H2A Visa Program Success Is All About the Quality of Your Workers
Filling the seasonal farm labor gap is an ongoing top priority for farm and ag business owners. The H2A Visa Program delivers—but only if you can find and hire high-quality farm labor.
USA Farm Labor is an end-to-end H2A partner for agricultural employers that manages the entire H2A process for you, provides compliance guidance and support, handles visa petitions, coordinates worker logistics and travel, and is there for both you and your workers all season long. In addition, USA Farm Labor has a dedicated H2A worker website that connects foreign farm labor with our recruitment partners. This blog is designed to give H2A employers insights into the extensive, ongoing investment USA Farm Labor makes to provide you with quality H2A labor you can count on, season after season.
Expertise, technology, and partnerships that translate into high-quality farm labor for you
Most H2A agencies simply provide you with a list of resumes, leaving you to do all the research and vetting on your own. USA Farm Labor invests in a structured, comprehensive system to deliver reliable, skilled, work-ready H2A labor that can hit the ground running. Here’s a summary of the important highlights of this proven system.
Global recruiter network
USA Farm Labor partners with H2A recruiters around the world. These recruitment partners screen potential workers on a wide range of factors that are critically important when deciding which candidates to interview and hire as H2A employees.
Our recruiters’ screening and verification process for every potential candidate includes:
Administering 13 knowledge exams across a range of agricultural topics
Using a skills model to disclose experience across 280 relevant skills
Asking 150 questions in a skills grid to gather details about the worker’s experience across all aspects of farming—from general farm skills and combine experience to handyman skills and driving trucks
Workers taking personality and emotional assessments
Screening for smoking, drinking, prior criminal history, medical history, and prior U.S. experience
Calling prior references and signing off that it’s a verified reference
Workers must also watch videos that explain the H2A Program and USA Farm Labor, then are quizzed to ensure participation and understanding. Candidates are unable to create profiles in our Proprietary Database until they’ve completed the entire screening process detailed above.
Proprietary Database
USA Farm Labor continually invests in updating and improving our Proprietary Database. Not only does it provide H2A employers with a centralized hub for all their H2A Visa Program documents, it’s invaluable when it comes to finding, interviewing, and hiring quality farm labor.
Standout Database features make it easy to:
Access a robust pipeline of verified workers—Choose from a pool of 5,000+ available verified worker candidates
Streamline candidate management—The total candidate pool is conveniently organized into 3 columns: all candidates, candidates recommended by our recruiters based on your specific needs, and candidates you’ve selected to interview
Create a shortlist with a few clicks—Quickly filter candidates by skills and qualities to find the ones that best match your needs. Unique icons make it easy to see which workers have solid references from a U.S. H2A employer (U.S. flag means a 3-, 4-, or 5-star rating, Shield means 4- or 5-star). A truck icon signifies certification from USA Truck Labor (see dedicated section below).
View comprehensive profiles—Click on a candidate to view a complete profile that includes exam scores, skills, education, experience, a video CV, references (a minimum of 2), and drone footage (if applicable)
Seamlessly schedule interviews—Easily request interviews, as well as choose the time and format
Provide feedback—Let recruiters know why the candidate is or isn’t a good match post-interview
Extend job offers—Send top candidates a job offer that they can accept right through the Database, as well as through SMS or email
Organize and access essential new worker documents—Both you and your new H2A employees can access the Job Order (ETA-790), consulate documents, travel documents, and more
Rate performance post-season—At the end of the season, evaluate workers on important factors, such as punctuality, attendance, and reliability while it’s fresh in your mind
Rehire your best workers with ease—Easily identify your top workers and bring them back for next season
Get valuable tips on finding and interviewing the right candidates
Worker Placement Coordinators
As a USA Farm Labor client, you’re assigned a Worker Placement Coordinator who will be your main point of contact for everything worker-related, including:
Working with recruiters to assist with visa petition, consulate, and worker travel logistics
Preparing you for your worker(s) arrival
Reaching out throughout your season to make sure things are running smoothly
Being a resource for both you and your workers all season long to answer questions, address concerns, and help resolve conflicts
Partnership with USA Truck Labor
Our partnership with USA Truck Labor is an essential component of our ongoing efforts to provide you with quality farm labor. While USA Farm Labor provides verified workers across all the top five ag SOC codes, we specialize in supplying skilled workers for some of the more complex farm labor needs, such as driving, operating, and maintaining trucks, combines, and tractors.
USA Truck Labor is a training school and skills verification agency based in South Africa. The company offers training programs that focus on learning core American farm operation tasks, including how to safely operate and maintain American trucks and ag equipment.
Here’s a quick summary of what the training includes:
How to drive an American-style semi truck
American transportation rules and laws
Pre- and post-trip inspections
Truck and trailer docking
Maintenance and service aspects such as service identification, lubrication, tire inspections, repair and removal, and trailer adjustments
5-star simulator testing for tractor, truck, harvester, forklift, and telehandler
Testing on U.S. terminology, traffic laws and procedures, and combination vehicle and air brake tests
Gravel and dirt road tests that include shifting as well as practical techniques such as parking, backing, connecting and disconnecting trailers, inspections, safety, etc.
Certified candidates who have successfully completed training are easily identified in our Database with a truck badge indicator. Their profiles will include testing details and possibly drone footage from their road testing.
We put in the work, so you don’t have to
USA Farm Labor knows how important finding high-quality H2A labor is to the success of your farm or ag business. All of the above investments are designed to ensure the workers you hire are fully vetted and verified. Our goal is to make it easy for you to find great workers you can rely on, season after season.
