“Every Airman and Guardian is a Recruiter” w/ Brig Gen Amrheim, et al.

“Every Airman and Guardian is a Recruiter” Session Details: Date: 11 September Time: 1:00-1:45 ET Moderator Tobias Naegele Speakers: -Brig. Gen. Christopher Amrheim -CMSgt. Rebecca Arbona Tobias Naegele Opening Remarks: Volunteer force was created 50 years ago 46% of parents are overprotective by their own measure 16 year olds are now getting a license at less than half the rate they were 35 years ago now let's look at the recruiting population 17 to 24 year olds 22% are overweight or something physical problem 8% are ineligible due to pass drug abuse 1% can't pass the exam 44% have some combination of those factors 11% of 20 million we're left with 370,000 who might have an interest that's only 10 times the shortage that we just mentioned so AFA sent a camera crew we sent a camera crew out onto the mall and we wanted to talk to people young people about what day or would they not consider joining the military here's what we found out Going to serve so we have the perfect couple of people to join us right now and talk about the challenge Brigadier General Chris Amron commander of Air Force Recruiting service and chief message Sergeant Rebecca Arbona his Comanche so welcome both of you how do we get after this problem Brig. Gen. Amrheim On Changing Environment and Adapting to New Norms -What you see in the environment, it's tough... it is The New Normal right, it is the new normal to be into this environment. On the Effect of COVID and the Ability to Pivot -We had that little skip of what I would call covid in there that did not help but it actually gave us a pivot or an inflection point to go to. On Policy Updates and Achievements in Recruiting -Without the efforts of the vice chief of staff's cross-functional team that looked at policies and barriers that were probably outdated and needed to be updated... afrs went into a deployment mode off Tempo, they Surge and we are just now coming out of that. -Of the policy initiatives and some of the barrier removals, we estimate that we got a thousand more recruits in this year and we believe that we will get an excess of 2500 or more next year. On Challenges Faced by Recruiters -One of the challenges is their workload right, you said 1800 recruiters, they got to bring in $27,000 just shy of 27,000 active duty almost $45,000 total. -The Army has about seven times the number of recruiters... in some places such as Montana we have four recruiters for the entire state and so it's a lot of distance to cover. On Innovative Solutions for Recruitment Challenges -We have grown What's called the recruiter program that is nationwide... and then we have a physical interface with the recruiter in the local area. -The ER recruiter gets theirs from what's called our lead generation office... that takes leads from all over the United States and refines them. On Medical Waivers and Processing Delays -That has stretched out our medical accessions processing timeline almost three-fold in about 18 months. -One of the other areas where we're getting after it is working hard with our OSD counterparts on adjusting the criteria for entry where appropriate. -My message to you when we're talking about what you can do will be informed if you hear somebody that says hey I don't think I can get in because I'm going to be medically disqualified let them disqualify you at Maps and then let him get into our waiver process. On the Recruiter's Burden and Solutions -The second piece to help out the recruiters within that realm is all of that back and forth has had originally or to this day goes back upon the recruiter. -We're in the final stages of working a contract where we will bring medical contractors in to take that piece on, take the load off the recruiter. On Morale and Motivation -Morales like you know if you get this kind of negative thing we're missing a goal and there's negative news in the media. How do you keep them down or are they motivated and how do you keep them motivated? -We continue our value and challenge, and we restore our levels to the recruiting force. On Public Perception and Storytelling -It is so critical for you all to understand it, tell your story. We have to make up for that lack of familiarity with our military. -It's really really important, that's how you can help. What is your why? -Tell your story. Got so much information on there once you get them cooking there it'll be cooking with gas. On Influence and Communication -This is the takeaway, tell your story how you choose a path. "Everybody in here you are an influencer just as much as you are a recruiter and that there's a job for everyone." -We can amplify that message. This is not only a one to one kind of equation, you're going to reach more people if you can amplify the message if you can reach out and multiply. CMSgt. Rebecca Arbona: On Leveraging Experienced Recruiters -Our recruiters are actually retired recruiters and so it's pretty amazing we're able to still utilize all the knowledge and capabilities we had when they were. -This app right here it's going to open somebody's eyes to what's available out there... all you got to do is open that and share it, and it'll tell them where a recruiter is too in their local area. On Rapid Response and Adaptability -We can start with your assistance immediately because in this day and age that's what we have to do to keep up what we're doing. On Morale and Employee Satisfaction -From simple things like looking at antiquated policies... easing our rules on tattoos, simple things like the hair and the medical is mentioned. Those kinds of things that we lost or we're losing a huge amount of talent, so that's bringing the morale up. On Changing Attitudes Towards Military Service -At those times we had 40% like parents that served... in the last couple of years it's around 13% and the propensity to serve has changed. On Personal Stories as a Recruitment Tool -Hashtag #myairforcestory, #myspaceforcestory, so start there and we got it, we can't do it without you. On Immediate Assistance & Adaptability -It's approximately 3 days and we can start with your assistance immediately because in this day and age that's what we have to do to keep up what we're doing. On Engaging Personal Testimonials -We just wanted to put that in front of you personally. And so I'm going to walk down the line and just ask each one of them to give you a little bit of some starting cash. How you doing? Great. [End]