For the Air Force's overworked, undermanned and stressed-out recruiting corps, help is on the way.
After months of focus groups and a March survey that raised alarm bells, Air Force Recruiting Service commander Brig. Gen. James Johnson is undertaking a series of changes to lighten his airmen's load — and help the Air Force bring in better recruits.
Johnson has pledged to close down by the end of May the competition system that gave recruiters points based on how many recruits they brought in. A former recruiter said that system is no longer in effect.
In an April 15 email obtained by Air Force Times, Johnson laid out that step and others in his plan for a recruiting force that relies less on busywork and more on recruiters cooperating to get the job done — bringing good citizens into the Air Force.
"We need to shift our efforts to recognize leaders and airmen who are not only taking care of production, but are also taking care of the needs of our airmen and families," Johnson said in the email. That's because a variety of factors have "seriously impacted our ability to effectively execute the Air Force mission to inspire, engage, and recruit future airmen to deliver air power for America today and into the future," he said.
The March survey of hundreds of recruiters — also obtained by Air Force Times — showed nearly half of respondents said their unit "is more interested in sales goals versus finding the best future airmen. About 44 percent said their unit does not have "adequate manning" to get the job done.
What's more, 63 percent of respondents — nearly two-thirds — agreed that "there are too many job requirements to effectively accomplish the mission."
And 78 percent — more than three out of every four recruiters surveyed — agreed that "the day-to-day documentation processes are burdensome."
In his email, Johnson lauded recruiters for their hard work under difficult circumstances — but expressed concern that they may be getting ground down.
"You have likely been tracking the concern that many share regarding the significant resource reductions, organizational manning challenges, changes in policy and procedures, and training opportunities that have seriously impacted our ability to effectively execute the Air Force mission ...," Johnson said in the email. "Across our enterprise, despite 60-70 hour work weeks, inadequate resources, and limited or lack of military support for recruiters and their families, you have not failed to meet the Air Force accession requirements for the past 15 years. However, I am concerned that success has masked the fact that cuts have likely come at the cost of professional development, and the health and welfare of our airmen and families."
AFRS confirmed the contents of Johnson's email and the survey but declined an interview request with Johnson because the Air Force has not yet decided exactly which of 131 internal recommendations will be put into place.
Johnson said it will take 18 months to put the needed changes in place.
"My intentions going forward are to implement all of the recommendations that fall within my purview," Johnson said. "Once implemented, these changes will impact leadership and culture; goaling and incentive programs; how we are organized; how our enterprise is manned; how we screen and prepare airmen and families for recruiting duty; how we improve the resources needed for you to effectively accomplish your mission; how recruiters are trained; and finally how we improve our processes, policies and accession requirements."
No more competitions
For starters, Johnson pledged to end the competitions that gave recruiters points based on how many recruits they brought in, and gave extra points for bringing in recruits as battlefield airmen such as pararescuemen or explosive ordnance disposal airmen.
"The competition system has several cracks that have impeded our ability to effectively take care of our airmen and recruit effectively," Johnson said in the email. "The competition point system and unbalanced goals do not consider that all squadrons are not created equal, and some will never be able to compete because of their zone's market. This inability to compete could have negative long-term impacts on recruiters' performance evaluations and career."
In his email, Johnson noted that almost 30 percent of survey respondents "openly commented that the competition negatively impacted the morale, mission and quality" of recruiting. The survey results showed that 43 percent of respondents criticized the competitions, disagreeing with the statements "the AFRS competition helps meet Air Force needs" and "competition is a motivating tool for positive accomplishment of the mission."
Two former recruiters, who asked not to be identified by name, said the point competitions ended up pitting recruiters against one another and led to recruiters poaching recruits from one another. It also resulted in some supervisors pressuring recruiters to push potential recruits into battlefield jobs they might not be right for, to get the extra points. One former recruiter said he himself was pushed to do so by his superiors.
"It made everybody cutthroat," he said. "Instead of being a team, it made everybody against everybody else."
He said that recruiters who got the most points could get awards such as airman or noncommissioned officer of the quarter. He said that in his squadron, the recruiter with the most points each year often got a Gold Badge award, which came with a commendation medal and three extra points on testing when they next come up for promotion.
The former recruiter also said that supervisors push for more points because if their squadron had the most points in the nation, that helps them get promoted from senior master sergeant to chief master sergeant.
"It breeds toxic leadership, and breeds an attitude of whatever it takes to win the competition, because it affects everyone's career," he said.
Johnson pledged to close the competition system down by the end of May, and the former recruiter said it is no longer in effect.
Instead, Johnson said, the Recruiting Service wants to set up an incentive system "focused on building great airmen first, improving morale and meeting AFRS strategic objectives." He said he welcomed recruiters' advice on how to accomplish those goals.
Other recommendations
Johnson also said he wants to tackle the overwhelming tasks and excessive documentation burdening recruiters. He pointed to these recommendations:
- Fewer school visits. Require school visits once per school year. The former recruiters said this would be a great change, because many recruiters are often overwhelmed by the need to visit many schools over and over. One said recruiters in his squadron had to visit at least four priority 1 schools monthly, priority 2 schools every other month, and priority 3 schools at the beginning and end of each school year. Sometimes, he said, those schools rarely if ever resulted in recruits and wasted his time. "You drive two hours there, and two hours back, and spend an hour and a half at the school, and that’s your whole day," he said. Johnson’s proposed change "would save a hell of a lot of time."
- More empowerment. Allow "certified recruiters to determine their own planning mechanism." One of the former recruiters said that means recruiters would have the latitude to decide what is the most effective way to track down recruits in their areas. He said his area had a steady stream of potential recruits walking into or calling the recruiting office on their own. But the former recruiter said he got flak from his supervisors for getting all his leads from walk-ins and call-ins, and not through things like school visits, even though he felt that wasn’t the most effective way for him.
- Flexible follow-up. Give recruiters 30 days to call priority 1 contacts after a mass marketing event, instead of the current five days. The former recruiter said those events would mean he would have to follow up with 100 or so leads — most of which were fruitless, since people attending the event usually only wanted to try the virtual reality ride and weren’t actually interested in enlisting — in a few days, on top of all the other normal work he’d have to do. A 30-day deadline would help considerably, he said.
- Use technology. Allow health professionals and line officer applicants to follow up with video teleconferencing instead of face-to-face interviews, and document lead generations in one source.
Hope for improvement
"These changes will have a dramatic impact on the daily duties of the recruiter and allow for more flexibility to accomplish the mission with reduced stress and give time back to the recruiters for higher priorities," Johnson said.
The recommended changes, he said, are expected to improve the quality of future airmen, cut down on wasted man-hours and reduce stress, and improve the recruiting climate and support for recruiters, families and victims of misconduct.
Johnson also said the changes should reduce recruiter misconduct and improve detection of any misconduct.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
