The Reduction in Recruitment process may take only a few months to process. On the other hand, the recruitment effort for the Reduction in Recruitment process is not employee specific. To qualify for the RIR processing, an employer must consistently recruit U.S. workers for shortage occupations, for example, engineers and programmers. The recruitment effort must rely extensively upon newspaper advertisements.

The employer must document that it has engaged in, within the last six months, a pattern of recruitment in an effort to hire U.S. workers for the position, but has been unsuccessful in identifying qualified and available U.S. workers.

The employer must submit evidence of the pattern of recruitment to the state workforce agency. If the certifying officer feels the pattern of recruitment is appropriate to the occupation and the labor market, the application will be approved with no need for the state to do an additional supervised recruitment process.