Recruitment and Selection in the Public and Nonprofi t Sectors 189
practical application of a body of specialized knowledge along with at least
a bachelor ’ s degree or its equivalent. For example, architecture, engineer-
ing, mathematics, physical sciences, social sciences, medicine and health,
education, business specialties, accounting, law, theology, and the arts are
specialty occupations.
There is a cap of sixty - fi ve thousand workers per year, though Congress
has varied it. Universities and nonprofi t and government research entities
are exempt from the cap. The position the foreign national is being hired
for must require a minimum of a bachelor ’ s degree in a specialty occupa-
tion, and the person being hired must possess the bachelor ’ s degree or its
equivalent. The employer must pay the employee the prevailing wage for
employees working in a similar position for the employer and attest that
the employee will not displace any other U.S. employees. H - 1B visa hold-
ers may change jobs as soon as their employer fi les an approval petition,
and they are not restricted to their current geographical area. The law
is enforced by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services within the
Department of Homeland Security. Noncompliance may result in fi nes up
to ten thousand dollars for each unauthorized alien employed, as well as
imprisonment for up to six months for a pattern or practice of violations.
Federal contractors may be barred from federal contracts for one year.
Screening Applicants
Once the organization has communicated its need to fi ll positions and
applicants have responded, it moves on to screening the applicants to iden-
tify those with the requisite KSAOCs.
Employment applications are often the fi rst step in the screening pro-
cess. Applicants fi ll out a form asking them to answer a variety of ques-
tions. The questions must not violate local, state, or federal employment
discrimination laws. The rule followed by the EEOC, state agencies, and
most courts is that if the employer asks a question on an employment
application form, it is assumed that the answer is used in the hiring process.
If the question does not pertain to the job applicant ’ s qualifi cation for the
job in question, the question may be held illegal if it has a disparate impact
on a covered group. When developing an application, an organization
should refer to the state ’ s fair employment laws to eliminate any potential
discriminatory questions. Questions about age, race, gender, and disabil-
ity are permitted only when responding is voluntary and the information
is required for record - keeping purposes. Equal employment opportunity
