April 12, 2007:
The U.S. Army National Guard
appears to have found a solution to its recruiting problems. It's all about the
$2,000 recruiting bonus paid to Guard members for each new recruit they bring
in. Last year, one Guard member made $94,000 in bonuses by bringing in new
recruits. This was better than most professional recruiters, and this guy, Sergeant
Dana Kline, had several other part-time recruiters close behind him in terms of
results. So far, 135,000 Guard members have signed up to be "Recruiting
Assistants," who then undergo two hours of on-line training to familiarize
themselves with the administrative details of recruiting. The Recruiting
Assistants are assigned to a full-time recruiting sergeant, who will help with
the paper work once a new recruit is ready to sign up.
So far, the Army National Guard is on track to get
the 70,000 new recruits it needs this year, and so far nearly 30 percent of
those have been brought in via the Recruiting Assistant program. The army has
known, for a long time, that the best recruiter is a soldier, or a veteran. The
Recruiting Assistant program takes advantage of this because the Recruiting
Assistants tend to stay in touch with the men and women they have recruited,
which is a big plus for the new recruit, trying to navigate army life for the
first time.
The Recruiting Assistant program has also been
successful with the active duty army, but not is so dramatic a fashion as in
the National Guard and reserves. The spectacular success of some of the
Recruiting Assistants is causing the army to rethink some of its recruiting
methods. While the most successful Recruiting Assistants tend to be very good
with meeting and connecting with strangers, they have also developed some
useful new techniques for getting potential recruits interested. For example,
while full time recruiters deal with about ten prospects, for each recruit they
sign up, Recruiting Assistants average only three prospects for each sign up.
There is obviously some new thinking at work, and its getting results.