Review finds 'incredible' delays for would-be military recruits
Mike De Souza
CanWest News Service
Thursday, July 20, 2006
OTTAWA -- Documented cases highlighting nightmarish delays and unfriendly staff in a new report about the military have prompted Canadian Forces officials to admit they must clean up their recruitment process.
The report, prepared by National Defence and Canadian Forces ombudsman Yves Cote, concluded that the military has significant room for improvement to ensure that its tactics are not driving away talented candidates in the recruitment phase.
"Some of the stories that our investigators have heard are just incredible in this day and age," Cote said at a news conference.
After reviewing nearly 600 complaints made between 2002 and 2005, Cote said one of the most alarming stories he heard was when he chatted with some new recruits in training at St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. He said one of them was a frustrated medical doctor who had approached a recruiting centre in Southern Ontario and called several times without getting any positive feedback or advice.
The recruit told Cote that he only managed to get his application process moving forward after speaking to a family friend who was a major in the military.
"Imagine that in 2005 the recruiting system would behave in that way to such a precious commodity," said Cote. "It's just unbelievable."
He also was shocked about a case involving a reservist who waited for months to transfer into the regular forces, only to call and find out that his application was never processed because the military was waiting to receive a home address for his father, who had passed away.
Cote said that many talented individuals will move on to careers in other fields if the military doesn't provide regular contact with applicants.
He said one potential recruit told investigators that he called seven days in a row before getting an update on his file.
"Eventually I just gave up," the applicant said. "I now have a very good job and no longer have any interest in joining the Canadian Forces."
The military's recruiting group is welcoming the ombudsman's report, which also confirmed that the military is meeting its recruitment targets to boost its regular and reserve forces.
"His findings are fair and balanced," said Capt. Holly Brown. "We find that a lot of the recommendations that were made were things that we were already looking at."
For example, she said the military has already identified improving the support services in its recruitment process as a priority.
"We recognize that customer service can always improve," she said. "We were not surprised to hear that."
But she stressed that it is always a challenge to process nearly 25,000 applications per year through the existing 39 recruitment offices. In the past three months alone, the forces have received more than 9,000 new applications, she added.
In many cases, she said the military must also wait for the RCMP and CSIS to complete screening and background checks before proceeding with an application.
Meanwhile, she said potential recruits can send their inquiries to a new e-mail service (jobs@recruiting.forces.gc.ca) or a toll-free line (1-800-856-8488) for answers to their questions.
mdesouza@cns.canwest.com
