Kayalami/Chess - pls help...

[pills]

Dear Kayalami,

I had applied for the HSMP application in April and have just today recieved a email from the case worker asking for clarifications. However before I go there let me just mention the points I have claimed were as below:
Ph.D - 30 Points (Doctorate achieved in 3 years & Gold Medal in MSc & BSc -Agri)
Work experience: 50 points (with over 10 years experience as GM & Director in various companies)
Significant Achievement: 15 Points (have been interviewed in various Radio and TV programmes as a subject matter expert - have the dates & names of programmes but have not attached any audio/video tapes since I dont have them myself but have attached atleast 2 newspaper/ journal articles quoting me)
Spouse Degree + Work Experience: 10 points:
Total Points claimed : 105 points.

Now to come to the problem:
While I had attached previous work experience references, the case worker has come back saying that he finds the references satisfactory only for 3 years 7 months (I quote "The evidence provided with the application does not justify the award of any points as the majority of the references provided are insufficiently detailed. The only acceptable references verify only 3 years and 7 months from so and so to so and so dates. Therefore, please provide further original employer references to verify a minimum of ten years of graduate level and five years senior level work experience.")

The problem is that this will take me atleast 2-3 weeks to arrange fresh new references given that I was previously working in North India and am now in the deep South and the people I worked with travel a heck of a lot, are fairly busy etc. (Plus this will probably invove my having to travel personally to these places and getting this done if I have to get this quickly- bl**dy expensive travel too!)

My question is that I have more than 65 points even if they disregard the 50 points here and only take 25 points instead for the 3 years +Phd experience. Can I ask the HSMP team to base my application on this 80 points to facilitate a quick decision instead of my reverting back after 2-3 weeks in which I am afraid the whole application will again go into a time warp mode?

Would this be considered ok and would they agree or would I need to start hassling all my previous employers (4 of them in the last 5 years) to get them to write new reference letters etc as per the HSMP guidelines?

Also I have applied for 2 jobs for which the interviews will be held in 3rd week of September and I would hate for me not to be able to make them.

What would you suggest? Many thanks.

pills

[Chess]

Pills,


Send an e-mail back and explain the situation to HO. Request them to base the case on the 3 years experience etc. However, also let them know that you will be going to North India to get the additional evidence.

Since you are claiming significant achievement as well - it is important that you provide employer references so that the jig-saw is complete

I think HSMP is meant for people like you - and the case worker could have had a bad day when dealing with your case

good luck

[tvt]

The problem you face is the lack of suitable earnings and I think that have triggered the enquiry. HO case workers expect senior professionals to be rewarded accordingly. What your'e worth is what you get.

[pills]

Hi again,

Chess, thank you for your quick reply and I shall do as you suggested.

Tnavon, you've picked out the achilles heel in my application which is to do with the earnings - but in my defence I must say that Agriculture experts are not highly paid in India...with equivalent qualifications / experience in, say the IT industry, I would be paid atleast 10 times my present salary in India. And the IT industry contributes some 3% of the GDP, whereas Agriculture is the largest employer in India. I also obviously feel very strongly that the level of knowledge or skill required in Agriculture is far more (I'm biased remember!!) than in IT.

To give you another example of a similar nature, you have numerous Professor's with international qualifications and work experience working in Universities in India and getting paid as per the Govt guidelines - which would be a pittance by international standards.

So I'm afraid I disagree with your statement that "what you're worth is what you get". But you have pointed out what could possibly be the case worker's viewpoint for which I am grateful.

I would welcome any other inputs on my situation and many thanks to this forum as well, where you can get a free and fair exchange of views as well as valuable inputs.

pills

[Chess]

Pills,

On second thoughts - think carefully before venturing to the UK if your occupation is not in the skills shortage area. Unless you are going into Academia, which again will require UK experience..


...I am certain you should be able to get HSMP approval (one you sort out your experience)..However getting a job in the UK as an 'agriculturalist) is gonna be a heck of a hard struggle...

..to be honest - when I was at Uni in the UK (4 years) - I never came accross anyone doing BSc/Msc/PhD in Agriculture!!!!!

Best of luck for the future

[tvt]

Pills,


..to be honest - when I was at Uni in the UK (4 years) - I never came accross anyone doing BSc/Msc/PhD in Agriculture!!!!!

That is a good reason why he SHOULD try his luck - lack of competition.