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Military recruiter service schools are dominated by sales training. Wouldn't you expect that its omission would be a waste of taxpayer funding? The key differ

Military recruiter service schools are dominated by sales training. Wouldn't you expect that its omission would be a waste of taxpayer funding? The key difference between the standard sales techniques when they're used by ITT or by any other organization is that ITT was making promises it couldn't keep. When I get the hard sell about a new car, at least I get a functional car even if I overpaid. If I take out loans to attend ITT, it's likely the training won't help me get a job.

sethrin 10y ago
Should military recruitment be focused on maximizing recruits?
- gknoy 10y ago
  In an all-volunteer military, I think (based on talking to friends who were in the services) the prevailing attitude is that they want to find people who genuinely want to be there. They don't want to waste taxpayer dollars on sending you to boot camp, etc, only to have you wash out because you can't cut it, or to have you be a Crappy Soldier because you don't believe in the mission 100%.
  - linkregister 10y ago
    That said, do you expect Google or Facebook to hire recruiters who don't have sales or recruiting backgrounds? Plenty of software developers end up in their jobs after having been approached by recruiters, why does military recruiting have to be fundamentally different?
    - gohrt 10y ago
      Because programmer recruiters are searching for intelligent talented people, people who can walk out if they don't like the job. Military recruiting is capturing suckers, and signing them onto to multi-year contracts.
      - Nrsolis 10y ago
        That's a remarkably bigoted thing to say. Some of the most remarkable people I've ever met have served in the military. Far from being "suckers" they are people who felt a deep desire to serve the country in some capacity. I know at least two people personally who signed up in the Army immediately after 9/11 knowing full well that they would likely be sent to serve in wartime. One of them didn't come back. He was in his 20's. I'm going to suggest to you that you consider your audience much more carefully. I enlisted in the Navy and later graduated from Harvard with a degree in Computer Science. I can assure you that I didn't feel like I got suckered into anything.
      - jimbert 10y ago
        Military recruiters aren't looking for suckers. I think you are misrepresenting the kinds of people that enter the military.
      - linkregister 10y ago
        That isn't a representative description of most recruits. It sounds like your sample size is too small and not representative.
  - RUG3Y 10y ago
    Recruiters literally don't care about this at all, the only thing they care about is making their numbers. Here's a story: recruiters in our command who failed to get any recruits in a given period were stood in front of the group in their dress blues and had powdered donuts thrown at them for "rolling a zero." Like most beauracratic organizations, failure to meet metrics is treated harshly, making the recruiter's goals less altruistic than you imagine.
crazypyro 10y ago
>ITT was making promises it couldn't keep I've never been in the military, but from what I've heard from those who have, this is exactly what military recruiters do. They tell people they will get $XX,XXX signing bonus, but the reality is only a tiny portion will pass all the required training and get placed in a specific type of unit to get that money. Granted, there a lot of real benefits that they can sell recruits on, but recruiters will tell every 18 year old that they can be in special ops when its not the reality.
- jimbert 10y ago
  Military recruiters will at times over-promise, but not about bonuses. Those are generally guaranteed once they pass their minimum schooling requirements.

sethrin 10y ago

Should military recruitment be focused on maximizing recruits?

gknoy 10y ago
In an all-volunteer military, I think (based on talking to friends who were in the services) the prevailing attitude is that they want to find people who genuinely want to be there. They don't want to waste taxpayer dollars on sending you to boot camp, etc, only to have you wash out because you can't cut it, or to have you be a Crappy Soldier because you don't believe in the mission 100%.
- linkregister 10y ago
  That said, do you expect Google or Facebook to hire recruiters who don't have sales or recruiting backgrounds? Plenty of software developers end up in their jobs after having been approached by recruiters, why does military recruiting have to be fundamentally different?
  - gohrt 10y ago
    Because programmer recruiters are searching for intelligent talented people, people who can walk out if they don't like the job. Military recruiting is capturing suckers, and signing them onto to multi-year contracts.
    - Nrsolis 10y ago
      That's a remarkably bigoted thing to say. Some of the most remarkable people I've ever met have served in the military. Far from being "suckers" they are people who felt a deep desire to serve the country in some capacity. I know at least two people personally who signed up in the Army immediately after 9/11 knowing full well that they would likely be sent to serve in wartime. One of them didn't come back. He was in his 20's. I'm going to suggest to you that you consider your audience much more carefully. I enlisted in the Navy and later graduated from Harvard with a degree in Computer Science. I can assure you that I didn't feel like I got suckered into anything.
    - jimbert 10y ago
      Military recruiters aren't looking for suckers. I think you are misrepresenting the kinds of people that enter the military.
    - linkregister 10y ago
      That isn't a representative description of most recruits. It sounds like your sample size is too small and not representative.
- RUG3Y 10y ago
  Recruiters literally don't care about this at all, the only thing they care about is making their numbers. Here's a story: recruiters in our command who failed to get any recruits in a given period were stood in front of the group in their dress blues and had powdered donuts thrown at them for "rolling a zero." Like most beauracratic organizations, failure to meet metrics is treated harshly, making the recruiter's goals less altruistic than you imagine.

crazypyro 10y ago

>ITT was making promises it couldn't keep I've never been in the military, but from what I've heard from those who have, this is exactly what military recruiters do. They tell people they will get $XX,XXX signing bonus, but the reality is only a tiny portion will pass all the required training and get placed in a specific type of unit to get that money. Granted, there a lot of real benefits that they can sell recruits on, but recruiters will tell every 18 year old that they can be in special ops when its not the reality.

jimbert 10y ago
Military recruiters will at times over-promise, but not about bonuses. Those are generally guaranteed once they pass their minimum schooling requirements.