How involved should an ALO be during the entire application process? Do they have certain "tasks" they need to complete for each candidate and once those are completed, they are "done" OR does it depend on their own personality and how much time and effort they want to put into this position? What is the average number of candidates they are dealing with each year?
Hi!
Okay...I'll attempt to answer your questions.
First, "how involved" the ALO is. This is totally up to the ALO. There is a "minimum" requirement for action...the ALO must interview the candidate and then complete an evaluation of that candidate. That's all that is required.
Second..."tasks that must completed by the ALO?" The candidate evaluation.
Third..."average number of candidates per ALO per year?" Impossible to speculate because each ALO is assigned a different number of schools, decided upon by their own unit.
Now that I gave you some really short answers...Now you'll get the "Paul Harvey" portion...
The ALO, IMHO, should be EXTREMELY involved with their assigned schools, first and foremost. That is where the candidates are! They should know the counselors, college advisors, career guidance team, etc., at each of their schools and should visit often enough that they know the ALO!
Once a student expresses interest, even if they're not a candidate, just curious, I think the ALO should make themselves available to answer ANY question, concern, etc. Building trust and rapport takes time but it will pay dividends for BOTH in the long term.
Once the student is in the application process, I think the ALO should fall somewhere between the parents and the school, in a lot of situations. I jokingly refer to my candidates as "my kids." I really feel that way; we're always talking about their process, how to better their applications, what they could work on, should they submit "X" or "Y" or ? I become a pseudo "next door neighbor" to all of them, always available to answer any question.
It has gone so well over the years that I've maintained contact with many of them after their appointments, after their graduations, and now that they're serving in both the USAF and USA. Yes, I have one USMA graduate out there and one super "kid" at USMA now as a plebe. And for you USMA folks, she "tabbed" the IOCT!!!
As for how many candidates...it's all dependent upon the number of schools, the type schools, candidate pools, etc. At one time I had 28 schools throughout Arizona. I currently have 18 but only about 5 are "producers" for any of the SA's. I still stay in close contact with all of them though.
Last thought...IMHO the ALO needs to be all I've described and more. If they're not, I don't think they're doing the candidate service and should consider a different line of work. Then again, that's MY opinion.
(And yes, I HAVE been accused of being a bit...STRAC at times.)
Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83