Ankan sent a message to Brian C. Cornell Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Target Corporation that said:
Dear Sir,
I hope you are doing good Sir.
My name is Ankan and I am originally from India. I am a MS graduate in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the North Dakota State University. Like any other graduate, my dream was to work for Target some day. After a long wait (few employers were willing to sponsor H1B, I knew Target will), the opportunity did come.
I completed a total of close to 10 interview rounds with Target IT (I was flown into Minneapolis for the final rounds) and was offered a position with the Payments team. The position offered was higher than the one I had been interviewing for as the team felt my credibilities were higher than the position I had been interviewing for. However, just before an official offer letter was to be worked upon, it was found out that I would not be able to join Target as I would not be able to extend my current work authorization in 2016 (still an international student on OPT EAD for 12 months initial + 17 months STEM extension in 2016). The reason being my OPT extension requires an e-verified employer and strangely Target being one of the biggest employers in the USA and one of the top Fortune 500 companies was not e-verified. A program that is free and takes 5 minutes to get done online. I did not give up and tried other possible legitimate ways, but the legal department rejected everything. I was advised to move ahead and look for other options as the legal team had probably tried their best.
I did move on, this happened a week back and I am already looking for other jobs.
But one impression did not leave my mind.
Target is one of the biggest employers in the world and definitely one of the best.
Millions of students aspire to work with Target, it is a dream.
But if Target is not e-verified, which is a free 5 minute online program, no Indian graduate student or even any student (apart from Green Card or H1B visa holders and Permanent Residents) would get to see this dream through.
Therefore, this is an earnest plea, for the students of the present and the future, a formidable percentage of whom comprise of the technology sector in the USA, if possible, kindly look into this issue of e-verification. Then any deserving graduate will be able to join and live the dream at Target. This is not for me, but for anyone who dares to dream of working at Target and this will ensure the dream is not broken even after it is achieved. Sir, you are in a position to give this humble and small request a thought and I thought it would be a wise idea to get this message through to you. I have also shared my thoughts with Mr. Jason Goldberger. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for finding some time to read this email amidst your busy schedule.
Regards,
Ankan
