Recruiting Posters, Slogans and Commercials [Merged]

[Jarnhamar]

How long is annual training for american reserves?


I would imagine reservests cannot use that clause to take off on week-end excersises.


Our recruiting message is pretty week but you wanna know what else is weak? The mentality of many of our soldiers.
9 times out of 10 when i mentioned to someone that i was trying to transfer to the reg force infantry they would say
are you retarded?
are you fucking stupid?
whats wrong with you?
why not go for a trade?

I'll never understand that mentality.
I'm willing to quit a $21/hour job (40 hours a week) to join the infantry and I doubt these people would be infantry soldiers even if they were paid three times as much.
Horrible mentality

 

[a_majoor]

Someone with the inside track on recruiting should set this idea straight, but Reserve units have lots of skilled people within their own ranks: what is to stop them from creating a short recruiting video which can be looped and played at their recruiting stands at job fairs, malls, schools etc. which do show the "hard core" stuff, has a theam like "Are you up for the challenge?" and otherwise ignores the "quota of the month" or "warm fuzzy peacekeepers" theams of the "Official" ads?

 

[Britney Spears]

which do show the "hard core" stuff,

What "hard core" stuff? This is the militia we're talking about right?  ???  ;D



On topic:

Now, I haven't seen too many of the ads out there, but I never gave it much thought, since I had reconcilled them with the fact that our main manpower shortage being  in the tech trades, and those ads I've seen  DO seem to do a fair job of targetting the types of people(techies, specialists) we are seeking. A simplistic viewpoint(and probably full of holes too), I must admit, but really, I don't think 3VP is experiencing a lack of earger applicants at the moment, so why not target the ads more specificaly?

 

[MdB]

I don't know if it's been mentioned, but I really like the soldier profile on goarmy.com. I think CF should implement such a feature on their recruiting website. It gives you a glimp of what he/she does and it's really up front.

Cheers,

 

[PJ D-Dog]

How long is annual training for american reserves?


I would imagine reservests cannot use that clause to take off on week-end excersises.

Actually, they can but they have to have made arrangements with their employer prior.  In a normal reserve unit, they know months in advance when the training is scheduled.  It's the reservist's responsibility to advise his employer.  If he missess a drill, there is not real excuse for it except his own fault and he can be charged.

Annual training is normally two weeks a year but some units go for longer.  You can also go on course under this clause as well.  For example:  if you join the SMCR (select Marine Corps reserve), you will go to boot camp in Parris Island or San Diego for the same 13 weeks as all other Marines.  You will also attend the same schools as active duty Marines and then return to the civilian world.  If you had a job before you joined, that job has to still be there for you.

D-Dog

 

[PPCLI Guy]

Thanks for the skinny, Ms Peters.

Now, does anyone else feel that "In fact, the ads must get approval from Privvy Council before they are released. So, it's not DND that is producing these bland ads, it's the Government who is dictating what the ads can and cannot depict. They will even go so far as to say what the "flavour of the month is" with respect to targeting the different minority groups." represents an unhealthy malaise in regards to civil-military relations.  

Or more specifically, a wider malaise with the way in which the instruments of governement are wielded - and only by a select few.  As difficult as it is to be a soldier some days, it must be soul destroying to be a well-intenioned member of the Public Sertvice, and dare I say it a backbencher MP in this climate of extreme centralisation of power.

As I recall, recruiting and training professional soldiers (and by extention, how we recruit them) is a duty that a professional military, because of its expertise, is supposed to carry out.  When you have bureaucrats or politicians interfering in specifics, essentially "becoming their own Chief of Staff", you get bad juju.

"War is too important to be left to the Generals" probably applies here - it is a long-standing mindset.

Dave

 

[pbi]

So long as those people are not Honouraries, since the Honouraries have a uniform and are appointed by the MND and, in effect, represent the units of which they are a part I don't see why not. Now that means you're going to have to find these people with a crap-load of money to blow away because advertising is hugely expensive, not to mention the development of the ads.

I have never seen these conditions deter a determined Honourary: AFAIK they are not subject to the Code of Service Discipline, so they are free to take action as they see fit. As well, I would not assume that there are Hons or senate members out there who do not have either a) a lot of money (and I mean a LOT of money...)   or;   b) considerable influence. This applies both to the Hons/senate in the Res and the Cols of the Regt and other "Friends of the Regt" in the RegF.

As long as the ad was produced completely outside the grasp of DND, and no persons subject to the Code or MND's direction were involved in producing and displaying it, I fail to see what action could be taken other than foot stamping and writing nasty letters.

Cheers

 

[GDawg]

This was the on the cover page of the university Calgary student run news paper not too long ago:

http://gauntlet.ucalgary.ca/largecover.php?Date=2005-02-03

I never went to university in BC, but have been to a couple others in Canada. I went to career fairs where the CF had booths and were busy talking to people. I also saw them set up in booth in a hallway and also seemed to be well received. If the student unions were trying to block CF involvement on those campuses, they were doing a poor job. Are there really universities that have 'anti-military' policies? Far as I know, they would be treated just like any other external organization when dealing with the University.

I am working my ass off to fill less than 10 BMQ slots, in a city with 1 million people!

I am the goofy looking white guy on the cover there. I managed to get members of my unit who were deploying on OP DANACA featured in all 3 major post secondary papers simultaneously in Calgary, for free!

I am having such a hard time breaching the post secondary crowd, I think the overall CF recruitment campaign has polluted the atmosphere for all the little guys, like individual reserve units, that and an almost complete lack of understanding of the PRes on the part of average Canadians.

They really ought to teach kids the difference between RegF and PRes in high school CALM (Career and life management classes), not as a CFRC presentation for them to glaze over during, but as a small part of the curriculum, put in in the text book or notes so they can reference it at their leisure.
All it has to say, really, is " RegF = Full time, see the world, tons of opprotunities, good pension"  and "PRes = Part time, voluntary obligation, escape the ordinary" Of course thats over simplified, but from my experience the average person doesn't know that much!

I've got a few non conventional ideas for recruiting attractions on the go,  you really have to out-flank the expected (that is, the general CF recruiting laclustre appearance)  in this job. You have to prove to people that we aren't just civil servants in relish colored clothes!

"746 Communications Squadron, Calgary's High Tech Warriors!" How does that sound?

 

[ZipperHead]

Some good points GDawg.

There is an overall lack of understanding of the CF by the average Canadian. I don't feel the CF (in the past particularly) showed the people of Canada what we were all about, from cadets all the way up to the JTF. So much of what people think they know about the CF comes from American culture and media. I remember reading an letter to the editor in the Fredericton Gleaner about 8 or 9 years ago, and somebody said the the Canadian military should pay taxes. At first I thought they meant the organization of the CF, like Irving, or Canadian Tire paying taxes, but then I realized this person meant Canadian soldiers. Well, I've been paying taxes for some time now. Maybe I should ask for it back.....

What I've thought in the past that should be done, is for the CF to print a purty little glossy flyer and carpet bomb the country with it. It could contain info about the difference between Res and Reg, what the role of the cadet system is, employment opportunities, educational opportunities, pay scales, mention of deployments (huggy kissy peacekeeping ones, and more recent NATO one), etc, etc. If people want to bin the flyer, let 'em, but I think a good chunk of people would read it and say "Wow, I didn't know that!!!". Maybe they'd be less likely to spit on me when I'm in DEU..... As for the cost, I'm sure it would probably be made up in a better quality of informed recruits signing up, as it almost seems to be a secret society, like the Masons, and people are afraid to walk into a recruiting center, as though they'll be clubbed over the head and sent off to Fallujah.

I still think a good "underground" recruiting campaign, outside of "official" channels would make an impact on the wired generation of soldiers. Those lame ones they have now probably make a lot of people snicker and disregard the idea of joining. And I don't mean a lot of shite false advertising. Good videos or stills of people doing their job, with the cool stuff at the fore, but also showing what a career in the CF can mean, with travel, meeting people, being (somewhat) independent  ;D, and making a difference in Canada and the world.

Al

 

[TCBF]

You would have thought that all of the vets and other ex military types would have spoken up more, but there was almost a conspiracy of silence unless you were related to one. 

I started high school in the late sixties, and not ONCE did I see a teacher who fought in WW2 talk about his experiences, or wear medals to a school rememberance day ceremony. 

They certainly accomplished much after the war, in all fields of endeavor, but the lessons learned regarding maintaining a strong military were not re-enforced.  They did not - colectively - keep their fingers on the pulse.

They flushed it, and they flushed us too.  I would have vets ask me how I liked the Bren gun or the Sten gun... in the SEVENTIES.  No idea of the current state of the military.  They just kept voting for the folks their parents told them to vote for, and that was that. 

I can't get upset.  After all, they survived the depression and won WW2 and Korea.  But those alive today may be left with the distinct impression that winning the war did not mean winning the peace, and are wondering where that great country called Canada went.

Tom

 

[Brad Sallows]

I had a high school teacher who talked about his war experiences on Remebrance Day.  Mind, he had been in the Hungarian army, on the eastern front.

 

[ArmyRick]

It almost seems as though we need a major shift in attitude for our entire society. Buts thats another discussion.

Since the army is going through transformation maybe recruiting can go through one as well and why the hell are we subject to all these other government departments? DND has plenty of its own watchdogs to police us (in terms of what PR or recruiting material we put out) and look after us.

 

[Spartan]

I'm just wondering if the problems of recruiting could be extended internally - of all the horror stories I've heard about and from people I know have had horrendously long waits and processes in tranfering from PRes to Reg. Over a year plus from what I can gather is SOP? That to me really makes me wonder as a reservist who is considering in the future to transfer to RegF.

 

[Infanteer]

The absolute worst example of Canadian forces recruiting was in my school.   For careers class we had a member of the CF come in, to discuss it with us.

What a joke. The worst part, the LADY told us strait up she did not want to see enlist in the Reg. Force as combat arms.   She made it seem like anyone who signs up as a grunt is only selling themselves short.

Are you sure about this, did she explicitly say "you are selling yourself short in the combat arms".  If so, speak to you councillor and find out the name of the recruiter that visited your school and PM it to me.  At the very least, I would like to pass an email onto the respective CFRC about how I sold myself short.

This is not on.

 

[ArmyRick]

what is the name of the recruiter who said this and rank please?

 

[pbi]

Are you sure about this, did she explicitly say "you are selling yourself short in the combat arms".   If so, speak to you councillor and find out the name of the recruiter that visited your school and PM it to me.   At the very least, I would like to pass an email onto the respective CFRC about how I sold myself short.

This is not on.

And e-mail me, too. I'll send it straight to the Commander of CFRG. The CLS might be interested to know as well. This type of idiocy (if correct...) reminds me of the guy who recruited me. Fortunately, I knew a bit about the Army after eight years in the Reserve, so I was barely able to sit quietly with a straight face as he explained to me that I would be able to work towards my degree by taking night courses while going through the Infantry School. Yeah--right. If this is thesort of thing that is going on, we really need to do a better job of screening the people we send out as recruiters.

Cheers

 

[kincanucks]

A kid comes on here and recollects something from 2-3 years ago that a recruiter may or may not have said and you want to e-mail the entire food chain and launch the QRF.   And the recruiter probably doesn't even work in recruiting anymore.   I'm not making light of a serious screw-up but lets put on our adult thinking caps and put it all into perspective.   Cheers.

PS People like that don't last long before they are found out.

 

[condor888000]

One thing I should probably also mention though is that while in grade 9, the last year for the grade 13's their was a decent presentation in the main lobby, I don't remember it that well though.

I'm wondering if this guy is serious. Or if he's got his timeline mixed up. It should be one of the two.
I was in grade 9 the year both 12's and 13's graduated, and I'm in grade 11 now, last I checked you graduated after grade 12.....

 

[pbi]

A kid comes on here and recollects something from 2-3 years ago that a recruiter may or may not have said and you want to e-mail the entire food chain and launch the QRF.   And the recruiter probably doesn't even work in recruiting anymore.   I'm not making light of a serious screw-up but lets put on our adult thinking caps and put it all into perspective.   Cheers.

PS People like that don't last long before they are found out.

That's why I added the caveat "if correct". However, I stand by my concern over selection for recruiting duty. Over the years I have seen some excellent people go there, but I have seen a number of people who simply should not be in the public eye as representatives and recruiters. In the Combat Arms, at least, recruiting duty holds a rather low profile and is not, at least AFAIK, in much demand as a posting choice. We need to do something about that, so that the best we have in the Cbt Arms will be motivated to go out and recruit the best.

Cheers

 

[kincanucks]

That's why I added the caveat "if correct". However, I stand by my concern over selection for recruiting duty. Over the years I have seen some excellent people go there, but I have seen a number of people who simply should not be in the public eye as representatives and recruiters. In the Combat Arms, at least, recruiting duty holds a rather low profile and is not, at least AFAIK, in much demand as a posting choice. We need to do something about that, so that the best we have in the Cbt Arms will be motivated to go out and recruit the best.

Cheers

I have been very lucky with my recruiters.   Two of which have been Patricia's   They had to tone it down a bit coming straight from the battalion but they became very good at their jobs in a very short time.   There is a very short ramp up time in recruiting and you have to learn very fast.   Working in recruiting has to get the respect it is due and the old system of "career comes to a full stop" has to end.   However,   it is getting harder and harder to find recruiting staff who don't really want to be here.   Again, I might just be lucky with having the staff that I have but I have been to a lot of other units and 99% of the time I see pride of ownership.   Cheers.