Can We Go to A Different Recruiter?

[Jessica]

Hi everyone! Yes I am new here and did not know when the right time would have been to intro myself. But since I am a bit frustrated, I guess the best time is now.

My daughter is 18 and a senior in HS. She started talking to the Navy recruiter in January I think. She took her ASVAB in Feb. Then got put on a medical hold waiting on a waiver in March for disclosing a heart murmur that she actually never had. Luckily 5 years ago we visited a heart dr who ruled the murmur out so the waiver was approved. 

The recruiter called ME that day (2 weeks ago) to tell me he wanted her to go to MEPS the next day. I told him that he would have to wait until she got out of school that day and make sure it was OK with her. Then he texted me and said he wanted her to leave for the hotel that day. I did not respond because she is an adult and wants to do this herself. I am not sure why he is contacting me. I have never even met the guy. She talked to him when she got out of school and for some reason got scared and did not want to go right then. 

Last Thrus she went to the recruiter and filled out even more paper work, like life insurance and stuff and scheduled her trip to MEPS. She was supposed to leave at 1 pm today. On Friday when I got home from work after 5 she told me that the recruiter asked her on Thursday to get her transcripts. By the end of the day on Friday she still had not gotten them from the counselor. The Counselor told her that she was on a waiting list and prob wont get them until Monday. She called the recruiter, I called the recruiter 5 times and sent a text. We were sure that she could not go to MEPS but nobody called us back. Because of this, she did not show up for the trip to MEPS today. 

Today around 1 the guy over her recruiter called her yelling at her that she was wasting his time and not serious about her decision. She called me upset. She told him that she tried contacting her recruiter but he never got back to her. My daughter really wants to do this. They have seemed not interested in her this entire time. They never contact her, she has to contact them for anything. I wanted to stay out of this, but should I encourage her to go to another recruiting office? I hope it is not too late, she is now telling me she is going to see the Army recruiter tomorrow.

***also, my son is 17 and graduating next year. He made his mind up far before my daughter to go to the Navy. He called the recruiter (same one dealing with my daughter) who told him not to call back until next year. I don't understand this since he is of legal age to sign and enter DEP.

[Angie]

She can go to another recruiter...BUT that recruiter will call her first recruiter to see what happened to make her change recruiters. 

 

I recommend she and you go in and talk to the recruiter and the person in charge of the recrutier face to face...she needs to tell them that she is the one signing up for the USN and she is the one who will deal with everything.

 

As far as your son...if he isn't at the start of his Senior year they won't work with him as he would be in DEP too long. 

 

If your daughter wants to go talk to the Army recruiter and join the Army...than she can.  Sorry to say all branches of the military are overmanned and they don't have to work to get qualifed people.  

[Jessica]

OK we went together to talk face to face to the recruiter and his boss.

When I walked in another recruiter asked what was going on. I told him. He asked the original recruiter why he had not gotten my daughters transcripts yet. He just told him he could not get them. 

Then the guy over them came out and asked me to come to the back. He told me that obviously there was a lack of communication and that he has pulled so many strings to get my daughter approved to go to MEPS. I asked him how and he told me that she had talked to the Air Force and they did not want her. (She never talked to any other branch). We let everything be part of the past. He tried to force my daughter to MEPS later this week but it is the end of a grading period and she has tests. So we scheduled for her to go in the middle of next week. I asked that they actually explain the MEPS  process to her because when I talk to her about stuff I read her, it is all news to her. They never even told her that MEPS had a dress code. 

Something that is concerning me that they mentioned. One of the recruiters said that if she did not pick a job from what is available the day she goes to MEPS and sign a contract, she would not be allowed to go back to MEPS even with another branch. He said even if it is a job she does not want she has to sign. Is this true?

[Angie]

That is a lie!  If she doen't pick a job at MEPS the one day she can go back another day...just make sure she understands that.  They will tell her she has to pick...but she does not!  I say again, she does NOT have to pick that day.  Now mind you if she goes back another day and wanted one of those jobs that where listed the first day, they could be gone.  Also if she gets what is called as "job locked" meaning she only wants one job, and only one job...than yes they will drop her like a hot rock.  She needs to be open minded when she goes to MEPS.

 

As far as if she goes to MEPS and doesn't sign anything and than wants to go to the Air Force she can...BUT I highly doubt that any recruiter will work with her if she goes from Navy to Air Foce and than tries to go back to Navy.

 

Hope that makes sence.

[Concernedad]

Geez! Stories like this really disturb me. Now, I have no idea if there are extenuating circumstances that have been left out of your story, but I wouldn't be shocked if it was all accurate. I really wish a former recruiter would come on here and explain what sort of pressures the recruiters are put under to obtain new recruits and what sort of formal training for the job they receive.

What I've experienced through my son's dealing with recruiters was not all that pleasant. At first I took my son to visit the Marines recruiter as he thought that was what he wanted to do. The recruiter told him all the Marines do now is play video games all day. Now why would he tell us that? Outrageous! Then the recruiter proceeded to spend my son's senior year of school by pulling him out of classes on a whim (even though I specifically told the school I was not permitting this). When my son explained to the recruiter that I was opposed to his joining the Marines, he told my son "don't worry, I know how to handle parents". He wanted a meeting face to face to talk to us, my son told him I had some tough questions, and we never heard from this recruiter again. Didn't even bother to show up for our planned meeting, nor return any phone calls.

When dealing with the Navy, it was a tad better...just a tad. My son had to deal with a rotation of recruiters as they were regularly being transferred elsewhere, and with each new one, a completely different set of things were told to him (and also told him the last recruiter didn't know what he was talking about). The recruiter did come to the house and present us with why my son should be going, (oddly enough this was after my son had been to MEPS and the recruiter told my son he had no choice anyway any longer). He told us so many different things that I would have questioned the validity of, but truth be told, I was just thrilled it was not the Marines so I kept my mouth shut.

The reality is, the military is pretty well supplied right now and if your daughter really wants in, she will most likely get stuck dealing with a lot of garbage.

I can't speak for fact here, but while the various services do speak, if your daughter is a good candidate, I doubt seriously that one service would refuse her because another did.

As far as switching recruiters once the process has started, I doubt that will work. My son signed on with one further from our home because another recruit was getting credit for bringing my son in, unfortunately for that first recruit, the recruiter completely dumped him in exchange for my son. When my son inquired about going to a different office for his weekly visits, first they told him no, then they let him, then they reversed again and told him no more.

In a nutshell, I think the military would do well to hire people to train these recruiters on sales techniques. You don't need to lie to these kids in order to get them to join, it just seems to be their preferred method.

[Concernedad]

Angie, while it's true that you do not absolutely have to pick your ratings while at MEPS, right now they seem to be taking the attitude that if you don't, they may well drop you. My son was told to pick a critical and non critical rating. When his critical fell through, he was told if he wanted to switch his non critical, they would push him back and possibly not accept him. I called the superior and was asked in a stern voice, "are you telling me the recruit is refusing service?"