It's weird-assed ads like this that make me glad I left the business. Totally unrealistic requirements and absurdly low pay. Been there, done that and they can kiss my rosy-red if they think I'll ever work in that field again. I just laugh and laugh as they squirm, gasp and expire.

Usually this sort of ad is by a company angling to get an H1-B visa engineer from Sri-lanka or some other asian country, since they have to show a 'good effort' to hire a US engineer and have the position go unfilled before they can get the visa.

Why does this happen? Globalization. We're a rich and powerful country. We and our ancestors worked hard to make it so. But, the dissparity between us and most other countries is deemed to be a destabilizing factor. So our relative wealth must be disipated by raising the standard of living in those other countries so there will be a relatively stable world economy and hopefully, no World War III. Our currency will continue to be devalued, our love affair with expensive gas guzzling vehicles will be curtailed and we'll have to learn to live with less so others may 'catch up' and live better. China is a prime example of this in action.

Work experience made a big difference in the abilities of the beginning engineers I worked with. It took about a year for a new inexperienced grad to be worth anything in his first job. This is the norm in other countries too. The first job is regarded as more or less a continuing education process and as soon as that year is past, the wise youngster parlays that into a new and better paying job elsewhere.

Now this is all valid with consumer electronics jobs. With power engineering like you have it's different. That's a stable and relatively static industry that changes slowly and only when it has to. The new grad there is usually productive from the start, but not so with consumer electronics. There the competitive pressure from overseas is intense and rapidly accelerating. Sounds like the recruiter's client is really struggling. Hence the hope for H1-B foreign engineers.

Re - compensation. I think I did ok, for the most part. We raised four kids and paid off a mortgage. We do not live in a mansion though. By keeping things humble, we managed to avoid debt problems. My house was a '7% FHA loan' with 3 bedrooms 1 bath. A starter home of about 1000 sqr ft. Over the years we converted the basement into another two bedrooms and added another bath. Now we use the extra room for hobbies and storage. It seems a little large for our needs now, but it's paid for.