I am currently looking at requesting Army recruiter for my next assignment. What does the daily life looks like for recruiters now?

The armys Mafia

A story of survival, I entered recruiting in 1978 in the Seattle Recruiting Battalion as a AGR recruiter, I was very successful not just through my own abilities but through the acceptance of Active Duty counter parts and a hard ass 1st Sgt, Jerry Gum. I earned my Gold recruiting Ring in 18 months and was selected as the Western Recruiter of the Year over 104 contracts that year and 385 contracts in four years in Seattle. I'm not tutting my whistle as you will see how even USAREC will eat their own commanders for incompetence. I spent four years in the Seattle Battalion but as time went on a massive purge was happening, even with those that were successful. I did not want to be caught up in that purge, so I requested a transfer to the Los Angeles Recruiting Battalion. I was placed in the Glendale Recruiting Station. As many people have mentioned location can make or break you. At this point in time AGR recruiters were required to put in two Reserve and one active component. I was lucky and hit mission in two weeks however things were going to go down from there. Glendale California is the home of old Hollywood money, most of your appoints would show up driving cars that cost more than an E-7s annual income with BAQ, another down fall, most couldn't pass the testing or law violations. This whole situation drove me nuts so I went to the city hall and got some demographic information, it wasn't good. By this time I was already on bad boy Saturday morning training. I ask my command how long it had been since an RZA (Recruiting Zone Analysis) had been done, they told me it didn't matter, I persisted and was told 15 years. I had rolled donuts for about 4 months and the command sent a trainer down to follow me for a month to assess the way I was recruiting, the end result was, I was doing my job I was conducting interviews IAW the standards and I was doing my job, the trainers report also stated the RZA had a negative affect on recruiting because it didn't reflect a true picture is mission assignments. Bottom line even with the report, the Battalion sent a relief packet to USAREC and my Company Commander flat told me he was going to ruin my career. Remember earlier I said I wasn't tutting my horn, here why what I said is important about my easy early success. The USAR Operation MSG called me and wanted me to meet him for lunch. At lunch he showed me the USARC response to the Battalion Commander. He was told that the relief action was denied and that my failure was not due to my inactivity but failed leadership on the part of the Battalion and Company leadership teams. My ability to ship 385 enlistees in 4 previous year was their reasoning. Before this I had submitted several 4187s for reassignment out of recruiting, I was later told by the admin NCO that he was told to withhold any requests from me, it was their intent to get me out of the Army. Knowing this I worked back channels to obtain an assignment in USAR Strength Management and Retention. In fact I had my orders before the Battalion had even received them. When I provided a copy to my CO his reaction was priceless, much like my two year old when throwing a tantrum. My Battalion Commander tried to stop it to no avail. I entered recruiting as an E-7, after 25 years on active duty in a AGR status I retired as a Sergeant Major. The point is if you work hard, stick to your values and justify your positions with facts you will always end up on top. I will say USAREC is one Army organization that truly needs to be sanitized.

If anyone tells you recruiting is easy, they're liars. Some people do really well at it, but even they burn out after a while. A lot depends on your command too. If you're in a highly visible area, like a bigger city, the traffic often comes to you. However, if you're in an area that's really spread out, like what I had in rural Nevada, most of your time is spent on travel for site visits and MEPS transports. Also, I did the recruiting for the Army National Guard. It was the exact same process as AD Army. From my experience, it's a bit more stressful for the Guard personnel, because if you're not meeting mission as a Guard recruiter, you're fired very quickly. The AD folk who sucked pretty much just got reassigned to cutting grass details, but they still collected a pay check. Good luck in your hunt!

It literally depends on the unit you go to. I was a DA selected recruiter in 2008. Speaking solely from a recruiting standpoint, it wasn't that bad. Yea you'll deal with headaches of kids and parents but that's the nature of the job. It happens. You'll learn a lot about yourself and pick up skills that you'll use later in your career/life. You don't have to go to the field, no CQ, you're guaranteed not to deploy for 3 years, all of that. But like I said earlier, it's all about the unit you go to. Some places just don't recruit well due to the demographics of the area. Some units understand this and don't hold their subordinate companies to idiotic standards. Others don't and all they care about is the mission at any cost. One month you're the hero, the next you're a zero. Your accomplishments will almost never be celebrated but your failures will almost always be highlighted throughout the company/BN. Want to see the absolute worst side of a Soldier? Go recruiting duty. Some recruiters will sell the souls of their moms if it means getting a contract. And if you do make a mistake, make sure you do something very egregious. Those types of incidents tend to be swept under the rug; especially if you're a high roller. But please do not make an honest mistake while on recruiting duty. They will throw the book at you and make an example for future recruiters out of you. As far as the military side of recruiting goes, the best thing about it I have to say is that I was able to leave.

I was a recruiter from 1999 to 2000. Not sure if they still do this, but back then you are on "probation" (what I call it). The first nine months, you are not rated on your NCOER. After the nine months you go to a board where the leadership (1SG's and CSM) look at your packet/computer and ask you questions. If they feel that recruiter duty will hurt your career, you are sent back to the "regular" army. That is what happened to me. As others had stated, it is a rough duty that is very stressful, not only stress from work, but stress from family as well (if you are married). If you can recruit 2 people into the army, you are a super star, but then next month nothing and now you are a dirt bag. Your NCOER will be based on how many you recruit into the army. You might be a squared away soldier, max the PT test, first to arrive and last to leave, if you do not recruit anyone or at a certain number for the year, you will get a poor NCOER. However, you could be a slob, barely past the PT test, but you get people in the army. Your NCOER would be a lot better then if you were squared away NCO. You will work long hours with one day off a week (Sunday) and that day you are really working because you are looking for prospects for Monday. Recruiting duty is not for everyone (wasn't for me), but it gave me more respect to all recruiters that does this line of work full time.

I was in USA REC for 13 years enjoyed it and retired in 99. I took my 24 year old college grad to a rec station a year ago and I was disappointed in the lack of motivation. The station commander was sloppy looking and even though he knew I was a retired 1SG he didn't even shake my hand or utter a word to me. The recruiter at the time said they didn't have individual missions/ goals. it was obvious in his actions that he could care less about getting an enlistment. My son is in law enforcement now and I am glad the recruiters we lazy as it help my so in making a choice in life.

I have to agree with most of the comments. The Command atmosphere across the board within the recruiting command is not good. I was out there from 96-99 I was part of the surge to fix the Army assessment problem and the Recruiting command was not meeting it's mission. The first year was horrible. Our 1SG converted to 79R at Sgt and had been in recruiting for 14yrs but would tell me how bad a Soldier every time she would come to our station. I developed a medical issue and was told I needed surgery and be out for about a month. My 1SG tried to say that the AF doc was not authorized to make that medical decision and she was denying my surgery. That is when I finally had enough and stood up to her and told her I was going to have the surgery and contact JAG and my congressman. But the issue was just not isolated to just her this kind of leadership is common practice. This was the worst 3yrs of my life.

It's a sales job. No different from selling cars or, in my case, foodservice supplies and equipment. You have to follow up with the prospective recruits. My daughter was going to join the Navy. She had to get her medical records about her knee surgery. It took forever to get a response from the recruiter after she gave him her records. He never followed up. No phone calls, emails, texts or personal visits. Very poor salesmanship.

I'm currently commanding a recruiting unit in Southern California. My recruiters go home everyday around 1700. Is the leadership that you work for that makes the difference. If you want a challenging job go for it.

I commanded a recruiting company for over four years 1997-2001. Some of the toughest time during my entire 27 years of service; including multiple deployments to Iraq. While I did not like the duty, the command climate, or the things I had to require of my soldiers, I learned a tremendous amount about leadership; lessons that stood me in good stead during all of my operational deployments / assignments. If you take the assignment, go in with eyes wide open. Steele yourself to give in ways that you have never considered. Be prepared to endure. Kent State University was in my Company AO. I was egged there once while in uniform. Oddly enough, that incident elevated me to hero status in the eyes of my NCO's. Good Luck.