Contacting Officer Recruiting staff for first time

[NAVYBM2]

OK, a little about myself before I get to the point.
I spent 6 years in the NAVY as a BM2, I got out in order to go to school and become an officer. I did everything right when I was in the NAVY and I am model citizen on the outside. School is going great, my major is Physics and my minors are Math and Military Science, with a GPA of 3.5. I am loaded with NAVY and civilian awards, and I think that I am doing everything right to set myself up for a successful come back to the NAVY. However, I was not able to get a recruiter to talk to me, the one that I did get to talk to was through a friend of mine. Unfortunately, this recruiter is not in my district and he is retiring soon, so I don think he is taking this too seriously.
I just want to know if anyone here knows how I can get a recruiter to be more interested in what I have to offer? I have contacted my district recruiter at least five times in the past year. Every time I get the same "I will pass your information to the recruiter and we will call you back ASAP". Well I guess you can tell what the outcome of that one is!!!

Please, any advise will be very helpful.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

V/R

Ivan

 

[BACONATOR]

Show up in person to an NRD and politely insist on see a recruiter. If what you've been doing "ain't" working, do something else. Take it to the next level. Come prepared and show you mean business.

 

[NAVYBM2]

I absolutely mean business!!!
This is my next step, I just figured that the guy that I was talking to was going to be able to help me out. I guess I should have learned my lesson from being recruited as an enlisted in the first place. Anyways, the closest one to where I live is about 250 miles away and all I have is a phone number. I just hope that they will give me their address.

 

[BACONATOR]

I absolutely mean business!!!
This is my next step, I just figured that the guy that I was talking to was going to be able to help me out. I guess I should have learned my lesson from being recruited as an enlisted in the first place. Anyways, the closest one to where I live is about 250 miles away and all I have is a phone number. I just hope that they will give me their address.

Well if it's 250mi then I'd hold off on a drive until you make an appt. Just keep calling and ask when you can call back to talk to the recruiter. Don't just let them "pass along your info". Keep pressing and get the recruiter on the phone. If you want to, tell them you're driving 250 miles and ask when you can meet in person. That may help too.

 

[HAL Pilot]

Get the phone number for the nearest Naval Recruiting District office, not the nearest Navy Recruiter. Than ask for the Officer Programs Office, do not speak to the Enlisted Programs Office.

http://www.navycs.com/districts.html

 

[NAVYBM2]

I will try again tomorrow. I am new to this website and I am glad that I found it. I have looked through some other threads about recruiters and as it turns out I am not alone. Apparently there is a lot of 'self recruiting' going on.
Thanks for the input.

 

[PJ81]

Apparently there is a lot of 'self recruiting' going on.
Thanks for the input.

Try not to compare your enlisted experience with becoming an officer. There's a lot of hand holding that goes on when you enlist. Don't expect your recruiter to do everything for you. You need to take matters into your own hands if it's what you really want. So it seems you are getting the jist of it so I'll shut up now.

 

[NAVYBM2]

Wow, great!!! Thank you for the link. Like I said I knew I found the right place for this kind of thing.

Get the phone number for the nearest Naval Recruiting District office, not the nearest Navy Recruiter. Than ask for the Officer Programs Office, do not speak to the Enlisted Programs Office.

http://www.navycs.com/districts.html

 

[NAVYBM2]

No please don't!
The more I hear the more I learn. I am not trying to compare my experiences at all. I have my BDCP package finished, and I even faxed it to him. I literally did everything required for this package. It took me half a year to put it all together. So, I guess I was just hoping for some feedback from him.

Try not to compare your enlisted experience with becoming an officer. There's a lot of hand holding that goes on when you enlist. Don't expect your recruiter to do everything for you. You need to take matters into your own hands if it's what you really want. So it seems you are getting the jist of it so I'll shut up now.

 

[das]

NAVYBM2,

I'm located at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; not sure which campus you're at presently. My experience is that I needed to talk to officer recruiters at Great Lakes outside of Chicago. Everyone in southern Wisconsin that I found was either an enlisted recruiter, except for a couple medical professions officer recruiters. You need to find the right recruiter: an officer recruiter, AND one who is willing to pay attention to your package. There is so much competition from good officer candidates that it's really hard to stand out! But if this is what you want, don't give up!

 

[HeyJoe]

School is going great, my major is Physics and my minors are Math and Military Science, with a GPA of 3.5.

Stand by then as the Nuke power guys will be calling soon.

PS - How far along are you in school? That will determine what options are available to you.

 

[Boomhower]

Man, times have changed. When I first talked to the recruiter in '99 he was pretty much beating down my door to get me in, and I didn't have nearly the qualifications that NAVYBM2 has. My grades generally sucked, no prior enlisted time, blowoff major, etc. Yet, I qualified for aviation and the Navy was begging me to come in. I read stuff on this site about guys working for months on their little "Mission Statement" things. I don't even remember writing one of those. If I did, I probably knocked it out in a few minutes at the recruiters office. It wasn't a question of whether or not I was going to get the job, it was how fast could I drive to Pensacola for OCS? Perhaps it is the pay difference now. President Clinton was in office then and the salaries were not exactly stellar.

I'm glad that the Navy can be choosie these days, but I don't like that recruiters are just not calling guys that have the potential to be terrific officers (NAVYBM2) back. That recruiter should be on campus looking for guys like BM2.

Stepping off my soapbox.

 

[HeyJoe]

Man, times have changed. When I first talked to the recruiter in '99 he was pretty much beating down my door to get me in, and I didn't have nearly the qualifications that NAVYBM2 has. My grades generally sucked, no prior enlisted time, blowoff major, etc. Yet, I qualified for aviation and the Navy was begging me to come in. I read stuff on this site about guys working for months on their little "Mission Statement" things. I don't even remember writing one of those. If I did, I probably knocked it out in a few minutes at the recruiters office. It wasn't a question of whether or not I was going to get the job, it was how fast could I drive to Pensacola for OCS? Perhaps it is the pay difference now. President Clinton was in office then and the salaries were not exactly stellar.

I'm glad that the Navy can be choosie these days, but I don't like that recruiters are just not calling guys that have the potential to be terrific officers (NAVYBM2) back. That recruiter should be on campus looking for guys like BM2.

Stepping off my soapbox.

It has been determined yet whether he's reached the right recruiters. If he's calling the local recruiting office, it's like going to wrong dealership for a new car. We say again to all applicants:

If you want to be an officer in the Marine Corps or Navy, you need to go see or contact individuals who are assigned to recruit officers (OSO/OR respectively). The Navy has Recruiting Districts that are easily found on the web where you can start at the top. The local "sailor in a box" recruiting stations that are typically in strip malls (no pun intended) are there to pull in the masses to feed the appetite of bottom of the pyramid, which is the relatively larger need for enlisted recruits. They are on a quota system and judged by making their numbers so don't expect them to take much time to follow up on a Officer prospect unless they trying to convince you to enlist first.

 

[SynixMan]

Sorry you're having bad luck with Officer Recruiters. I'm in Milwaukee and had a decent time getting ahold of the right person. I accidently spoke to a reserve recruiter first, then he bounced me to an active duty officer recruiter. +1 on having trouble going through an Enlisted Recruiter to get to the Officer side.

You want this page: http://www.cnrc.navy.mil/chicago/htm/OPOContact.htm

If you're still having issues, I can PM you my recruiters contact info. He's in NRD Chicago, great guy. Option #2, if there's a career fair anytime soon at UW-Madison, they are generally at those as well. You'll be able to directly speak to an officer recruiter there. Good luck!

 

[NAVYBM2]

Wow, you guys are great. Thank you all for the posts and words of encouragement. For those of you wondering where I am located and what year I am at school: I will be a junior this coming up semester at the University of Wisconsin in La Crosse. I also found out today that I should be talking to NRD Minneapolis. By the way, this is news to me. When I spoke with them they were located in a different city, so I am going to get to the bottom of this soon. I just cant tell you how glad I am that there are people like you guys out here wheeling to help. I will keep you posted as I progress with my package.

Respectfully,

Ivan