application process???

[walkaline]

Hey guys! I m 21 years old and just about to start my third year in civil engineering.  I have been thinking about joining the reserves for sometime now but never had the guts to actually apply. I never brought this idea to my parents either because I thought they would strongly object it. Anyways recently one of my parents friends daughter joined the reserves and she like it very much so my parents were like " hey why don't you give it a try! maybe you will like it." So I wanted to talk to someone about my options......But I have tried emailing, calling and just can't get hold of the recruiting people! I had an email address from one of the recruiters I met last year at a career fair event, so I emailed him last week but had no reply...=( I also tried to call him but it ALWAYS connects me to his voicemail. ( Yeah I can walk into the recruiting center and be like' hey, I need to talk to someone.' but I d rather make an appointment first.) How did you guy apply? I saw there is an online application how does that work?

Also I wanted to ask what are the options in the reserves for an engineering major? I know there is construction and combat engineering officers, any other choices? How is training an officer in the reserves different from someone from ROTP???

Thanks in advance for any input!=)

 

[mkil]

I am not a member of the forces, so this is simply advice. Find your local recruiting centre and just go in. They have clerks at the front desk that can either help you, or set up an appointment (sometimes on the spot) to speak with someone who can. I personally didn't apply online, as I like to speak to an actual person, but I have read on this forum that the online process can be very frustrating. You should certainly talk to a recruiter about joining before you apply, just to make sure that the trade you think you are interested in is what you think it is etc.

Good luck with it all!

 

[walkaline]

I am not a member of the forces, so this is simply advice. Find your local recruiting centre and just go in. They have clerks at the front desk that can either help you, or set up an appointment (sometimes on the spot) to speak with someone who can. I personally didn't apply online, as I like to speak to an actual person, but I have read on this forum that the online process can be very frustrating. You should certainly talk to a recruiter about joining before you apply, just to make sure that the trade you think you are interested in is what you think it is etc.

Good luck with it all!

Thanks for the info! I might have to do that

 

[shogun506]

When I got into the reserves, I walked into the unit because it was only a couple blocks from my house. I only knew about it because there was an article in the paper about them. They were holding information sessions and I went to one and got all my paperwork there then later submitted it to the recruiting centre directly. The other nice thing about that is that I could bring my dad with me at the session so that my parents would know exactly what I was getting into. I was only 17 at the time and the recruiting centre lost my application until a year later when they miraculously found it (I am still a little skeptical about this because there were about 10 of us whose applications they "lost" and then found and we were all the youngest of the candidates at the session..). The good thing about going to the session is that once my processing did start happening, someone from the unit kept in contact with me throughout. If you know which unit you're thinking about joining, call them directly and see if you can talk to someone there about recruiting. When I joined, I guess I must have gotten lucky since nowadays people seem to be saying all the units are full, and chances are you'll probably be told to call the RC - but you never know unless you try.