary over multiple parts as and when I get some time in the night or during my commute time. But I hope that prospective R2I?s can get some help from our experience.
Our R2I conversation started back in November 2015 on the flight from Delhi to San Francisco after celebrating Diwali etc. with our families (3 weeks in total). The situation on the IGI airport was the same, a glass pane between us and our family. Although, we could not hear them or vice-versa but we could clearly understand each other through our eyes. I thought why did I go to the US, my wife definitely thought that I should have never married a guy who lives in the US.
For the first time, we were able to make a good use of our flight time back to the USA. After a couple of discussions, one thing was crystal clear to us that although we want to move back (ASAP!) but at the same time we do not want to compromise on our careers. Our conditions were the following:
1. Gain another 4 ? 5 years of US work experience
2. Maybe we will have GC by that time
3. Kids will be USC
4. Get comparable salary in India to be able to manage the same lifestyle.
5. My designation is at least director level or above and my wife is a manager or above.
6. If for any reason our parents need us in India (medical or whatever) then none of the criteria?s above will apply and we will move and take whatever we can find in India. Since family is important and supersedes everything else.
One of the conditions above was out of our control (#2). But for point #4, 5 we knew that it was under our control and that we should do some homework about it.
Another thing we realized as we went through this thought exercise was that we both did not know exactly how much experience they need for a director position and above and the compensation slabs. The easiest and most accurate way that we could think of finding that was to actually enter the market as a passive candidate, talk with recruiters / consultants and go through a couple of interview rounds to get a sense of what is actually happening on the ground in India as compared to assuming it. We thought that even if they reject me, it will be a good since we will know why that is, what they are looking for so that I can work on my profile to ensure that when I enter the Indian job market as an active candidate then I will meet almost all of those criteria?s.
In the next part, I will go over how I reached out to the consultants / recruiters in India to get the initial ball rolling.