Question: I know that PERM is now going to be the way that Labor Certifications are supposed to be done. However, I am very confused on how to do the advertising. Can you please let me know what must be done?

Answer: There are very specific rules for advertising. However, there are also requirements that are somewhat specific to the organization. First, notice of the job must be posted at the employer’s facility or location of the employment. The notice must be posted for at least 10 consecutive business days. The notice must be clearly visible and unobstructed while posted and must be posted in conspicuous places where the employer’s U.S. workers can readily read the posted notice on their way to or from their place of employment. Appropriate locations for posting notices of the job opportunity include locations in the immediate vicinity of where other required work documents are necessary to be posted.

Question: Other than the Job Posting is there other types of advertising the employer must do in their place of employment.

Answer: Yes. In addition to the Job Posting, the employer must publish the notice in any and all in-house media, whether electronic or printed, in accordance with the normal procedures used for the recruitment of similar positions in the employer’s organization. The documentation requirement may be satisfied by providing a copy of the posted notice and stating where it was posted and by providing copies of all the in-house media, whether electronic or print, that were used to distribute notice of the application in accordance with the procedures used for similar positions within the employer’s organization.

Thus, whatever the normal in-house procedures have been used for non PERM employees must be used for the prospective PERM employee.

Question: What other type of advertising must be done?

Answer: Each PERM application must be done through what is known as pre-filing recruitment. Therefore, the advertising must be done prior to the PERM being filed with the Department of Labor. There are two basic categories of advertising that must be done. First, is for the ‘Professional’ and the second is for the ‘Nonprofessional’. The Department of Labor defines a Professional as a position that requires at least a college degree.

The pre-advertising must be done no more than six months prior to the filing of the PERM application and at least 30 days. There must be two print-ads and one Job Order. A Job Order is placed with the State Workforce Agency or SWA. The start and end dates of the job order entered on the application serves as documentation that this step was done.

The advertisements must be in a newspaper or professional journals (if it is a Professional job.) The advertisement must be placed on two different Sundays in the newspaper of general circulation in the area of intended employment most appropriate to the occupation and the workers likely to apply for the job opportunity and most likely to bring responses from able, willing, qualified, and available U.S. workers.

Question: What exactly must be in the advertisement?

Answer: The advertisement must (1) name the employer; (2) Direct applicants to report or send resumes, as appropriate for the occupation, to the employer; (3) Provide a description of the vacancy specific enough to apprise the U.S. workers of the job opportunity for which certification is sought; 4) Indicate the geographic area of employment with enough specificity to apprise applicants of any travel requirements and where applicants will likely have to reside to perform the job opportunity; (5) Not contain a wage rate lower than the prevailing wage rate; (6) Not contain any job requirements or duties which exceed the job requirements or duties listed on the ETA Form 9089; and (7) Not contain wages or terms and conditions of employment that are less favorable than those offered to the alien.

Question: Must a professional advertise in the papers and a professional journal?

Answer: No. If the job requires an advanced degree and experience and a Professional Journal would normally be used to advertise the position, then one of the Sunday advertisements can be substituted in with a Professional Journal advertisement.

Question: Is there anything else needed for the advertising? If it is a professional position, then there must be further recruitment steps. The employer must pick three additional recruitment steps. Only one of the three can actually be within 30 days of filing the application. The rest must be no more than 180 days of filing the application. (A) Job fairs. Recruitment at job fairs for the occupation involved in the application, which can be documented by brochures advertising the fair and newspaper advertisements in which the employer is named as a participant in the job fair; (B) Employer’s Web site. The use of the employer’s Web site as a recruitment medium can be documented by providing dated copies of pages from the site that advertise the occupation involved in the application; (C) Job search Web site other than the employer’s. The use of a job search Web site other than the employer’s can be documented by providing dated copies of pages from one or more website(s) that advertise the occupation involved in the application. Copies of web pages generated in conjunction with the newspaper advertisements of this section can serve as documentation of the use of a Web site other than the employer’s; (D) On-campus recruiting. The employer’s on-campus recruiting can be documented by providing copies of the notification issued or posted by the college’s or university’s placement office naming the employer and the date it conducted interviews for employment in the occupation; (E) Trade or professional organizations. The use of professional or trade organizations as a recruitment source can be documented by providing copies of pages of newsletters or trade journals containing advertisements for the occupation involved in the application for alien employment certification; (F) Private employment firms; (G) Employee referral program with incentives; (H) Campus placement offices. (I) Local and ethnic newspapers. The use of local and ethnic newspapers can be documented by providing a copy of the page in the newspaper that contains the employer’s advertisement and/or (J) Radio and television advertisements.

Remember, that the other outside advertising needed for a nonprofessional would simply be the two advertisements in Sunday in a paper of general circulation and the SWA 30 day Job Order.