OCS Application Process Experiences

[Seafort]

All,

CNRC has made pushes to get feedback on the state of recruiting. Those at the top have, as many parts of the Navy, engaged in social networking in order to both make information dissemination more efficient, but also to better receive and understand feedback from those it recruits.

To that end, I plan to draft a treatise on some of the main issues affecting officer candidate applicants today, and would like to know:

1) How long, from first contact to present/and or final select has the process taken?

2) What is your perception of that length of time?

3) How did you initially come into contact with your recruiter?

4) How far away from your recruiter are you?

5) On a scale of 1 to 10, how responsive would you say your recruiter is? 1 being barely responsive, 10 being responds almost immediately.

6) On a scale of 1 to 10, how informative would you say your recruiter is? 1 being that you've done all the research yourself, 10 being that the recruiter has spent time answering all your questions and explaining what each requirement is and how it must be met (Note: 10 is not "hand-holding") to your satisfaction.

7) Have you ever changed recruiters for any reason, and if so, why?

8) Have you ever felt you needed to contact anyone above your recruiter (OPO, XO, CO, etc) for any reason?

9) How do you feel your concerns were handled when you did?

10) If there is one (reasonable) part of the process you feel could have been handled better, what is it?

I must insist that you keep your answers as generic as possible if you participate. I don't want names, Naval Recruiting Districts, cities, states, etc. Any personally identifiable information at all is unnecessary. Your answers will be aggregated to help me draw a picture of a highly motivated segment of the applicant pool and so specifics are unneeded.

Fleet applicants: feel free to weigh in. I understand my questions are set up for answers from civilian applicants, but your experiences are also welcome and encouraged. Again, no specifics.

If you feel your views may be too identifiable, do not post them.

Thank you for your time.

 

[Yaeger]

1) How long, from first contact to present/and or final select has the process taken?

First contact: Oct 2009
Package ready: Jan 2010
Package sent: May 2010, approved
Final select letter w/ OCS date: Aug 2010
OCS date: Dec 2010

2) What is your perception of that length of time?

The early months of gathering everything to put together the package is all on the applicant, with occasional prompting from the recruiter. Waiting for a review board to send your application off to seems to be the longest part.

3) How did you initially come into contact with your recruiter?

I asked for the number of the local Officer programs from the local enlisted recruiters. Called him from there and scheduled a meeting.

4) How far away from your recruiter are you?

About 50 miles.

5) On a scale of 1 to 10, how responsive would you say your recruiter is? 1 being barely responsive, 10 being responds almost immediately.

I'd grade him as a 7. Typically he's away from his office and doing events in which he doesn't answer his cellphone. If I leave a message he usually gets back to me the next day.

6) On a scale of 1 to 10, how informative would you say your recruiter is? 1 being that you've done all the research yourself, 10 being that the recruiter has spent time answering all your questions and explaining what each requirement is and how it must be met (Note: 10 is not "hand-holding") to your satisfaction.

I'd grade him as a 9. He never wasted my time and if I had any questions that he couldn't answer right there he'd make it a point to get back to me and answer it.

7) Have you ever changed recruiters for any reason, and if so, why?

Yes, I had an officer recruiter local to my city. However, a couple of months after I started talking with him he transferred to recruitment for the reserves. After that I had to drive to a nearby city and complete the process with that recruiter.

8) Have you ever felt you needed to contact anyone above your recruiter (OPO, XO, CO, etc) for any reason?

No.

9) How do you feel your concerns were handled when you did?

N/A

10) If there is one (reasonable) part of the process you feel could have been handled better, what is it?

The recruiters (at least in my area) appear to be incredibly busy doing stuff they shouldn't need to. Things like hosting a table at a job fair and visiting colleges when they have no lack of quality potential officers lining up to submit packages. My biggest hurdle has been trying to find time when his schedule and mine would work together for me to drive to the recruiter.

 

[JONNY]

1) How long, from first contact to present/and or final select has the process taken?

First contact: FEB 2010
Package ready: APR 2010
Package sent: APR 2010, approved
Pro-rec: 29 APR 2010
Final select w/ OCS date: 18 MAY 2010
OCS date: 3 OCT 2010

2) What is your perception of that length of time?

Waiting for a pro-rec after your package is sent in seems to take forever. But putting the application process in the perspective of applying to college, it is way shorter. After the pro-rec I wasn't so impatient.

3) How did you initially come into contact with your recruiter?

It was actually harder than I thought to find an officer recruiter. I searched Google and called the local enlisted recruiting office and they redirected me to an officer recruiter.

4) How far away from your recruiter are you?

45 miles. But I met him about halfway to sign papers and get my package ready. Also, most of the package preparation was done remotely (fax or scan and email).

5) On a scale of 1 to 10, how responsive would you say your recruiter is? 1 being barely responsive, 10 being responds almost immediately.

I would give him a 9. He was generally very good at responding to phone calls. Wasn't so responsive to emails, but I'd imagine he gets tons of email, so no surprise.

6) On a scale of 1 to 10, how informative would you say your recruiter is? 1 being that you've done all the research yourself, 10 being that the recruiter has spent time answering all your questions and explaining what each requirement is and how it must be met (Note: 10 is not "hand-holding") to your satisfaction.

I would give him a 9. I did most of my research on my own, but any question I had, he knew the answer and he was correct every time. Some of the time he actually disproved some of the gouge I read online.

7) Have you ever changed recruiters for any reason, and if so, why?

No.

8) Have you ever felt you needed to contact anyone above your recruiter (OPO, XO, CO, etc) for any reason?

No.

9) How do you feel your concerns were handled when you did?

N/A

10) If there is one (reasonable) part of the process you feel could have been handled better, what is it?

Overall, I felt like the process was handled pretty well. I felt that some of the paperwork handling was kind of sloppy (needing to resign multiple documents). Also, I think MEPS is generally unpleasant.

 

[SC-NY-88]

I'll gladly post some feedback, it's a nice break from waiting to hear back about the september boards...

1) How long, from first contact to present/and or final select has the process taken?

Contacted November 2009, currently waiting to hear back about a pro-rec (hopefully)

2) What is your perception of that length of time?

Given the importance of this decision, not that long, it gave me time to be certain this is what I wanted, not to mention it is the government, so not long at all.

3) How did you initially come into contact with your recruiter?

Speaking at my University about the NUPOC program

4) How far away from your recruiter are you?

30 minutes

5) On a scale of 1 to 10, how responsive would you say your recruiter is? 1 being barely responsive, 10 being responds almost immediately.

I'd give him a 9. Any inquiries I have made he always responds to immediately, however it seems like I always initiate contact.

6) On a scale of 1 to 10, how informative would you say your recruiter is? 1 being that you've done all the research yourself, 10 being that the recruiter has spent time answering all your questions and explaining what each requirement is and how it must be met (Note: 10 is not "hand-holding") to your satisfaction.

8.5, early on he had all of the answers, lately I seem to be learning stuff on my own, but thats okay because it keeps me from bugging the crap out of him.

7) Have you ever changed recruiters for any reason, and if so, why?

No.

8) Have you ever felt you needed to contact anyone above your recruiter (OPO, XO, CO, etc) for any reason?

Only the recruiters CO to give my recruiter a BZ, he was outstanding on dealing with me, especially the first few months.

9) How do you feel your concerns were handled when you did?

Never actually did it.

10) If there is one (reasonable) part of the process you feel could have been handled better, what is it?

Not really, just that some changes about application processes aren't distributed at a rapid pace. I've heard applicants speak of changes to the process that my recruiter and others in the same office hadn't heard of yet. But the Navy isn't some small mom and pop company so its understandable.

 

[StompinNightmare]

1) How long, from first contact to present/and or final select has the process taken?

First contact: Oct 2009
Package ready: Jan 2010
Package sent: Feb 2010
Pro-rec: Apr 2010
Final select letter w/ OCS date: June 2010
OCS date: 24 OCT 2010

2) What is your perception of that length of time?

Hurry up and wait. The time till the Pro-rec seems the longest for most, I would believe. Before hand, you're real busy with paperwork, and it's all at your own pace. No one to blame for the paperwork taking "too long" but yourself, really. I had a few hiccups with MEPS after getting Pro-rec'd, so it took a bit longer to clear medical and get my FS letter. The time till Pro-rec felt longer, but getting all the medical stuff cleared after the fact wore on me the most mentally.

3) How did you initially come into contact with your recruiter?

www.navy.com

Went to the website and got the phone number for the nearest NRD.

4) How far away from your recruiter are you?

The NRD I was going to changed locations while in the middle of my paperwork process, and I also moved back home around the same time. The first location was only about 20 min away if there was traffic. The second location would have been only about 30 min away, but since I moved back home it was 3hr 30min away. Since at the time I started my paperwork I was attending a major university in a large city, I think my close proximity to the local NRD is probably lower than average.

5) On a scale of 1 to 10, how responsive would you say your recruiter is? 1 being barely responsive, 10 being responds almost immediately.

I'd give him a solid 5. He doesn't respond to emails too often, but glancing at his inbox while putting the final touches on my paperwork I can see why. He's a busy guy. Gets tons of emails and phone calls. My stats weren't that great in the paperwork phase, so I didn't feel bad that he wasn't at my every beck and call. Now that I have my FS letter and I'm classing up in just under a month, I can understand that his time is better spent making sure others get the chance to class up as well.

Officer Recruiters are busy people. A 5 isn't a bad score given those circumstances, in my opinion.

6) On a scale of 1 to 10, how informative would you say your recruiter is? 1 being that you've done all the research yourself, 10 being that the recruiter has spent time answering all your questions and explaining what each requirement is and how it must be met (Note: 10 is not "hand-holding") to your satisfaction.

8. He would have been a 10, but he was still a bit new at being an OR, so he had to deflect a few questions to other people in the office. If I needed something answered that I couldn't find either here or on usnavyocs.com, then he'd have the answer.

7) Have you ever changed recruiters for any reason, and if so, why?

No.

8) Have you ever felt you needed to contact anyone above your recruiter (OPO, XO, CO, etc) for any reason?

No.

9) How do you feel your concerns were handled when you did?

N/A - no concerns

10) If there is one (reasonable) part of the process you feel could have been handled better, what is it?

NASIS. 100%. I could go blue in the face detailing how bad of a system it is. The simplified version: it needs to be upgraded. It's still running on IE6, when everyone else has realized how bad of a standard it was and have moved on. NASIS will only work on IE (Internet Explorer). If you use something else, like Firefox or Chrome, you have the inconvenience of using IE. If you're on a mac and all you have is safari, then you're completely SOL. All of these issues could be somewhat forgiven if it wasn't also extremely buggy, but part of that is due to IE6.

 

[SpaceApe29]

Process

1) How long, from first contact to present/and or final select has the process taken?

First Contact: February 2nd, 2009
Conditional Release Signed: 22 August 2010
Application Complete: Early October 2010
Board Applied For: November 2010

2) What is your perception of that length of time?

It is what it is. Not any faults on the excellent recruiting professionals on the Navy side.

3) How did you initially come into contact with your recruiter?

I came seeking a better way of life within the US Military.

4) How far away from your recruiter are you?

5600 miles, I liaison via scanner, phone, and my wife.

5) On a scale of 1 to 10, how responsive would you say your recruiter is? 1 being barely responsive, 10 being responds almost immediately.

10, I bombard him with questions about the Navy side and Navy OCS; he answers them on the spot.

6) On a scale of 1 to 10, how informative would you say your recruiter is? 1 being that you've done all the research yourself, 10 being that the recruiter has spent time answering all your questions and explaining what each requirement is and how it must be met (Note: 10 is not "hand-holding") to your satisfaction.

10, true patient professionals all of them!

7) Have you ever changed recruiters for any reason, and if so, why?

I PCS'ed (military moved) from Louisiana to Germany, left my family in Memphis so I changed to that location.

8) Have you ever felt you needed to contact anyone above your recruiter (OPO, XO, CO, etc) for any reason?

I had to get paperwork signed on the Active Army side first, all the way up to a Brigade Commander (O-6) and a Brigadier General (O-7).

9) How do you feel your concerns were handled when you did?

Truthfully, I think I'm one of the first to do Active Army-to-Active Navy OCS in quite a while. It confused my chain of command at both posts I've been stationed during the process.

10) If there is one (reasonable) part of the process you feel could have been handled better, what is it?

I'll keep my gripes to myself. I will say that going from one active service to the next enlisted-to-officer is quite the uphill climb, may it be possible for all services to clarify the process? I had to do a lot research and work to even get this far and I haven't even boarded yet.

 

[flyboy]

1) How long, from first contact to present/and or final select has the process taken?
First contact: July 2007
First Application Completed: October 2007
Two and a half years of fighting to get a conditional release signed by reserve unit.
Second Application Completed: August 2009
Board Applied for: September 2009 (non-select)
2nd Board Applied for: April 2010
Final Select: June 2010
Swore in: August 2010

2) What is your perception of that length of time?
Most of the delay was because of my reserve unit dragging their feet and getting multiple conditional releases denied and the non-select in September 2009.

3) How did you initially come into contact with your recruiter?
I was working private security on Naval Weapons Station Yorktown and was impressed with the Navy. Decided to pursue my dream of flying for the Navy.

4) How far away from your recruiter are you?
120 miles.

5) On a scale of 1 to 10, how responsive would you say your recruiter is? 1 being barely responsive, 10 being responds almost immediately.
10, my recruiters (I've been through 4 since 2007) have been incredibly fast in their response of anything from the "no news yet" to necessary documentation.

6) On a scale of 1 to 10, how informative would you say your recruiter is? 1 being that you've done all the research yourself, 10 being that the recruiter has spent time answering all your questions and explaining what each requirement is and how it must be met (Note: 10 is not "hand-holding") to your satisfaction.
I have had to do most of the research after the initial meeting with the recruiter. My recruiters have always been able to respond to any questions I have had so I would give them an 8.

7) Have you ever changed recruiters for any reason, and if so, why?
Through the 3 year application process, I have been through 4 different recruiters mostly because of retirement or reassignment.

8) Have you ever felt you needed to contact anyone above your recruiter (OPO, XO, CO, etc) for any reason?
I have never had to jump up the chain of command in the recruiting department. I did have to go above my own OIC, XO, and CO of my reserve command because they were set on denying any request to submit a conditional release. The entire chain up to PERS recommended denial of the conditional release due to manning, but lucky for me it was overturned at PERS and approved.

9) How do you feel your concerns were handled when you did?
The conditional release process was difficult because the program that I was applying for (BDCP) was unknown by my reserve unit. No one understood that I would have to get out of the reserves in order to be selected for the program. They thought it was a direct commission or another program affiliated with the reserves.

10) If there is one (reasonable) part of the process you feel could have been handled better, what is it?
I had a similar situation with SpaceApe29 and it was difficult to convince my navy reserve command that this conditional release to active duty officer program was a real thing. I had some difficulty getting my conditional release signed and had to get it renewed three times because of the expiration date. Other than those two issues, I didn't have any real problems with the process. It was difficult, but isn't everything in life that is worth while?

 

[sdgigles]

1) How long, from first contact to present/and or final select has the process taken?
First Contact via Navy.com: March '10
Recruiter Contact: April '10
1st Board Applied for: June '10

2) What is your perception of that length of time?

Recruiter encouraged taking time to study for ASTB, which I'm glad I did

3) How did you initially come into contact with your recruiter?

Navy.com

4) How far away from your recruiter are you?

5 Miles

5) On a scale of 1 to 10, how responsive would you say your recruiter is? 1 being barely responsive, 10 being responds almost immediately.

8-Except for my results!!!!

6) On a scale of 1 to 10, how informative would you say your recruiter is? 1 being that you've done all the research yourself, 10 being that the recruiter has spent time answering all your questions and explaining what each requirement is and how it must be met (Note: 10 is not "hand-holding") to your satisfaction.

10

7) Have you ever changed recruiters for any reason, and if so, why?

No

8) Have you ever felt you needed to contact anyone above your recruiter (OPO, XO, CO, etc) for any reason?

No, though I did contact Malibu over at NYUSN to get help with a interview.

9) How do you feel your concerns were handled when you did?


10) If there is one (reasonable) part of the process you feel could have been handled better, what is it?

My recruiter is fine, I'm sure he has a load of other applicants. I would like to really point out how useful the NYUSN blog is for this process. The higher ups at the Navy should be commending him, not telling him what not to post. I'm sure I would be much more intrusive to my recruiter had it not been for the blog.

 

[NAVYBM2]

1) How long, from first contact to present/and or final select has the process taken?
14 months from first contact to final select.

2) What is your perception of that length of time?
Too long!!!

3) How did you initially come into contact with your recruiter?
I called my district's recruiting line.

4) How far away from your recruiter are you?
160 miles

5) On a scale of 1 to 10, how responsive would you say your recruiter is? 1 being barely responsive, 10 being responds almost immediately.
10

6) On a scale of 1 to 10, how informative would you say your recruiter is? 1 being that you've done all the research yourself, 10 being that the recruiter has spent time answering all your questions and explaining what each requirement is and how it must be met (Note: 10 is not "hand-holding") to your satisfaction.
8

7) Have you ever changed recruiters for any reason, and if so, why?
Yes, the one that I started with retired.

8) Have you ever felt you needed to contact anyone above your recruiter (OPO, XO, CO, etc) for any reason?
NO

9) How do you feel your concerns were handled when you did?
N/A

10) If there is one (reasonable) part of the process you feel could have been handled better, what is it?
I think everything with me was handled accordingly. My recruiters did everything they could to get me in. However, because of the economy, and the flooding in TN, my process took a lot longer than it should have taken.

 

[Santana]

1) How long, from first contact to present/and or final select has the process taken?

First Contact: Dec 2009
FS Received: Aug 2010

2) What is your perception of that length of time?

My OR and I agreed we could not ask for more (or rather, less) in terms of timeframe.

3) How did you initially come into contact with your recruiter?

Visited the local recruiting office in person; the recruiter searched for and referred me to the Officer Programs Office in my area.

4) How far away from your recruiter are you?

About one hour by car.

5) On a scale of 1 to 10, how responsive would you say your recruiter is? 1 being barely responsive, 10 being responds almost immediately.

9. He was on vacation when I tried to contact him once and he called back the day he returned. Otherwise he responded the same day.

6) On a scale of 1 to 10, how informative would you say your recruiter is? 1 being that you've done all the research yourself, 10 being that the recruiter has spent time answering all your questions and explaining what each requirement is and how it must be met (Note: 10 is not "hand-holding") to your satisfaction.

8.

7) Have you ever changed recruiters for any reason, and if so, why?

No.

8) Have you ever felt you needed to contact anyone above your recruiter (OPO, XO, CO, etc) for any reason?

No.

9) How do you feel your concerns were handled when you did?

N/A

10) If there is one (reasonable) part of the process you feel could have been handled better, what is it?

Overall, everything was handled quite smoothly.

 

[AllAmerican75]

Disclaimer: I don't want my below post to be seen as complaining, but my application process has been a bit bumpy but it has not been the fault of just one party. My hope is that my feedback can help improve the recruiting process.

1) How long, from first contact to present/and or final select has the process taken?

It's taken me about two years and three different recruiters to get professionally recommended, albeit about 1.5 off those years I was still in school.

2) What is your perception of that length of time?

It's seemed too long to me, but from what I can gather is that there is no centralized message for all of the recruiters. If I had known I could get pro rec'd a year out from graduation, it probably would not have taken as long. I had one recruiter tell me I could get selected 18 months ahead of graduation, another tell me that I had to wait until graduation, and then by the time I was with my current recruiter, I was already a month from graduation and it was a moot point.

3) How did you initially come into contact with your recruiter?

I was referred to my first recruiter by a colleague of his who only handled NUPOC applications. He was then transferred to another command and I was contacted out of the blue by my second recruiter. I then was placed into contact with my current recruiter after I could no longer get in touch with my second recruiter.

4) How far away from your recruiter are you?

While I was at school I was only about 80 miles ( 1 hr drive) away. Now that I've graduated I'm at least 4 hrs drive away on a good day. This has not been a problem as the ease of electronic communication and the facilities available to me in my hometown make it easy to get paperwork and other things taken care of.

5) On a scale of 1 to 10, how responsive would you say your recruiter is? 1 being barely responsive, 10 being responds almost immediately.

9.

6) On a scale of 1 to 10, how informative would you say your recruiter is? 1 being that you've done all the research yourself, 10 being that the recruiter has spent time answering all your questions and explaining what each requirement is and how it must be met (Note: 10 is not "hand-holding") to your satisfaction.

9. If they or I did not know something, my recruiter would usually get an answer very quickly for me. I would say that I am not the average recruit as I have access to all of the information that sites like AirWarriors, NavyOCS, etc. can afford, and usually knew what to expect.

7) Have you ever changed recruiters for any reason, and if so, why?

Yes. First recruiter was transferred, second stopped returning my calls and e-mails.

8) Have you ever felt you needed to contact anyone above your recruiter (OPO, XO, CO, etc) for any reason?

Yes; I called the recruiting line of my district to get in touch with someone who could straighten out the communication issues with my second recruiter.

9) How do you feel your concerns were handled when you did?

I was immediately patched into the head of my recruiting district who offered their apologies and put me in contact with my current recruiter. I couldn't be happier with the service.

10) If there is one (reasonable) part of the process you feel could have been handled better, what is it?

Honestly, I think the process has gone well as a whole but from my observations it seems that 99.9% of my problems stemmed from a lack of communication between myself and my recruiter which was due to the fact that my recruiters have all been overworked. It seems that this is a common issue as one of my recruiters said that they would usually have ~100 e-mails in their inbox every morning and it made it hard to keep track of everyone and some just fell through the cracks. I'm not sure how this issue should or even would be addressed, but it's my $0.02 as to what the biggest issue is with the program.

 

[scottwith1t]

1) How long, from first contact to present/and or final select has the process taken?
Hmm its been awhile, but I think it was roughly:
First contact via navy.com- 2004'ish, but that recruiter was a dick so I stopped talking to him.
Second contact via college career fair -- June 2007
First app: September? 2007
took ASTB again like November 2007
Second app: January 2008
Final select notice Beginning of March for a late march class date 2008, had it pushed back to April 2008
Commissioning June 2008
Winging July 2010

2) What is your perception of that length of time?
Probably took longer than it should have, mostly because of my stuff. I had legal issues and rejected my first final select to shoot for a pilot slot so that added time as well. I think my recruiter only dragged his feet once and missed a deadline and added a month to the wait. Not much you can do about this really since the boards are only held once per month.

3) How did you initially come into contact with your recruiter?
First one was via navy.com if I recall correctly. The guy was a dick in general and wouldn't talk to me about anything other than sub contracts even though I specifically was after a pilot/NFO slot.
Second recruiter I ran into at a career fair.

4) How far away from your recruiter are you?
Roughly 5 miles

5) On a scale of 1 to 10, how responsive would you say your recruiter is? 1 being barely responsive, 10 being responds almost immediately.
First guy was probably a 3, second guy definitely a 10.

6) On a scale of 1 to 10, how informative would you say your recruiter is? 1 being that you've done all the research yourself, 10 being that the recruiter has spent time answering all your questions and explaining what each requirement is and how it must be met (Note: 10 is not "hand-holding") to your satisfaction.
I came into every meeting well researched knowing the answer to almost every question prior to asking it, but he generally knew the correct answers and would research the ones he didn't know for sure. It was a near constant test I suppose to see if he was going to BS me in any way. He didn't.

7) Have you ever changed recruiters for any reason, and if so, why?
I had contact one a few years prior and he was 2+ hours from me, only came down like once a month at best, and was a general dick. Very abrasive, had zero interest in talking to me about anything aviation related and kept pushing me to try for sub nuke even though I told him multiple times I wasn't interested. Ended up just not returning his calls/emails and dropped the whole Navy thing for a few years until after graduation. The guy who replaced him was actually in my city (a city you've heard of with 1.3+ million people, not a small podunk town) and would talk to me about anything and everything I asked about, and was 180 degrees different than the first guy. He actually found me on Facebook 1.5+ years later just to see how all his recruits were doing.

8) Have you ever felt you needed to contact anyone above your recruiter (OPO, XO, CO, etc) for any reason?
Not really

9) How do you feel your concerns were handled when you did?
na

10) If there is one (reasonable) part of the process you feel could have been handled better, what is it?
It would have been nice to have a website to check if your package had been submitted, reviewed, rejected, accepted, whatever. Kind of like the UPS tracking website, but for your application.
Also, being able to select an OCS date would have helped -- would have saved all the hassle of pushing back my date due to work concerns. If I had taken the original date I'd have only had a week at best before leaving my old job and what I was doing didn't mean that was possible without screwing a decent amount of people.