shooked1 said:
Thank you both for the quick replies. The policy I was told has always been in place it's that they just started enforcing it, to questions.
1: what did info did you put in the email if you don't mind me asking I put my application number and the CFRC I applied through.
From the website, "Please provide postal code when submitting an email request to the email address above." Give them as much information as needed to ensure they have no trouble finding your file. Name, SN, address, phone number, email, etc. Just put it all in the email as a signature block.
2: Yesterday I called to ask if I could find out who my file manger was and was proceeded to be told that I should not call the CFRC unless I'm called. The only person I have any contact with other then the people who took my paper work or booked my CFAT was a Captain (who's name I will with hold) who told me my results is he my MOC.
And he said we should keep in touch every 4 to 8 weeks to show interest and see if there is any progress.
I'm an applicant, not a recruiter, or even a serving member, so keep that in mind when reading my replies. However, from my own personal dealings with recruiting, that sounds to me like a load of crap. The more I read your story the more I get the impression you probably called on a busy day and got someone who just wasn't interested in helping you at the time (or maybe one of those few folks who don't seem interested in helping at all.)
If I followed the "don't call us, we'll call you " thing, my file would have been totally screwed up and in fact never would have even begun processing. The number of times something has caused my file to be caught up because of an internal mistake or that I've been given downright bad information and only had the situations/bad info corrected when I actively took it upon myself to call in regularly and try to drive the application forward is actually staggering.
Some examples:
1) My file was initially refused processing due to not being competitive enough. There was, in theory, no need for follow up as the message was quite clear that I wouldn't be processed. I imagine most people who get that email probably just go "dang, better luck next time." I decided to call in and ask for an explanation so that I could improve my application for next time and was told "whoops, that was a mistake! Your application IS ok. Let me just correct that and we'll get you on your way!"
2) When I was booked onto aircrew selection the first time (June 2013) they told me they'd confirmed everything with Trenton and I'd be getting an email confirmation. I never got it. I couldn't get CFRC Toronto on the phone whenever I tried, so I ended up pulling the number for CFASC at Trenton and speaking directly to them. Their response: "Oh, so you ARE coming. We were still waiting on confirmation." My information had also been passed on to them incorrectly, which I corrected on the phone directly with CFASC. An applicant should not have to call CFASC like that, but in this case, had I not done it, I would not have been confirmed.
3) Upon failure of aircrew selection, I had to wait a year before I could retest. I was given specific instructions by the Captain who'd been handling my file on when to restart the process and how. When I went back in this past winter/early spring to get the wheels moving again, I was given literally three completely different sets of instructions on how I
absolutely must proceed, by three different recruiters, all of which were contradictory and all of which just didn't jive with what I'd been told about how the process
should work. And as it turned out, all of which were wrong, sometimes in minor ways, sometimes in very major ways. Finally I got in contact with the Captain who I'd previously been dealing with, and one other Captain, and got it sorted out.
4) Now as I've been waiting for my next ASC date to be booked, I was called a few weeks ago and no message was left. Curious as to what it might have been, I called in to inquire if there had perhaps been any notes left on my account. The voice that finally answered was one of the ones I mentioned I know by sound and has been nothing but unhelpful to me, and she proceeded to tell me that they "don't do that". I knew for a fact that notes are
constantly left on files, so I just politely thanked her, hung up, and called back a few days later, spoke to someone else who DID pull up my account, there WAS a note, and my file is now moving again.
5) At one point my physical file was actually lost. LOST. It had been somehow filed in the wrong place by someone who was no longer working there and no one knew where it was. Eventually they found it during the incident described in #3 above, after a good bit of searching, but had I not been on them, would it have been found? Would anyone have even looked at all?
From what you'll read on these board, my experience here is in no way unique or out of the ordinary. It is a BIG bureaucracy. So the vast majority of people who are highly competent and happy to help are often hindered by the nature of the machine, and then there are the folks who just DGAS.
My advice to you from my own experience is that no one at recruiting gives crap one about you or your file compared to anyone else. You aren't special. You are just one of a great number. So if you want things to get done or if you suspect something is going wrong, there is nothing wrong with attempting to ensure the process is going right yourself by staying on it and trying to ensure it continually moves forward as it should. Have your own back, so to speak.
Yes, there will be times when you'll call at a bad time and be an annoyance to whoever you get at the time, but from my own experience, (and again, I am an applicant, not a recruiter or a member), the folks at the RC have never given me any trouble over trying to proactively stay on top of my own file.
What I'm NOT saying is that you should call them every day and bog them down unnecessarily. But take your fate into your own hands. The good and helpful ones will not begrudge you for this even when it's a bit of a nuisance to them at that specific time.
