Recruitment under Perm

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Nonprofessional Occupations

Nonprofessional occupation means the occupations that do not normally require a bachelor’s degree. For these occupations, the PERM regulation requires only “mandatory” steps, which include:

  • Job Order with the state workforce agencies in the area of intended employment. The national bank search job order must remain at least for 30 days. The employer should collect the document showing starting date and ending date of the job order from the state agency.
  • Two Sunday Daily Newspaper Ads: The ads can be ordered consecutively immediately after the first ad. The PERM regulation removed the current practice of requiring 28-day interval between the two ads. Accordingly, the employer can place one ad next Sunday, for instance, and the second ad, the following Sunday. The second ad must be published at least 30 days prior to filing of the PERM application.

Professional Occupations

Unlike the nonprofessional occupations, the professional occupations require “Additional Recruitment Steps” on top of the foregoing “mandatory steps.” Professional occupations mean the occupations that require minimum of a bachelor or higher degree. These steps are as follows:

Mandatory Steps:

  • Job Order
  • Two (2) Sunday edition local newspaper ads. For the jobs that require a bachelor’s degree without experience requirement, two newspaper ads are absolute requirements. However, those jobs that require either experience on top of a bachelor’s degree or an advanced degree, the employer can combine one newspaper ad and one professional journal ad. For instance, in computer jobs, employer can place one ad in the local Sunday paper and one ad in the Computerworld.

Additional Recruitment Steps:

On top of the mandatory recruitment campaign, the employers are also required to engage in at least three (3) additional campaigns out of the following 10 options. One of the three steps can be completed even less than 30 days prior to filing of the PERM application.

  • Job Fair: Documented by brochures/newspaper ads where the employer is named as participant.
  • Employer website: Documented by dated copies of pages.
  • Job Search Websites: Documented by dated copies of the ad page. The PERM accepts electronic version of advertisement by the newspapers that run the print ads under the foregoing mandatory step as a proper campaign to meet this additional recruitment step option. Employer should print out such dated electronic ads.
  • On-Campus Recruiting: Documented by copies of notification issued by the college and university placement office with the name of the employer and date of interviews conducted.
  • Trade or Professional Organizations: Documented by copies of pages of newsletters or trade journals of these organizations carrying the employer ad.
  • Private Recruitment Firms: Documented by contract with such firms and copy of the ad by such firms.
  • Employee Referral Program with Incentives: Documented by dated copies of notices, specifying incentives.
  • Campus Placement Offices: Documented by copy of employer’s notice of job opportunity to the campus placement office.
  • Local and ethnic newspapers: Documented by tear-sheets of the ad page.
  • Radio or TV Ads: Documented by a copy of ad text and written confirmation from the radio or TV station.

Required Text of the Ads

The foregoing recruitment campaign must be conducted with a proper text. The PERM regulation requires the following in the ads:

  • Name of the employer
  • Statement directing applicants to report or send resumes to the employer, as appropriate to the occupation
  • Job description specific enough to apprise US workers of the job opportunity
  • Geographic location of the job including travel requirement
  • Wage does not have to be printed, but once the employer opts to advertise the wage, it must not be less than prevailing wage.
  • Requirement or duties should not exceed those listed on the application to be filed.
  • Specific terms and conditions of employment does not have to be printed, but once the employer opts to advertise such information, it must not be less favorable than those offered to the alien.

Internal Notification

The employer must post notice of the job opportunity for at least 10 consecutive business days. The purpose of the notice is to give the employees an opportunity to comment on the application and it is not another way to recruit US workers. In addition to printed posted notice, the employer must use any and all in-house media, whether electronic or printed, in accordance with normal procedures used for recruitment for similar positions in the company. Duration of the in-house media notification may be as long as other comparable positions are posted.

Notice to Laid Off US Workers

The employer must notify and consider US workers who are laid off in the 6 months immediately prior to filing the application if the position in the labor certification is the same or related to the occupation of these laid off US workers.

Retention of Documentation

The employer must retain all records related to each labor certification application for five years from the time of filing. The documentation includes prevailing wage determination, internal notices, documentation of recruitment efforts, and the recruitment report. If the Department of Labor decides to audit the application, failure to provide the requested documents will result in a denial of the application and may result in up to 2 years of supervised recruitment.