I've heard it a billion times, "Recruiters will say anything to get you to join." I'm concerned about this. Iwant to know as much as possible before I join the Army Reserve (I'm going to regardless, so don't be afraid to tell the truth). I have an example:

My recruiter says that iif I join with the amount of college credits and management training and work experience, that I can enlist as an e-4 spc. Is that true, or is this guy yankin me?

Sometimes they do. They are human beings.
The way to protect yourself is to make sure that detail is in your contract.

Shockey

Much of the time, the alleged "lying" by recruiter is exaggeration or just giving you the best case scenero. That would be like me, as a Coast Guard Recruiter, telling an applicant only about Coast Guard Station Lake Tahoe and not about High Endurance Cutters that are deployed for three to four months at a time.

When you are sworn in, enlistment in a higher pay grade should be an annex to your contract.

They could also just not understand fully what they are talking about. Not a lieing, just not having a full picture to give you because they simply dont know.

Good point Catherine. Sometimes rookie recruiters have a hard time explaining programs and benefits.

I've had more than a few interviews where the applicant couldn't seem to understand what I was trying to tell them. This was when I was putting things into the simplest, non-abbreviated, non-military terms too.

And of course, there's always selective hearing and selective inattention.

quote:

Originally posted by Retired_CG_Recruiter:
Good point Catherine. Sometimes rookie recruiters have a hard time explaining programs and benefits.

I think that's part of it, and I think there's stuff that they simply dont know. For example, if you get an applicant who wants Nuke, it's hard to speak about the program's difficulty and job requirements unless you've been there. My recruiter was able to tell me certain things like he knew it was hard and the financial benefits, but that was really it. It's not just nuke in this, but there are so many ratings out there that its hard to know what all of them do day to day, you tend to know those you interact with the most.

Yeah, one of the questions I used to hear all the time was "What's a typical day after boot camp like?"

A typical day where?

I always said there were too many variables to answer that one. I did tell an applicant if I knew where they were going to get stationed, I could give them a good idea. But since I couldn't, I tried to give several examples. First and foremost, I used the example of life aboard a cutter.

It all came out in the wash though. The good applicants had a decent understanding of what was going on, and if they qualified, ended up joining.

quote:

Originally posted by 20948146:
I've heard it a billion times, "Recruiters will say anything to get you to join." I'm concerned about this. Iwant to know as much as possible before I join the Army Reserve (I'm going to regardless, so don't be afraid to tell the truth). I have an example:

My recruiter says that iif I join with the amount of college credits and management training and work experience, that I can enlist as an e-4 spc. Is that true, or is this guy yankin me?

For E-4 SPC, you need a college degree. Anything less is E-3 PFC at best.

Recruiters don't always lie. Whether through inexperience or malice, recruiters might not know or tell the whole story. They can't possibly know everything about everyone who walks through the doors. Even if they knew everything about recruiting and the potential recruit, it would take hours or even days to explain it all.

That's why potential recruits have a responsibility to do their own research before signing any enlistment contract. There are dozens of resources to find out just about anything about the Military Services via the Internet. So when someone walks into a recruiter's office, that person should have a list of questions that could not be answered through research. The potential recruit needs to have a good basic understanding of the (enlistment) process and the potential jobs (MOS/AFSC/Rating) s/he is interested in.

Going into a recruiting office blind is setting one's self up for the "used car" salespitch. It's like going into a warzone without a weapon or bodyarmor. Would you go on a roadtrip without a map (or GPS)? Then why would you go into a life-altering course of action without some kind of basic information?

I was shocked when more than a few guys in my BCT platoon came to me to ask what they would be doing in their MOS! They had no idea what they were in for.

So do your research before you go talk to the recruiter. Figure out what jobs you are interested in. Write down a list of questions that you could not get answers for. Then go in armed with information. I would imagine that recruiters would rather have an educated potential recruit than someone they have to hand-hold and spoon-feed all the way through. Unless, of course that recruiter wanted someone they can just plop into a critical-short MOS and ship off ASAP...

Matt
SPC, AV
US Army
OCS Selectee
Class 303-10

quote:

So when someone walks into a recruiter's office, that person should have a list of questions that could not be answered through research.

Not only is that a great idea, it always impressed the hell out of me and made me think I had a good applicant.

quote:

I was shocked when more than a few guys in my BCT platoon came to me to ask what they would be doing in their MOS! They had no idea what they were in for.

My gawd, does this make the hair on the back of my neck stand at attention! Then again, I shouldn't be too shocked, I guess.

We saw recruits at the CG Recruit Training Center all the time who had no idea what they were getting into, where they would be going, what they would be doing. Usually these were the ones having problems. Of course, they blamed the recruiter.

HOWEVER, I can remember times when I would give a presentation and then ask the applicant if they had any questions. They would just sit there looking uninterested, and tell me no. Yet they were going through all the motions to join. To me, that was a big red flag and I acted on it.

There are people who lie in all apsects of life. Does it make it right? HELL NO!

But here's a thought: whether a recruiter lies or not, they CANNOT possibly tell you everything what might happen in your career!

The recruiters' job is to find qualified applicants. They have all the info on what you are qualified for and what you are not. Beyond that, beyond your shipoff date, they have no control of or have a crystal ball and see where you might go.

I really appreciate the feed back, thanks to all that contributed. I'm not even in the military, and I can't understand why somebody would just jump into this face first. Life altering is an under-statement in my opinion. I've been researching for months now, and still have questions popping up. I know that I won't be able to get them all answered before BCT, but I will not go in knowing absolutely nothing either.

Yeah, I never could figure it out either. When I was an applicant, I did all the research I could. I always had questions for my recruiter.

But I kid you not, all the time I had young men and women come into my office like, "I want to sign up, put me in." No questions, and didn't even act interested. That was when I started throwing out hoops for them to jump through, and that was usually the end of it.

Yes, some recruiters do lie.

However, you can enlist as a nE-4 in the Army Reserve two ways:

Earn a Bachelors degree or ACASP program.