What can you do about a bad recruiter when you're already deeply invested into the enlistment process with that recruiter?

SPC Charles Babcock — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 03:09:32 -0500

I have been out of the active duty Army for about 2 years now. I have spent the last 3 months working with a recruiter doing all the extra crap that prior service have to do to get back in. Everything was great up until I went to meps. I want to add before I get into this that the platoon sergeant at this recruiting office pull be aside the day I was going to meps and told me that if I did not pick a job and station and enlist that day, then he was taking me out of his system and I wouldnt get to go again. That says a lot about this recruiting office alone. To keep this short there was a small medical thing that I had last year(kidney stone removal procedure) and I told my recruiter about it when I first started the process. He said it wasnt a big deal and dont worry about it. Well it wasnt included in my packet that was sent to meps. When I got to meps I was told about the new update to their system that was to start on 12/1/21 where they could see all medical records. Well I came clean about it during the amnesty period and the meps doctor told me I need a waiver but it would be a simple waiver because it is nothing medically serious. Well they let me finish my complete physical and I passed it all. I was told I just need to get that waiver sent up and I could come back and enlist. I am unbelievably frustrated at this point because I did not think something so small would require a waiver. Well I notify my recruiter and he was pretty upset because I didnt lie to them. He leaves me sitting at meps for almost 2 hours when the office was less then 15 min away. Oh and one of the liaisons was trying to aggressively interrogate me about if I told my recruiter about the medical procedure and if i didnt and I lied on the initial screening paperwork that I wasnt going to be able to enlist and so on. Well I get my recruiter the documents for the waiver the next day and he said he would get it sent up. Well he ignores me for just over 4 days not answering any text or calls giving no updates. I figured out of spite. At this point I was weighing my options and I had a good buddy that I served with who was a recruiter in another state. I gave him a call and told him what was going on and he told me i should just drop them and go remotely though him. At this point I was strongly considering it. I gave it a day or two to see if my recruiter would get back to me and that next day he finally texted me(6 days later) and said my waiver was sent up. I found out from my buddy that his commander called their office and asked them the status of my enlistment. Well idk if that kicked them into gear or they just decided to start doing their job but he got my stuff sent up. well it got kicked back a dat later because i needed a clearance appointment with the doctor. I went and did that a couple days later and when I went in to the office to give the paper work to my recruiter the platoon leader snatched the documents out of my hand before i could hand them to my recruiter and was trying to decipher what the doctor wrote. I tried to explain it to him but he snapped and interrupted me. They have made it very clear they are not fond of me. There are many situations of disrespect and attitude I did not include in here but this is such a unprofessional office. I keep giving them more chances because i really dont want to have my buddy take control and have to somewhat start over. All i need is this waiver to be approved so i can go to meps for literally 1 hour and enlist with the liaison. They are taking forever for every task and not keeping me updated and its obviously out of spite for making them look bad at meps. The recruiter already made himself look bad by screwing up loads of my paper work from my first enlistment that he sent up to meps. I just dont know what to do when dealing with recruiters like this when they have all the power. What can I do about these terrible recruiters, when im already so far invested?

Response by 1LT Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 12 at 2021 9:51 AM

1LT Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 09:51:40 -0500

I went from active, to reserves, back to active, over 13 years.

Most of the time, there is so much crap going on behind the scenes that you don't know about. Sometimes it's just that someone is busy and they aren't dragging they're feet, but they are literally up to their neck in other business. Sometimes they are short-staffed, a system went down, or channels above them are giving them a hard time. I am always generous in giving the benefit of the doubt; that's what I would appreciate if I were on the other side. I have worked hard to develop this in myself because I have the bad habit of taking things personally or seeing spiteful behavior that isn't what I think it is.

Having said that, from your side of the story it sounds pretty exhausting. In my opinion, you should talk to the other recruiter. Give the office a courtesy call or email telling them you're working with another office. Thank them for their hard work, list an email to send your packet too and CC the office (with their permission) and pop smoke. If there is drama, just politely back away from it at this point.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 12 at 2021 10:44 AM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 10:44:26 -0500

You could to go to another office, but then come back here and tell us how the experience is the same.. truth is PS is a pain in the ass for recruiters. I know because I was a PS that required a waiver and it takes a very long time. From my perspective, seems your attitude is driving the situation in a negative way. Be patient, it will happen but waivers can take months to process... you aren't the only person trying to get a waiver through... best of luck to you

Response by MAJ Ronnie Reams made Dec 12 at 2021 11:58 AM

MAJ Ronnie Reams — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 11:58:22 -0500

Today, Platoon Sergeant equal Sergeant First Class. Platoon Sergeant was done away with late last century. Gone like the Technical Sergeant, except in USAF, which kept it when they broke with the USAAF.

Response by SFC Ralph E Kelley made Dec 12 at 2021 6:36 PM

SFC Ralph E Kelley — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 18:36:58 -0500

I was unaware that the waivers are approved locally by the recruiter.
That is the Decision Point of your issue. Who has to approve it?

Response by SSG Bill McCoy made Dec 12 at 2021 7:56 PM

SSG Bill McCoy — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 19:56:36 -0500

We've all heard tales of bad recruiters ... liers, procrastinators, etc. Had to sort fact from fiction. The recruiter that enlisted one of my sons, confided in me that he HATED recruiting because he was expected and more or less ordered to lie to candidate recruits. Both my sons enlisted throught the same office with differrent recruiters due to one PCS'ing. My Grandaughter tried to enlist and was literally given the run-around for FOUR YEARS over medical issues - not necessarily by the recruiters; but two different ones did tell her she was good to go, but MEPS required more data. After so long, she gave up and went police instead.
I think MOST recruiters really do try; but the PSG at yours seems like a total jerk, and he just might be pulling the strings with yoru recruiter, a subordinate. I'd just go through your buddy - if his Commander already is aware of your situation, it may go a lot smoother there.
Good luck.

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made Dec 13 at 2021 10:01 AM

SFC Michael Hasbun — Mon, 13 Dec 2021 10:01:50 -0500

These aren't necessarily bad Recruiters.
Bear in mind, they have a mission and numbers to make, and prior service don't count against their numbers. So everything they are doing for you is, quite literally, out of the kindness of their hearts. You don't count against their number quotas. You are "all burden, no pay off" to them.
So if you really want this to happen, the burden is on you to make sure everything is as squared away as possible.
Remember, this is something for YOU. Whether you reenlist now or not at all affects that recruiting station not one bit. You aren't their mission.

Response by GySgt Kenneth Pepper made Dec 13 at 2021 11:36 AM

GySgt Kenneth Pepper — Mon, 13 Dec 2021 11:36:36 -0500

Being prior service you should have known going in that you don't lie at MEPS. As soon as he mentioned it you should have shut that down and stood your ground.
I am in no way making excuses for your recruiter, but I don't think everybody understands how difficult of a job it is. I hope you do get back in and get orders to be a recruiter yourself.
Make yourself a copy of this rant and hold onto it for when you get your ass kicked for a week or two because some kid decided to run his suck to the MEPS folks about a kidney stone.
And yes, they are probably not fond of you. It seems to me you think you are entitled to head of the line privileges, which you are not.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 13 at 2021 11:57 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 13 Dec 2021 23:57:38 -0500

Recruiter here in the Clarksville, TN recruiting station. Let me offer my insight.

I’m going to be completely honest and transparent with you and play devils advocate here for just a second because I know exactly what’s going on. At the time you went to MEPS, I’m sure your recruiter saw your surgery and because the new system was not in place, asked you not to say anything and to trust him on this aspect. This is because it takes time for waivers and they probably needed a contract so he’s probably doing everything in his power to send you ASAP. He probably also figured because the new system was set to be implemented, he was simultaneously doing you a big solid by not having you running around getting unnecessary documents if it could be avoided by not saying anything. We do what’s called a “hot seat” with the Station Commander (the PSG as you mention in your story) and he goes over everything and makes sure, in this situation specifically, you’re not likely to say anything you shouldn’t at MEPS and (all other situations) that you disclosed the same info to him/her that your recruiter has annotated in your enlistment packet. This is important because sometimes the applicant forgets to tell their recruiter things or were scared to tell their recruiter but for whatever reason tell the Station Commander. I’ve had this personally with a female not having proper under garments for physical (must be plain and full underwear), a self harming individual who cut her upper thigh, a guy who simply told me he didn’t have ADHD and turns out he did, etc. The Station Commander is the one who digs very deep into your issues and projects you 72 hours out to enlist, then must brief this to higher echelons.

I say that to say this: In your recruiter and his Station Commander’s eyes, you brining up your surgery at MELS probably broke the trust that they had in you to not throw them under the bus and simply trust them and what they told you to say/do. When that happens, recruiters tend to get upset and weary of you because they know you’re not willing to say what it takes for you to have a smooth process enlisting and you probably opened an investigation on them, interfering with their livelihood.

Now with that being said, Im not condoning this behavior, and we all agree telling an applicant to lie isn’t the right thing to do. I CERTAINLY don’t do this myself because it’s not worth my career, but let’s just say I understand the business being in it long enough. You must understand recruiters are under a LOT of pressure to put people in and it leads to some recruiters leaning to these integrity issues where this happens. Im really glad all of the medical records can be accessed now. It was pretty sad the shape recruiting was in because they backed NCOs into a corner who have a harder time recruiting: have your career ruined by bad NCOERs or give up your integrity. They are most likely upset for the reasons you mentioned: spite. The Station Commander and your recruiter look like idiots for not having their projection of your enlistment stick for a simple waiver, and now they’re probably feeling some heat. If you were an enlistment they needed to make mission, that probably rubs salt into their wounds some more.

The way they are handling the situation toward you may seem rough but you probably don’t realize the trouble you made for them, even if it was self inflicted. Again, all this is just playing devils advocate and taking a look at the recruiters side of things. They still are not acting very professional and you shouldn’t have been given so much flack. They shouldn’t have even forgone that information in the first place, it’s such a stupid thing to lie about lol. It’s a simple fix and hopefully they get their shit together and do the right thing this time around. Hope this helped make sense of everything and if things don’t work out, just go to your buddy. Just make sure to have copies of all the paperwork you got.