Top 5 Things to Remember for a Successful PERM Advertising Campaign

By: Rachel Horner

When producing a PERM advertising campaign, there are several factors to consider: timeliness, accuracy, detail, and more. One mistake, and the applicant’s journey to obtaining their green card can be halted. Park Advertising knows that the stakes are especially high and is fully equipped to help. Throughout our experience with the DOL and PERM, we have seen our fair share of advertising pitfalls and have constantly tailored and adapted our services to help avoid and prevent such issues. Below is a rundown of important points to remember when undertaking a PERM advertising project—and what Park does to make that process easier.

1. Make Sure the Ad is Correct in Every Sense

The PERM process can be overwhelming, and it can be easy to miss both obvious and minute mistakes. At Park, we avoid this by having our staff weed through each sentence for any and every type of mistake that would jeopardize a campaign, such as typos or incorrect information (i.e., wrong address, wrong employer info). In addition, we take a look at the bigger picture: is the final advertisement a good description of the position and its duties? Is the employer address fully accurate and up-to-date? These are details that, while obvious on the surface, are easy to get wrong in the rush to start an ad campaign, and which could ultimately lead to push-back from the DOL. Having multiple eyes look at each advertisement increases the chance that the DOL will receive a flawless application.

2. Pick the Best Possible Category for Your Job

Our staff is extremely experienced with the DOL’s requirements for proper advertisement placement. Whether it be placing an advertisement in a newspaper, on a job boards site, or a company’s own website, we know that the exact placement of the advertisement for the position must be carefully conceived. Therefore, it is crucially important to take the time to ensure that the ad is placed within the appropriate job category.

Admittedly, this can be tricky—not all newspapers have the same categorical options across their classifieds section, and this is also true of job search websites. Still, it pays to thoroughly review each option and make the closest possible choice. For example, a Software Engineer position should not be placed in the “Computer Programmers” section if there is a dedicated category for Software Engineers. In addition, we can offer assistance regarding strategy when it comes to placing your job advertisement. Because the DOL has a list of 12 options to choose from (two of which are mandatory), it can be confusing to choose what routes to pick. Besides mandatory steps like print newspaper ads and State Workforce Agency (SWA) site postings, our team also offers ad placements for job search web sites, radio stations, trade/professional journals, employer websites, and campus web site postings (aka “Handshake”).

3. Choose Your Publications Wisely

Choosing the right publication for your advertisement can make or break your case. A common mistake we see is petitioners placing advertisements into relatively obscure area papers to try to limit the number of potential applicants they’d need to dispute. This is a surefire way to have the DOL challenge your application and cost you both time and money.

Instead, at Park Evaluations, we are able to balance meeting the DOL’s criteria, but not overexposing a job. We are well-connected with advertising reps from some of the most reputable, recognizable newspapers around the country, and keep careful track of circulation data for each, so that the DOL does not have a reason to push back. This can be especially crucial when picking the right local “ethnic” paper for weekday ad placement, as those papers are often less recognizable to the DOL and therefore riper for challenges.

4. Always Remain Time Conscious

PERM ad cycles need to occur while the prevailing wage for the position is still considered valid. While the exact timeframe for the wage’s validity can vary based on how authoritative the DOL considers the wage survey source that was submitted, it is fair to state that the PERM process is extremely time sensitive. The second the process runs off schedule, the entirety of the advertisement can be jeopardized—and leaving little room for the possibility of mistakes or hiccups in the process is always a risk. If ads are placed under the wrong category, or contain typos, and need to be placed over again, this could set the timeline for an ad campaign back by as much as several weeks (to say nothing of how expensive things would start to get).

We strive to ensure that all steps are met within an acceptable timeframe so that your case with the DOL is not jeopardized by a missed deadline. Our PERM team is always considerate of a case’s prevailing wage expiration date and is able to work through a high volume of requests with not only accuracy but efficiency. Rather than leave cases on the backburner, each one is treated with the utmost urgency—online job site ads are posted at the earliest possible time from receiving the client’s go-ahead, and we stay apprised of weekly newspaper deadlines for ad placements to ensure that the ad doesn’t have to get bumped into the following week’s paper.

5. To avoid delays, have your client come prepared

Finally, whenever such information is requested, we provide each client with a detailed explanation of why each publication chosen for their ad campaign is the best choice given the facts of the case, so that the client will already have the evidence/reasoning needed to create a strong response to send to the DOL in the event of an audit. We overall ensure that we never take a short-cut and that each advertisement is carried out both thoughtfully and efficiently.

If you want to request help with ad placement for a PERM advertising campaign, contact [email protected].

This is part one of a two-part series on preparing for PERM applications. Stay tuned for part 2!