July Recruiting
I have been actually really been recruiting on my own for about a week now. I have learned quite a few things.
1. The recruiting year runs with the school year calendar. Our new recruiting year starts August 1. My mission also starts August 1st. I have a mission of 26. At first I thought "piece of cake!" Now I am not so cocky.
2. There are oodles of people interested in joining the military. Not many of them are qualified.
3. There are plenty of qualified people I run across. Not many of them are interested in joining the military.
4. There are Leads, Prospects and Applicants.
a. A lead is simply a name and a number.
b. A prospect is someone who has expressed interest in the National Guard.
c. An applicant is someone actually going through the process of joining.
5. Following a lead is easy. I spend an inordinate amount of time chasing down a prospect only to find out they can't be an applicant. Too overweight, has asthma, flat footed etc.
6. People who avoid you when they see you are probably qualifed, so chase 'em down!
I find that I am wasting a lot of time on paperwork and getting organized. I know there is a learning curve and I am at the beginning but.. I really need to find my groove.
As I said, my assigned mission is 26 for the year. Three for August and September and two a month for the rest of the year. MY mission is for 3 a month or 36 for the year. Next year my goal is 4 a month and the following year; 5 a month.
We take a PT test in the Army. Passing is 180 points or a score of 60 for each event (push-ups, sit-ups, 2mile run). Excelling is 300 points or a score of 100 for each event. I know me and my body and what I am capable of doing. I will never see a 100% or 300 points. However I am constantly working on what I KNOW I can achieve. I can get 100 on the sit-ups and push-ups if I work at it. My run... I can get an 85 if I really push. So MY goal for the APFT is 285. I score a 200 right now. So I am "passing" but I failed myself.
As far as recruiting goes: I need a score of 26 to pass. I want a score of 40 or 50. See what I mean? If I really push myself to get 5 recruits for the month of August then I have worked out all the kinks and have a good valuable system. I can see holes in my method right now. I get a lead (either myself or someone else) I call and talk to them and pre-screen them lightly with the APPLEMD.
A- age
P- prior service
P- physical conditions
L- Law violations
E- education
M- marital status
D- dependants
I screen lightly and they seem like a good candidate. Then I drive all over creation to see them (an appointment) only to discover they are not qualified at all. Here are a few examples from this past week.
1. 17 years old soon to be eighteen. No physical conditions like asthma etc. working on getting her GED. The Army told her she needs to lose 30 pounds and she has lost 15. Wants to know all her options and someone told her about the National Guard. No law violations, not married, no children. Sounds good right? I arrive to see that she is 5'11" and weighs 270 pounds.
2. 18 years old, a senior in high school. Took the asvab for the Army but they can't enlist him until he has graduated, he wants money now. No law violations, not married, no children. I arrive to talk to him. He then discloses that he took the practice asvab and scored a 29. Did you take the asvab at MEPS? Yep. He scored a 6. I dig a little deeper. He has been diagnosed with depression and is prescribed meds for it.
3. 26 years old. Soon to be married with four kids. We can work around the four children. She arrives at my office and I begin to dig a little deeper. She broke up with fiance, has had cervical cancer and a subsequent hysterectomy, and a lot of law violations.
4. 17 years old, soon to be 18. needs GED, a couple of traffic tickets. Physically fine. I meet him at a local Armory. Can we say METH mouth? He was stoned. He was really really dirty. He has more than just a few traffic tickets. And to top it all off, he has asthma, been diagnosed with it.
What is really really heart breaking... the ones that are older probably could have been enlisted at one time. They thought they knew it all and chose not to. Now that the reality of LIFE has hit them and they are paying the consequences of poor choices....they want to turn it all around. I applaude them for that. However I can't help them. Sad but true.
Each of these people had dreams at one time. Almost every single kid I talk to wants to go to college. They have aspirations of a better life. The National Guard can make it happen for them IF they chose it.
So ... I have set my sights on the high schools. I plan on scaring the crap out of them. I plan on letting them have it right square between the eyes. I will set what I have out on a platter. They can either take it or leave it.
That is at least a month away. In the meantime I have a stack of papers with approximately 900 leads that I will call. I am sure I will go through that pretty quickly. My goal is to talk to 5 real live prospects each day from my list. I also have a goal of making an appointment with at least one of them a week. I will keep working my list until I have eliminated each person on it. I will also go to the Department Of Labor, get some of their business cards and brochures for our office (we have a lot of soldiers returning from Iraq) AND leave some brochures and my business cards with them. I also plan on getting the names of local big industry and visiting their Human Resources Office. Let them know I can do a presentation on college money for their employees or their children. Meanwhile shaking the hand of everyone I meet and introducing myself, giving them my card.
It really is about volume. My job is to meet as many as I can and then whittle it down to the Few, the Qualified, the Guard! LOL
1. The recruiting year runs with the school year calendar. Our new recruiting year starts August 1. My mission also starts August 1st. I have a mission of 26. At first I thought "piece of cake!" Now I am not so cocky.
2. There are oodles of people interested in joining the military. Not many of them are qualified.
3. There are plenty of qualified people I run across. Not many of them are interested in joining the military.
4. There are Leads, Prospects and Applicants.
a. A lead is simply a name and a number.
b. A prospect is someone who has expressed interest in the National Guard.
c. An applicant is someone actually going through the process of joining.
5. Following a lead is easy. I spend an inordinate amount of time chasing down a prospect only to find out they can't be an applicant. Too overweight, has asthma, flat footed etc.
6. People who avoid you when they see you are probably qualifed, so chase 'em down!
I find that I am wasting a lot of time on paperwork and getting organized. I know there is a learning curve and I am at the beginning but.. I really need to find my groove.
As I said, my assigned mission is 26 for the year. Three for August and September and two a month for the rest of the year. MY mission is for 3 a month or 36 for the year. Next year my goal is 4 a month and the following year; 5 a month.
We take a PT test in the Army. Passing is 180 points or a score of 60 for each event (push-ups, sit-ups, 2mile run). Excelling is 300 points or a score of 100 for each event. I know me and my body and what I am capable of doing. I will never see a 100% or 300 points. However I am constantly working on what I KNOW I can achieve. I can get 100 on the sit-ups and push-ups if I work at it. My run... I can get an 85 if I really push. So MY goal for the APFT is 285. I score a 200 right now. So I am "passing" but I failed myself.
As far as recruiting goes: I need a score of 26 to pass. I want a score of 40 or 50. See what I mean? If I really push myself to get 5 recruits for the month of August then I have worked out all the kinks and have a good valuable system. I can see holes in my method right now. I get a lead (either myself or someone else) I call and talk to them and pre-screen them lightly with the APPLEMD.
A- age
P- prior service
P- physical conditions
L- Law violations
E- education
M- marital status
D- dependants
I screen lightly and they seem like a good candidate. Then I drive all over creation to see them (an appointment) only to discover they are not qualified at all. Here are a few examples from this past week.
1. 17 years old soon to be eighteen. No physical conditions like asthma etc. working on getting her GED. The Army told her she needs to lose 30 pounds and she has lost 15. Wants to know all her options and someone told her about the National Guard. No law violations, not married, no children. Sounds good right? I arrive to see that she is 5'11" and weighs 270 pounds.
2. 18 years old, a senior in high school. Took the asvab for the Army but they can't enlist him until he has graduated, he wants money now. No law violations, not married, no children. I arrive to talk to him. He then discloses that he took the practice asvab and scored a 29. Did you take the asvab at MEPS? Yep. He scored a 6. I dig a little deeper. He has been diagnosed with depression and is prescribed meds for it.
3. 26 years old. Soon to be married with four kids. We can work around the four children. She arrives at my office and I begin to dig a little deeper. She broke up with fiance, has had cervical cancer and a subsequent hysterectomy, and a lot of law violations.
4. 17 years old, soon to be 18. needs GED, a couple of traffic tickets. Physically fine. I meet him at a local Armory. Can we say METH mouth? He was stoned. He was really really dirty. He has more than just a few traffic tickets. And to top it all off, he has asthma, been diagnosed with it.
What is really really heart breaking... the ones that are older probably could have been enlisted at one time. They thought they knew it all and chose not to. Now that the reality of LIFE has hit them and they are paying the consequences of poor choices....they want to turn it all around. I applaude them for that. However I can't help them. Sad but true.
Each of these people had dreams at one time. Almost every single kid I talk to wants to go to college. They have aspirations of a better life. The National Guard can make it happen for them IF they chose it.
So ... I have set my sights on the high schools. I plan on scaring the crap out of them. I plan on letting them have it right square between the eyes. I will set what I have out on a platter. They can either take it or leave it.
That is at least a month away. In the meantime I have a stack of papers with approximately 900 leads that I will call. I am sure I will go through that pretty quickly. My goal is to talk to 5 real live prospects each day from my list. I also have a goal of making an appointment with at least one of them a week. I will keep working my list until I have eliminated each person on it. I will also go to the Department Of Labor, get some of their business cards and brochures for our office (we have a lot of soldiers returning from Iraq) AND leave some brochures and my business cards with them. I also plan on getting the names of local big industry and visiting their Human Resources Office. Let them know I can do a presentation on college money for their employees or their children. Meanwhile shaking the hand of everyone I meet and introducing myself, giving them my card.
It really is about volume. My job is to meet as many as I can and then whittle it down to the Few, the Qualified, the Guard! LOL
posted by SGT Lori at 06:26
2 Comments:
Best of luck to you Dear!
Just do me one favor. It's important. Don't stretch the truth when you are talking to parents and potential recruits PLEASE. We were told a few things that weren't quite 100%honest by the female recruiter who signed my two kids into the Air Force. Of course we had other sources of information so we knew she was fibbing. But it really made us think less of her in all the help she gave us in getting the kids into the military.
Keep your integrety Gal. You're going to be the best recruiter in the whole USA!
Brian I hope to hone that skill down to an art!! Would be nice to know that quick about a person.
Kim, I have been saying "I am not sure, let me check on that" alot. But just yesterday I told someone something wrong. I will call him and get the facts straight. It is SO hard since what I tell someone can affect someone's life for the next 6 or 8 years! I also invite them to DOUBLE check me on the facts.
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