How busy are Officer Recruiters?

[KORhc]

As someone who is interested in becoming a Naval Officer, my question is whether or not it is normal for Officer Recruiters to get back to your emails/text messages a week after?
I've sent a couple follow up emails in the past week hoping to get a reply, but got none. I got my prk surgery 5 months ago and my 6 month post op is coming up pretty soon. So I wanted to schedule my MEPS physical and ASTB retake ASAP, and the waiting period in waiting for a reply is making me feel a little anxious. Has anyone else have had this communication problem between your OR?

 

[HighAngleHell]

My recruiter has been pretty good to responding to my calls/texts/emails within an hour or so. If you feel like you are being pushed to the side, head up to his office.

 

[wink]

Hopefully one of the more recent or active recruiter will speak up here. I would have loved email back when I was a recruiter. But in terms of work load, we were far more busy in the late 70s and 80s. The goaling numbers were huge compared to today. Some of the bigger Recruiting Districts were goaled for nearly as many bodies as the entirety of the Navy goal today for something like SWO, NFO, or Nuke. With the exception of pilot, recruiters in those days had to actually RECRUIT, not just accept applications and turn away the unqualified. Still I never would have accepted one of the recruiters in my office being as time late with comms as you describe. That said, there will be times when your recruiter is on vacation, in some kind of training, or on the road. Some recruiters cover wide geographic areas. Then again, these days, there is no reason to not set up an out of office auto reply to email or catch up on a few texts at lunch or at the bar in the hotel. Your recruiter has a boss. You can always try to talk to him. Just be diplomatic. Don't throw the guy under the bus that can help you realize your dream.

 

[mb1685]

If I read correctly, you've e-mailed him and texted him but haven't called him. Might as well try to give him a quick ring. The worst that can happen is he doesn't pick up.

 

[fieldrat]

My recruiter is actually a decent guy, but I can tell he's busy. The only way to get him reliably is to call right before I know he takes lunch, or just after I know he'll be back. Other than that I try to feed him status updates and drop by the local NOSC every few weeks. My rationale is that if I keep my name in the front of his brain, if there's ever anything that comes up that requires action, he'll do me a solid by taking care of it, or getting me on the line quickly. I don't want to be the person who would have been selected, but there was an easily fixable oversight on their application. That would hurt worse than being told straight-up "No."

 

[exNavyOffRec]

As someone who is interested in becoming a Naval Officer, my question is whether or not it is normal for Officer Recruiters to get back to your emails/text messages a week after?
I've sent a couple follow up emails in the past week hoping to get a reply, but got none. I got my prk surgery 5 months ago and my 6 month post op is coming up pretty soon. So I wanted to schedule my MEPS physical and ASTB retake ASAP, and the waiting period in waiting for a reply is making me feel a little anxious. Has anyone else have had this communication problem between your OR?

If he doesn't have an out of office notification on then he should be getting back to you, we were told to return emails/calls ASAP, even if it was "rec'd your email, will get back to you later", he could be getting ready to leave, or already left?

 

[KORhc]

I have called a couple times in a couple days with no luck, and have sent follow up text messages to no avail. It has been nearly 2 weeks since and still yet no response. He did tell me that he was an officer recruiter for both Hawaii (only one) and the state of California. He did mention that emails are more better for him than phone calls, however if he does not answer my call on Monday, I will take a chance and pop into the officer recruiting station and see if he is there.

 

[aviatorchick77]

have called a couple times in a couple days with no luck, and have sent follow up text messages to no avail. It has been nearly 2 weeks since and still yet no response. He did tell me that he was an officer recruiter for both Hawaii (only one) and the state of California. He did mention that emails are more better for him than phone calls, however if he does not answer my call on Monday, I will take a chance and pop into the officer recruiting station and see if he is there.

I have had the same problem. My OR didn't get back to me after 3 weeks of phone calls, texts, emails (His office is 2 hours away so driving is out of the options.) Been very annoying. When I finally did get a hold of him, his phone was having problems and made it very difficult to understand. I just got PRK and he hasn't been in contact with me once. (Although I did get a hold of another recruiter in the same office who was able to help me out.) A bit frustrating.

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

Hopefully one of the more recent or active recruiter will speak up here. I would have loved email back when I was a recruiter. But in terms of work load, we were far more busy in the late 70s and 80s. The goaling numbers were huge compared to today. Some of the bigger Recruiting Districts were goaled for nearly as many bodies as the entirety of the Navy goal today for something like SWO, NFO, or Nuke. With the exception of pilot, recruiters in those days had to actually RECRUIT, not just accept applications and turn away the unqualified. Still I never would have accepted one of the recruiters in my office being as time late with comms as you describe. That said, there will be times when your recruiter is on vacation, in some kind of training, or on the road. Some recruiters cover wide geographic areas. Then again, these days, there is no reason to not set up an out of office auto reply to email or catch up on a few texts at lunch or at the bar in the hotel. Your recruiter has a boss. You can always try to talk to him. Just be diplomatic. Don't throw the guy under the bus that can help you realize your dream.

+1. As a current OR, Wink is 100% right. Send your OR an email/phone call/text/etc. Even try to swing by the office if it's not too far. There might be some reason behind it. I can tell you one of my ORs has a broken phone with no immediate ETR.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

I hate to say it but if the OR doesn't think you are competitive he also may get back to you after he deals with his more competitive applicants.

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

I hate to say it but if the OR doesn't think you are competitive he also may get back to you after he deals with his more competitive applicants.

Exactly. He/she has a quota and if you don't fall with it you might be put in the back burner.

 

[wink]

I hate to say it but if the OR doesn't think you are competitive he also may get back to you after he deals with his more competitive applicants.

Exactly. He/she has a quota and if you don't fall with it you might be put in the back burner.

So true. But how long does a guy have to wait for a return call telling him to move on, or how to improve his chances? Even have to call back the guy with a GED and DWI that thinks he is perfect for Supply because he works in a warehouse.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

So true. But how long does a guy have to wait for a return call telling him to move on, or how to improve his chances? Even have to call back the guy with a GED and DWI that thinks he is perfect for Supply because he works in a warehouse.

Even for the most unqualified candidate I would still get back to them in just a few days, to me even though they aren't the most qualified, their buddy might be the best qualified person out there.

 

[aviatorchick77]

I understand why he hasn't as of now. Decided to do the PRK so that put me on the back burner for the next year. I don't even have my degree yet (I hear you now have to have your degree in hand to send in your package?) so that's another thing. I just had some questions for him in the meantime and haven't heard from him for a month.

 

[Hopeful Hoya]

I understand why he hasn't as of now. Decided to do the PRK so that put me on the back burner for the next year. I don't even have my degree yet (I hear you now have to have your degree in hand to send in your package?) so that's another thing. I just had some questions for him in the meantime and haven't heard from him for a month.

PRK is only a 6 month wait until you can go to MEPS, and no you can submit your package up to 6 months before your graduation date as long as your dean signs off on a degree completion plan (basically stating it is feasible for you to complete your degree in the next 6 months.

I can't go to MEPS until November but my OR has me doing stuff like filling out all of the forms and running down old medical records/letters of recommendation, so sounds like something else is going on here.