Recruiting lies?

[basrah]

After talking a lot with a friend of mine he was sold on the idea of the army as a career. Initially he wanted to join the infantry, but it appears to be closed. His comments are in quotations.

So, he had a look at some other careers and decided he liked the armoured recce posibility.

'Oh no, you dont want to do that. The life of an armoured recce det is measured in mere minutes on the battlefield'

Are you kidding me? Mere minutes? Where is this guy getting his info? Yeah, in WW2 I am sure it was a pretty dangerous job, but that was 65 years ago... time to update your books.

In regards to PT:
' You had best start running now, because by the time you finish basic you will be expected to run at least 15km'

15km? I would be shocked if I ran 15km my entire course! While Im sure we can all agree that it is a good idea to work on the PT before one heads off, that is overkill.

With these, and other statements, it seems like this Sgt was trying to get him not to join the military. I am debating calling the recruiting centre, or sending an email.

 

[ackland]

What city was the recruiting centre in?

 

[medaid]

Really? You ran less then 15kms your entire course? Your PT mustve been a breeze!

 

[basrah]

Really? You ran less then 15kms your entire course? Your PT mustve been a breeze!

It was an exageration, aka sarcasm.

The recruiting centre is here in Edmonton. I kinda feel bad for not going down with him in person now!

 

[Teflon]

Just a thought and by no means an accusation:

Are you sure it was the recruiter that was telling the lies?

 

[Neolithium]

Mere minutes on the battlefield if you for some reason lay in front of the tires on your own vehicle before it starts moving.  I actually can't quite see any recruiter saying something like that.  Every time I've had a chat with one they were very concerned with checking out any careers I was interested in, and suggesting those that I might not have known about but could be suited to.

 

[basrah]

Just a thought and by no means an accusation:

Are you sure it was the recruiter that was telling the lies?

Trust me, I wondered this as well. The thing is, that this guy really knows nothing about the military, and the way he worded it is not the way that a civi who didnt know about the army would word it.

He is also a pretty solid guy, and knows he has no reason to make stuff up like this with me. The only reason he mentioned it to me is because he was concerned with how on earth he was going to train to run 15km, and the prospect of being in an overly dangerous MOC.

 

[Teflon]

As I said, not knowing anyone involved here, it was just a thought because these satements are quite abit far-a-field of the "do you like hunting and camping?" line of recruiting stories.

 

[jeffb]

I'm currently in the training system (going on CAP on Monday) and I've heard numerous people say that their recruiter misled them in some way or another. I'm pretty sure that in most cases it can be brought back to people hearing what they want to hear from the recruiter. The most common case of this deals with trade choices and the idea that people should sign up for what they are being offered and do an MOC reassignment once they get to St. Jean. Sometimes I guess this works but most MOC reassignment requests that I've seen with the group of people I'm going through with are getting rejected. I'd be willing to bet that recruiters sometimes communicate information that may not be up to date anymore or are slightly outside their lanes. This is completely natural, it's impossible to expect that any one person is going to be completely up to date with everything going on. I suspect that is why there is such an emphasis in the interview process on the applicants knowledge of the job they are applying for.

I'm sure that there are some recruiters stretch the limits of reality when they tell applicants what is and is not possible but I am also sure that in the vast majority of cases, applicants are hearing what they want to hear.  :2c:

 

[basrah]

As I said, not knowing anyone involved here, it was just a thought because these satements are quite abit far-a-field of the "do you like hunting and camping?" line of recruiting stories.

I agree totally with the far a field bit, which is why I made this thread. I am totally shocked that this is something any recruiter would say.

This guy had no idea the difference between a tanker and member of the PPCLI when he went down there, so for him to be coming back talking about armoured recce dets and stuff like that immediately after he went down there is what leads me to believe his side... Also, the fact that he gave me the guys name and asked if I could speak with him is pushing me to believe him as well.

Just wondering what the peanut gallery thinks. I dont want to make a big deal out of this, but I hate to think of someone down at a CFRC filling peoples heads full of lies.

My idea right now is to go down with him on his next appointment, in civis, and state that I am interested as well and see what he tells me. Only problem is, I dont want to turn my friends recruitment into some sort of scandal.

 

[jeffb]

It would seem to me that if you are really worried about your friend being lied to about what various trades do, you are the solution to this problem. Based on your profile I have to imagine that you'll be more then capable of giving him a good idea about what the various trades do (especially the combat arms trades). Once you've worked through it with him, send him down to the CFRC and rely on the recruiters to process this newly informed and motivated applicant.   

 

[basrah]

It would seem to me that if you are really worried about your friend being lied to about what various trades do, you are the solution to this problem. Based on your profile I have to imagine that you'll be more then capable of giving him a good idea about what the various trades do (especially the combat arms trades). Once you've worked through it with him, send him down to the CFRC and rely on the recruiters to process this newly informed and motivated applicant. 

This does sound like the safest approach from my point of view, and the best way to stay away from a potentially bad situation. Ive done my best to set him straight, and let him know what sort of trades he may be most interested in.

Thanks for the advice

 

[FDO]

I find it very difficult to believe that a recruiter would say anything like that. Was it actually a recruiter? We have to take a course to be recruiters. We don't just walk in and start talking. Once we have done the course we have to complete an OJT package. Our information is being constantly updated. I have found that a lot of the time applicants don't hear exactly what is being said. It's mostly because they are bombarded with so much information that it gets kind of mixed up in their heads and when they sort it out it doesn't always come out the way it went in. If the Sgt he was talking to was actually a recruiter and he said those things then your friend needs to launch a complaint with the Centre's CO. That kind of thing is not on!

 

[Love793]

FDO- Although I agree with you in theory that it should not happen, I have noticed numerous cases of this occurring while working at or with CFRCs (Dets).  What I've noticed about it is, Unless the Recruiter or Person on the desk is in the trade/group being asked about they have little clue of what they speak (IE, Navy Boatswain type talking about what a Army LCIS guy does). Its not all their fault as there is 100+ jobs in the CF, and no one can answer everything about every trade. However a lot of it can be solved by at least handing off the applicant to someone from that element if not Trade/Group. 
The other thing I've noticed is a lot of times Reservist are working at CFRCs and Dets either on contract with CFRG as clerks or as unit Recruiters pulling a shift at the Centre or Det to ease the work load. In a lot of cases these Recruiters are extremely limited in their out of trade knowledge or being paid by their units to recruit specifically for them and them only. It's very hard to get these recruiters to shift their left and right of arc to the bigger team arcs when their PERs are written by the person who pays them.

Just my $.02

 

[Jarnhamar]

Your friend could be lying.

 

[Roy Harding]

Your friend could be lying.

I wouldn't necessarily go that far - but it is possible that he wasn't hearing what was being said, and then (innocently) embellishing what he DID hear.

He may also have been subjected to some "in service" humour - which most civilians don't understand.  OR - he may have overheard some "in service" humour from those employed in the background (clerks, etc).

I guess what I'm trying to say is - there are at LEAST two sides to every story - perhaps some quiet, reasoned, non-emotional inquiries may lead you closer to the truth of what actually took place.

 

[basrah]

Your friend could be lying.

Might want to actually read the whole thread before posting.

 

[Flasbang]

That's pretty extreme. Why do I keep hearing stories about recruiters pushing people away from infantry lately?

 

[kratz]

That's pretty extreme. Why do I keep hearing stories about recruiters pushing people away from infantry lately?

Interesting, a searching the site for Infantry closed, brought up this topic and another one discussing that recruiting for Infantry has been closed since August. No mention yet when it will reopen.

 

[Jammer]

Infantry careers are at 110% for NCM (Reg).