What are the new LMIA Advertising Requirements?
New regulations and tough Service Canada officers have made getting an LMIA (Labour Market Impact Assessment) approval even more difficult than ever before. While it has always been a requirement to advertise to Canadians before getting an approval to hire abroad, ESDC now has a few more specific criteria. Here is a quote from the website.
“Recruitment is the process of finding and selecting qualified employees. As part of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program requirements, you must conduct recruitment efforts to hire Canadians and permanent residents before offering a job to a temporary foreign worker.”
What are the new Minimum Recruitment Requirements?
Before applying for a Labour Market Impact Assessment, you must conduct at least three different recruitment activities:
- Effective August 28, 2017, you must advertise on the Government of Canada’s Job Bank. If you choose to use an alternative method, you must submit a written rationale and explanation.
- You must also conduct at least two additional methods of recruitment that are consistent with the occupation (targets an audience that has the appropriate education, professional experience and or skill level required for the occupation). Effective August 28, 2017, each of the methods used must target a different underrepresented group: Indigenous persons, vulnerable youth, newcomers, and persons with disabilities.
What are the Underrepresented Groups?
Vulnerable youth are defined as young people who face barriers to employment, developing basic employability skills and gaining valuable job experience to assist them in making a successful transition into the labour market or to return to school. These barriers for youth may include but are not limited to: challenges faced by recent immigrant youth, youth with disabilities, lone parent youth, youth who have not completed high school, Indigenous youth, and youth living in rural or remote areas.
Unfortunately there is no published list on which resources will be accepted, and you don’t want to spend all that time and money on an application just to be denied at the last stage because the officer can’t verify your efforts. That’s why we gathered this list of resources you can use to support your recruitment efforts.
Disclaimer: This list has been gathered through personal/professional trial and error and we offer no guarantees. Our insight into each is based purely on opinion. Each officer determines their understanding of the criteria differently, and we are of the belief that more advertising is always better. As a point of reference, we have utilized the following recruitment tools on a large number of applications over the last few months and have compiled this list based on those we have found success with.
Aboriginal/First Nations/Indigenous Groups
Many first nations resources are either very targeted, very regional, or very expensive. Resources provide varying levels of support, verification, and national exposure. Here is what we have found so far.
Local Aboriginal Centres
Wonderful resources, but beware their reach. Often times a posting is made on a local internal bulletin board and verification is difficult for an officer to complete. We encourage using this method, but only in addition to a national aboriginal board.
www.Aboriginaljobboard.ca – Seems to be the least expensive option for a paid national campaign. Documented postings with id numbers are easy to track. Larger packages are available on request.
https://www.inclusionnetwork.ca/frontoffice/reviewPricingPackagesAction.do?sitecode=pl233 – Around $640. One of the pricier options available today
Newcomer and New Immigrant Resources
This one is tough, as many people believe a local church or community organization will qualify. While we have seen that work, more often than not Officers require specific, targeted job boards. Making an officer’s job as easy as possible is key, and worth a small fee to check all the boxes. Here are a few paid resources that we have seen work consistently.
www.newcanadianjobs.ca – Least expensive, very targeted national network of employment centers, about $99 per post at last check. We actually find quite a few international candidates to fill other roles when posting on this network.
www.newcomerscanada.ca – Nice website, about $195 per posting.
Vulnerable Youth
https://www.yes.on.ca/ – Ontario specific government employment center. Large reach but limited to specific regions. It was YES that actually introduced us to the job board below which shares positions between regional/national centers.
www.canadayouthworks.ca – national job board with an emphasis on youth experiencing challenges entering the workforce.
Warning: Beware sites that appear to only focus on the requirements set out by service Canada. If one site is trying to focus on two or more requirements, you can probably guess it is not an actual employment resource. If you are sensing this, you know Service Canada will be as well. We have had many employers contacting us to fix otherwise perfect LMIA submissions due to rejected advertising. It is worth the extra $200 to submit properly. With increased timelines and fees, don’t risk posting positions on a fraudulent board.
Things to Look Out For
(Reasons Advertisements have been Denied)
Beware spelling and grammar errors on a professional resource.
Look out for organizations that do not charge tax and/or are not located in Canada. If an officer believes a first nations resource is located outside of Canada, realistically they will not be helping that indigenous community. They will reject your entire application.
Generally if the resources you are utilizing mention the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, discusses immigration consultants or lawyers, mentions the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) by name, does not work with government or not for profit organizations, or appears sketchy in any way, stay clear of them.
Finally remember that job advertising is a covered expense under the childcare tax credit in Canada, so if this role is for a caregiver remember to save your receipts!
