Tips on contacting "your" Recruiter

[Otis]

After seeing just one too many posts where someone claimed that they had called "their" Recruiter several hundred times and had no response, I thought about it and decided to put together these tips for everyone on contacting a Recruiter post-initial contact/application.

1) Patience - Recruiters are people, like any other. We have lives, take vacations etc. Quite often, we aren't in the office - WE'RE RECRUITERS! - we're on the road recruiting. We're at events, job fairs, meetings, giving presentations, answering questions, giving out business cards, working the front desk / customer service etc. We aren't going to be available to your beck and call at all times. We know that this is important to you and your life, but you have to understand that we are doing our best to help everyone.

2) Phone etiquette - Remember that Recruiters deal with dozens of people PER DAY. If you leave a message on my phone, "Hi, this is so and so (often garbelled) please call me back" ... you are not going to get a call back. I don't necessarily have the time to figure out WHO you are, go look up your file to find out your phone number and your current situation, and then call you back! Leave a brief, concise message with who you are (speak clearly, especially if you have an accent), your phone number, and what information you're looking for (again, BE BRIEF!) Basically, help us help you. Similarly, if you leave a long rambling message telling me your entire life story of how desperate you are to join because you've always wanted to be Military, ever since you were an embryo, I will move on to help the next person.

3) E-mail etiquette - PUT A TITLE ON YOUR E-MAIL! Like everyone else on the planet, I get spam. If I think it may be spam, I may inadvertently delete it. If you give it a brief title with who you are or what you want, I may be more inclined to read the whole thing. Again, I don't want your entire life story, but a brief description of who you are and what you want will suffice.

Quick note - E-mail is preferable to phone as it's more descriptive and I can make notes on it and come back to it later if I don't immediately have time to research your answer! Plus, I have no hesitation to answering an e-mail after 6pm whereas I will not call someone that late in the day.

Lastly, I again want to stress, we know this is a major life decision, life changing event to YOU, but it's also a major, life changing event to the 30 other people we're personally dealing with that week. Not to mention the 150 or so other people we casually just talk to, or meet at an event, or try to help out while in the office. The nicer you are to us, the more likely we are to WANT to go out of our way to help you get that job you're looking for!

 

[PMedMoe]

Great post, Otis.  Mods, this should be a sticky.  :nod:

 

[ASmith]

Thanks for the great tips Otis! Will definitely keep them in mind when making my way through the recruiting process.

 

[aesop081]

Otis, this should be made into an DND XXX document and issue to everyone who applies to the CF/

Great post.

 

[kratz]

Otis,

Milpoints were made to reward valued posts and I have made my +1 (+150) to you already. I had to point this out (no pun) in case new members did not know the value of Milpoints.

IMO, Otis deserves +100 and more for his efforts in answering recuriting Q&As on the site.

 

[aesop081]

I had to point this out (no pun) in case new members did not know the value of Milpoints.

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=puns

;D

IMO, Otis deserves +100 and more for his efforts in answering recuriting Q&As on the site.

I agree and i will give Otis a bunch of milpoints as well, thanks for bringing it up.

 

[benny88]

If I could add another one: Remember names!


I worked the desk at a Recruiting Centre and I can't tell you how many people called or dropped by looking for "that recruiter I talked to last week" or "some Captain." At which point I had to run around the office seeing if anyone had heard of this knob, and as Otis mentioned, they usually have too many to remember each name.

I realize ranks can be confusing, nobody will fault you for not knowing ranks as an applicant, but we all wear convenient little name tags. REMEMBER NAMES!

 

[Otis]

Thanks Benny, I forgot that one!

Thanks everyone else for the Kudos and milpoints ... I'm not sure what to do with them (I looked once, not very hard, never found out) but I appreciate the sentiment ...

Now if all new applicants read this post, they (and thier CFRC) will have a much happier Recruiting experience!

Cheers!

 

[Roy Harding]

Thanks Benny, I forgot that one!

Thanks everyone else for the Kudos and milpoints ... I'm not sure what to do with them (I looked once, not very hard, never found out) but I appreciate the sentiment ...

...

I'm not too sure about the Milpoints, either - but you are (so far) the only person I've taken the time to give some to.

Yours was an extremely valuable post.

Now get back to work. 

Roy

 

[Steve_D]

If I could be so bold as to add one as well.  Even though I am in the process of getting back in, I was previously in the military.  My advise would be to ensure that you treat those members of the RC that you speak to as if you were already in the military. By that, I mean with the upmost respect that they are due. Learn racks and use them. "Thank you for that information Sergeant" or "Yes, Sir" but not like you are at BMQ, but with simple respect, regardless of their rank. They have earned in and deserve it. 

Steve
:2c:

 

[dustinm]

If I could add another one: Remember names!

Perhaps it would be helpful if on one of the forms that are given to applicants, the Recruiter writes their name and rank in pen/marker? Just so that the applicant knows if they do need to contact their recruiter, they'll have his or her name.

 

[Steve_D]

I was given a business card with all of the necessary information. As well, when I did speak to someone different, I made certain to write their name down for future refernce.  I would think that anyone who is serious about getting in would take these types of steps. It shows a level of seriousness and professionalism that, in my belief, should be expected of anyone in such a professional business as the military.  I have done the same thing with any job that I have applied for in the past.

 

[Otis]

Perhaps it would be helpful if on one of the forms that are given to applicants, the Recruiter writes their name and rank in pen/marker? Just so that the applicant knows if they do need to contact their recruiter, they'll have his or her name.

We can't write on the forms, they have to be handed in.

We often DO write our name on the information hand-out sheets, or give out cards ... people lose them, don't have them with them when they call in .. whatever. Besides that, often applicants deal with several recruiters throughout the course of the process.

 

[Roy Harding]

This thread has generated some discussion.  In the interest of NOT polluting the intent of this thread - I've split the discussion off.

The discussion can be found here:  http://forums.milnet.ca/forums/threads/88472.0.html

I've locked the thread - if you have anything to add to it regarding Tips on contacting "your" Recruiter - contact one of the DS.

Roy Harding
Milnet.ca Staff

 

[Scott]

Some info, perhaps a little updated, from The_Green_Basterd:


1)  When your about to call or walk into a recruiting centre, have a pen and paper handy.  Your recruiter or file manager will often give you lots of info and some of their time and we feel we are wasting out time once we start answering the same question posed by you, because you were not writing answers down.  This will effect the level of service you get.

2)  Respect for the people your not talking to.  When your speaking to a member of the recruiting staff, I strongly advise against any sort of reference to, "Some (insert rank, title or aborted combination of both) and it didn't really seem like they knew what they were talking about, but anyway...)  Twice in the last 2 weeks, I have had this happen to me.  In both occasions I was the person that spoke to them at the referenced time.  Not a good move, not a good way to get extra help.  We are people too and like all people, we can get offended and generate a bias.  If your asking a question to someone for the first time, ask like its the first time you asked it, don't slag their coworkers and possibly their friends.

3)  Email etiquette.  Email is by far the preferred method of contact.  It gives is time to shelf our reply while we search for the most accurate response.  Often, a quick reply can get a quick second question... than third, forth and so on.  Write down all your questions over a couple days, than pose them in a short email.  If you keep sending one line questions, we will often break contact with you as there seems to be no pleasing you or no end to your queries.  If a second reply to us generates some more questions, than its worth while sitting on that for a bit in case any other questions come up, than we can get back to you once, with everything you wanted to know.

4)  We do not talk to parents.  Dunder Mifflin will not speak to your parents when your applying for a Job as most other big corporations wont.  Why do you think we would?  If a parent, friend, grandpa calls on behalf of someone, we just tell them to get the person to call.  If your not mature enough to talk to us direct, your probably not mature enough to handle a weapon, fly a multi million dollar aircraft or be in charge of a billion dollar ship.  Just saying.

5)  Don't recruiter/ file manager shop.  Your file is either with the recruiters or has moved on to the file managers.  We all talk to each other and we are often sitting feet apart.  If you start calling us all up and asking us the same question, we will know, because someone will quickly pick up that 3 of the file managers have answered the same question in the last X minutes.

6)  Respectful voice messages.  We get dozens a day.  With so much work to be done each day, it not often I get to the section on my to do list that says, "Call applicants back to inform them their file is moving ahead as normal."  Often, when I get someone call, I will spend a couple minutes quickly reviewing their file and seeing if their is anything to do on it.  If there i something for me to do, I will do it.  If I need something for you to do it, I will call you.  If I don't call you back, its because I was busy helping you get your dream job.  In order to make sure your file doesn't fall through that cracks, it's worth calling your CFRC every 30-60 days.  Please try leaving a message to some form of variation of the following.  "Hello, my Name is Bob Smith, spelled Sierra Mike India Tango Hotel, my applicant number is A000000.  I am just calling to check in and see if there is anything I need to do with Regards to my file.  If I don't hear back, I will assume everything is OK.  If you do need to contact me, please call me at 555-555-5555"  I can almost guarantee that message will get your file reviewed and any action required will be taken.  I would also think it fine to change up a small portion of that with, "its been 3 months since I have spoken to someone and I would appreciate a quick call to let me know everything is fine with me application at this point."  That will also likely get you a call back, in a timely manner.