Technology and Management Functions Paper
University of Phoenix
Human Factors in Technology
TEC/401
Veronica Wade
April 10, 2013

Technology and Management Functions Paper
The US Army alone spends close to 200 million annually on Recruiting advertisement. And over the last 11 years our nation has been at war. The ranks have swelled and depleted several times over this time period. And after 2005 when the market hit an all-time low, soldiers across all branches decided to stay in, instead of doing the typical four year contract and getting out.
During the recruiting process applicants are contacted by phone call, face to face, or a casual meet and greet. Most, honestly join because they have heard from someone the year prior that enlisted and is enjoying the freedom of being out of their parents’ house and being on their own. The recruiting process has many checks and balances that are tracked on line. Everything from how many phone calls we make an hour to the email campaigns we send out every Wednesday morning. Hourly updates are relayed to the station commander who puts together spread sheets daily and reports on those spread sheets at the end of every recruiting day.
From appointment start the paper trail is begun. The recruiter is tasked to build the lead into the system. Virtually taking as much information they can from the applicant, and building the packet based on that. The lead process website is massive and can hold as many leads as needed. Just one school in my old office had 5 thousand students revolving in and out yearly. This was one out of twenty one schools in our foot print, that needed 100% contact with in the first four months of the school year. When the applicant steps into the office for the appointment, the recruiter is sizing them up for height and weight standards. This process is a huge stumbling block for many applicants whose misconception of the military is that they can enlist and loose the weight with all the training. All applicants have to be with in height and weight standards before they can even start the process. This part of the process has many supporting websites that do the calculations for the recruiter. If the applicant is within the proper body fat percentage they can move on to the testing phase. If the applicant is over by just a little, then it becomes the recruiter’s responsibility to manage the applicant’s diet and exercise routine until the body fat percentage is meet. This process takes time and is a constant uphill climb with the fact that this gives that parents much more time to plan for other paths for their child to take other than the Service. Most applicants are enlisting for college money or excitement, so this is relayed back to the applicant through the weight loss process by making the training interesting and challenging and fun. We used to take hundreds of applicants of mountain hikes in New York or have full days at the park with all of them running Drills related to military training.
Once the applicant is able to move to the testing phase they are introduced to all the possibilities of career paths they are open to. Very simply the better you do on the test, the more technical your skill training will be. So getting an applicant all revved up about medical school, who barely passes the test is the wrong way to keep them on board. With the lower scores come the harder skill trades in the service, like infantry. If this is the case we always have a prior infantry recruiter in the office that hypes up the training and possibilities for rapid advancement to the applicant. All of this being true, but it is an absolute sales tactic.
When the applicant tests his or her social security card and drivers license are used. This initiates the background checks, as well as is used for admittance into the testing sites. While the test is going on the police checks are run in the city, county and state for each person. So once they get a posted score they are free to look into the reservation system for jobs and pick one they are interested in. the reservation system is a national minute to minute system, meaning that all recruiters in that branch of service are pulling from the same number of vacancies at the same time. So if there are only 2 positions left in a certain job then it is first come first serve. This is all tied into their scores from the test.
After the reservation is pulled the applicant is prepped for enlistment. First and foremost is the entire virtual packet must be filled out, including referral’s, points of contact, parents birth city’s and dates and so on. This is a very large file built per person. This file generates a federal contact for the applicant, so upon completion the scan is run on the file and any typos or grammatical errors or missed blocks that weren’t checked kicks the packet back and it must be fixed.
All of the packets are scanned and checked by the station commander. The station commander runs a final check on the file while interviewing the applicant and prepping them for the enlistment process. This is a final close moment in the process, verifying all information given and reiterating the buying motive to the applicant. Once this is done the recruiter drives the applicant to the federal in processing center and checks them in for enlistment. The applicant is given a tracking number and goes through a very thorough physical. Upon completion of the physical the applicant is set down with a guidance counselor. It is the guidance counselor’s job to re check the paperwork and correct any issues, and have the applicant sign the federal enlistment contract.
Once the enlistment contract is digitally signed the applicant is now a future soldier and is the responsibility of the recruiter to not only maintain till ship date , but also ensure their grades stay up if they are high school students or stay out of trouble if they are an adult.

References

www.Goarmy.com