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What Happens if Supervised Recruitment is Ordered?
USINFO | 2013-10-23 15:23
Supervised recruitment may be ordered by the Certifying Officer (CO) at the DOL in place of a denial, either after receipt of an unsatisfactory audit response, or when an employer has previously failed to adequately respond to an audit letter. Supervised recruitment is exactly what it sounds like: The DOL maintains close supervision over an employer’s recruitment process from beginning until a decision is made. Supervised recruitment can either be implemented for an already filed PERM petition or for a new petition. In supervised recruitment the employer should not initiate recruitment without the CO’s request, and the CO will direct where, when, and how the recruitment will be conducted.
Supervised recruiting is much more demanding than the regular PERM process and each step is overseen be the CO. The employer must submit a draft of the proposed ad to the CO for approval within 30 days of the notification that supervised recruitment is required (a onetime, 30 day extension of this deadline is permitted at the discretion of the CO). If the ad is approved the CO will direct the placement of the advertisement. It is largely up to the CO where a supervised recruitment ad will be placed, but most often it is in a newspaper. If the employer is directed to place the ad in a newspaper it must run for THREE (3) consecutive days, one day of which must be a Sunday. The employer shall notify the CO when the ad will appear. The approved ad must advise applicants to send resumes or applications to the CO, which include an identification number and address as designated by the CO. Resumes submitted for a position are sent directly to the CO who then forwards them to the employer, thus giving the CO a complete view of the applicant pool. If the employer receives any resumes as a result of the advertisements he/she must consider them as well and include them in the final recruitment report to be sent to the CO. The ad must fully describe the job opportunity, including a wage rate that meets or exceeds the prevailing wage rate (as well as meets or exceeds the wage offered to the alien) and summarize the minimum job requirements as contained in the application form. It must further offer training if the job would normally require the employer to provide training. These requirements are unique to supervised recruitment and not common or required in regular PERM petitions. The CO may also require other specific recruitment efforts containing the same information.
The CO will advise the employer when the recruitment process has ended, tell him/her to compile their recruitment documents and create a recruitment report, and give a date by which evidence must be submitted to the CO. A recruitment report must be submitted within 30 days of the CO’s request for the report (with a one time, 30 day extension possible). The Employer’s written report must be signed, detailed and contain specific information regarding the recruitment process. If the employer does not respond within the time given by the CO in the order for supervised recruitment, the CO shall deny the application.
