There are lots of reasons an American-based business may want to expand their reach to a foreign market when it comes to finding the ideal employee to fill a position, especially if this position requires specialized skills, language abilities, or other unique attributes that can be in short supply in the domestic candidate pool. Many employers are also seeking to fill positions that domestic employees might be less interested in taking, like say, postings for seasonal type work.
Whatever the reason for recruiting a foreign employee, US employers need to take special care that they go through the process the right way to avoid getting held up by red tape. American employers are required to abide by a complex set of legal restrictions and regulations when hiring abroad, and failing to do so correctly can end up being incredibly costly. In fact, many employers believe they have hit all the marks only to find themselves not only an employee but also strapped for costly fees, fines, or even having to shell out for legal costs.
This is why it is so important for anybody looking to post immigration labor advertising or PERM recruitment ads to work hand-in-hand with an agent who specializes in the process. There are a lot of legal loopholes and stringent requirements to take into account, not to mention specific timeframes in which the unique types of applications involved need to be completed, and getting a grip on all the ins-and-outs to ensure everything is done right can often prove to be too much of a burden for anybody who is also trying to run a business. The unfortunate result is often a rejected application or stiff fine, and loads of valuable time, money, and resources dumped down the drain.
That said, there are three big mistakes that employers looking to hire a foreign employee for their business tend to make more often than others, and when dealing with a process that is as tightly regulated as immigration advertising, there is really no room for error. So what are the top things that all American employees should absolutely avoid doing when recruiting abroad? Read on to find out.
1. Not Sticking to the Facts
There is a time and place to let intuition take the wheel, but it is not when undertaking a process as serious as foreign labor advertising. Getting an alien employee hooked up with a green card is a process that will take up a lot of time and resources, and there is really no room to go with gut instinct and ignore the facts. It is one thing to listen to that little voice inside the head when making a local hire. After all, if it doesn’t work out, it really isn’t that difficult to launch a new recruitment campaign and give it another shot. However, when it comes to the cost of bringing in a foreign employee into the country to work, this is really nothing to play around with.
This is why it is absolutely essential to be as thorough and objective as possible when reading the resume or credentials of any international application for a domestic position. Keep in mind that applications coming in from another part of the world may abide by different cultural conventions or appear difficult to understand.
Be sure to consult with a professional, or at worst, the Internet, to get a grasp of what is to be expected in terms of a CV coming from a different country. Then, read the application over carefully and thoroughly, making sure not only that all the information they provide is there, but also they are able to clearly demonstrate that they are fully qualified for the position in question. This means they should have the work experience or education to do the job and do it right.
Be wary of applicants that provide vague or ambiguous information as to their work experience. They should be able to outline not only where they worked or where they were trained, but also what they actually did in the company or the specialized skills that they got out of their application. Also be sure they have actually obtained all the necessary degrees, diplomas, and specialized training needed to make them qualified candidates. Any ambiguities regarding work experience should always be further clarified and hashed out during the interview process as well.
2. Sticking to a Tight or Hiring Deadline
Something as serious as hiring a foreign employee is definitely not something that should be done in a hurry or on a tight timeline. Even on a local level, the recruitment process often takes much longer than employers initially estimate it will, and anybody looking to hire abroad should take this into account and then some. Indeed, employers should prepare themselves for a much more lengthy recruitment timeline than they would on a domestic level, and then leave plenty of breathing room in addition.
There are many roadblocks in, say, the visa application process that may end up sending employers right back to square one, and any possible delays should be accounted for in a way that won’t send day-to-day operations screeching to a grinding halt or force an employer to hire an alien worker that they are not fully satisfied with.
3. Not Fulfilling All the Necessary Legal Requirements
There are a lot of ways for employers to go wrong when attempting to hire a foreign national to fill a domestic position.
One of the first hangups is often the type of visa itself. One of the things that employers don’t realize is that nobody will check to make sure they are actually applying for the right type of visa unless they either do it themselves or choose to work with an agent who is familiar with the process, and this means that many end up going through the whole application process only to find out the hard way that the visa they obtained was never valid in the first place.
Another big one is the permanent labor certification application process. Meeting the right type of criteria when posting PERM ads can be incredibly hard to do in the time frame allotted, and this is why it is always a good idea to work with an agency that specializes in the process to make sure all the necessary bases are hit. After all, a rejected application means having to go back to the drawing board, and many employers may lack the time, money, and resources to have to go through the process multiple times. A much better strategy is to invest in the resources needed to get that application accepted the first time.
