According to numbers released yesterday by the Department of Defense, most branches of the military met or exceeded their September 2005 recruiting goals. This comes after a fiscal year in which the Army, the Army National Guard, Army Reserve, Navy Reserve, and Air National Guard, all missed their annual recruiting goals. In response, the military has undertaken a variety of new efforts to attract recruits in a new campaign to increase enlistments.
Among the hardest hit of all branches has been the Army, whose active duty and reserve forces failed to meet their annual recruiting goals. Consequently, the Army’s “master plan” for reaching its 2006 recruiting goal has made the following changes:
- Adjust the way recruiters frame their sales pitches to young men and women. Instead of focusing mainly on financial incentives and other “benefits” of joining the Army, recruiters are now being trained to address the individual recruits’ personal hopes and fears, rather than using the traditional hard sell.
- Put more effort into recruiting people who have begun their college careers but not yet earned a degree, on the assumption that some would be interested in taking a hiatus to try military service. Also, target those of high school age who are being home schooled.
- Make more use of “lead refinements” — the use of computer technology to refine recruiters’ leads on potential enlistees. Using mathematical formulas based in part on demographics, a recruiter can more easily prioritize his or her high-payoff leads and thus become more productive. Ten of the Army’s 41 recruiting battalions now use this technology; the Army wants to double it to 20 or more.
- Shift more advertising dollars from national to local markets.
- Offer a $2,500 “finder’s fee” to soldiers who refer a recruit who makes it through advanced individual training, a step beyond basic training. This has yet to be authorized by Congress.
Related posts:
- Army, Reserve Forces to Miss Recruiting Goals for 2005
- Military Misses Recruiting Goals for April; Recruiters Faking Documents
- Army to Miss Monthly Recruiting Goals for March and April
- New Military Recruiting Tactics in Light of Missed Goals
- Iraq Watch: Pentagon Miseed Chances to “Correct” Detainee Abuse, Military missing Recruiting Goals, Questions about US Attack on Italian Journalist
