Attracting College-Bound Youth into the Military

[daftandbarmy]

US focused, but still relevant for us I would say:

Attracting College-Bound Youth into the Military
Toward the Development of New Recruiting Policy Options

By: Beth J. Asch, M. Rebecca Kilburn, Jacob Alex Klerman

Although the military's need for enlisted personnel has declined by almost one-third since the end of the cold war, the armed services are finding it difficult to meet their recruiting goals. Among ongoing changes in the civilian labor market is a strong demand for skilled labor, which has prompted an increasing number of "high quality" youth to pursue post-secondary education and subsequent civilian employment. Because of this competition for high quality youth, the Department of Defense may want to explore new options for attracting desirable young people into the armed forces. The military, for example, offers a myriad of options for service members to take college courses while in active service. However, the programs do not in fact generate significant increases in educational attainment during time in service. One popular program, the Montgomery GI Bill, enrolls large numbers of individuals, but the vast majority of service members use their benefits after separating from service. Thus, the military does not receive the benefits of a more educated and productive workforce, unless the individuals subsequently join a reserve component. The authors suggest the Department of Defense should consider nontraditional policy options to enhance recruitment of college-bound youth. Recruiters could target more thoroughly students on two-year college campuses, or dropouts from two- or four-year colleges. Options for obtaining some college before military service could be expanded by allowing high school seniors to first attend college, paid for by the military, and then enlist. Or the student might serve in a reserve component while in college and then enter an active component after college. Alternatively, the military could create an entirely new path for combining college and military service by encouraging enlisted veterans to attend college and then reenlist (at a higher pay grade). The most promising alternatives should be evaluated in a national experiment designed to test their effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, similar to the one that led to the creation of the Army College Fund and the Navy College Fund.

http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR984/index.html

 

[the_girlfirend]

I might have been blind at the time... but I do not remember seeing the army recruiting in my cegep... 6 years ago...
I have to say that it would have changed my life for sure, if I knew then what I know now.
The career possibilities, the training, the technologies... great opportunities
A lot of people are very ignorant regarding the military unfortunately, they need information.

Cegeps have a couple of days a year where universities and employers can come and advertise... I hope that the CF take advantage of that.

Universities do that as well, actually tomorrow there is a day for maths students to meet with Human Ressources from Statistics Canada, I received an invitation by email...
I am sure that if the CF would communicate with a faculty or department where they need more candidates (engineering, electronics, medicine.. etc)
the faculty would organize an information session and send an email to all students... that would be like free advertising directly on the target ;D

 

[kratz]

I know recruiters work hard and given a chance to speak to students, are more than happy to do so. With the resistance that was discussed over 9 pages, it is not as easy as a person might think. Rethinking the education benefits offered to encourage more students to apply to the CF, is an interesting idea. Even reviewing the current education benefits to serving members is a good idea.

 

[dwalter]

At my university (UBC) there is a career fair each year, and the military always has a booth set up there, which receives quite a lot of attention. A fond memory of mine was walking past that booth, and hearing a fellow who was asking questions ask "Would I need to get my hair cut?" He had rather long hair. I didn't hear the answer, but I saw the smile on the sergeant's face, which was enough.

In all, it seems to work well just having a couple recruiters sitting in front of a big sign. It attracts a lot of attention, especially when beside recruiters from various corporations which don't offer nearly the same starting benefits.