Talking with a Recruiter
- Thread starter usna35
- Start date
A lot of recruiters will find you in high school. I had to tell a marine corps recruiter I was doing drugs (I wasn't) to leave me alone. If I was smarter back then I would've found his CoC and reported him for harassing me as well as filed a police report with local law enforcement. No means no.
A1Janitor
5-Year Member
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- Dec 22, 2018
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As part of my son’s journey, he went down and spent time with his recruiter. Great guy ... trying to get him to enlist.
It is a tough job - especially in certain areas of the country. I would be charitable- he was interested in you and was trying his best to recruit a great candidate.
I would assume if he knew how he came across to you, he would have backed off.
After my son was inducted, he was reassigned and a new guy came to town. Called me trying to get him to enlist. I told him he was a plebe at USNA. He genuinely seemed as proud as I was - if that’s even possible.
I wouldn’t assume that. There are lots of good recruiters. It is a tough job. I know plenty of great Marines who served and went to serve in these roles. Not all recruiters are good. There are plenty of recruiters who are sub par and some that are even down right bad. The job is ruthless and unrelenting in many ways and as mentioned some areas are harder than others the recruit in.
retiredradar
Mom of USNA '24 Mid
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- Dec 9, 2019
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- 218
I wouldn't. Their job is to recruit and get people to enlist. My DS had a Marine recruiter after him for a while. The guy even promised to help him with the NROTC Scholarship application. Lies! He had to block him to get rid of him.
Every recruiter I’ve ever seen has don’t nothing but try to convince people to enlist in their branch. I’d be wary of them swaying you. I wouldn’t see it as helpful unless you are looking about opinions about enlisted life ( just know it’ll be biased because that’s their job )
Hopeful2025
Member
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- Jan 11, 2020
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It could go both ways, it's just a matter of fact of finding good recruiters that acknowledge your goals, instead of merely just trying to get you to enlist. I've met good recruiters from all branches that I talk to pretty often. What I did is when I first met them is establish the baseline that my main goal is a service academy and ROTC, and while others may not, mine were very receptive and told me they'd help in any way needed. I talk to them quite often about plan C, which is enlisting and whatnot, but they still know about my plan A and B and do not try to steer my away from it. For example, I texted the army Recruiter I know about coming in this past week and learning more about option 40. When I sat down with him, he asked me how my application was to the naval academy and ROTC were going and I told him that it was good and I was there to learn more about option 40. I was telling him this is All as a backup backup, but he could tell I was highly nervous about the coming year and assured me multiple times he's more than certain I'll get into an academy or ROTC even though he's army and I'm applying to USNA only. He's an example of a good recruiter, he knows what I want and is there to answer any questions I have, and doesn't persuade me at all to enlist, and in fact pushes me to do the most I can to get into Navy, despite it even being a different branch. When looking for recruiters to talk to, find people like him as they are the ones who are truly there to help you out and not out to just get you to enlist or whatever.