Where are the medical recruiters?

shapely · May 19, 2010

My recruiter was about 3 hours away. We kept in touch via email and phone. I've met with him 2 times. He can send me overnight postage via email when he needed something signed very quickly. I bet you'll work with the same one I had since he is in TN and said that he covers the six states around him. Good luck!

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · May 20, 2010

The health professions recruiters are not like your run-of-the-mill recruiters. They drew them down (in other words, they eliminated positions) a couple of years ago and now they're responsible for a HUGE area. So it's quite possible that your nearest one is in Baton Rouge.

This also explains why they can be hard to track down sometimes - they're on the road a lot.

Call him/her up; there's a lot of stuff that can be done electronically at first and also by phone initially.

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · May 20, 2010

Two things to remember about recruiters:

(1) they have a bad rap overall; they're not all monsters, and

(2) they're essentially salesmen, so buyer beware.

You do need to be sure ANYTHING any recruiter tells you you get in writing or are shown where it exists in writing.

You can easily tell good recruiters from bad ones. Good ones will tell you when they don't know the answer; they'll track stuff down for you and they'll do everything they can for you. Bad ones will create answers where there are none and try not to answer questions they don't have answers for.

But they're salesmen, so there's a bit of propaganda and fluff to be expected.

wetzoo · May 25, 2010

I've been wondering the same thing.

I've managed to get a hold of my air force recruiter once and have been trying to contact him again for the past 3 weeks so I could send him some paperwork. I asked him to e-mail the paperwork before getting off the phone but I haven't received anything. I understand he's busy, but I was hoping for some guidance in filling out some of the paperwork. He is on the road a lot, but I've already left a few messages on his cell phone. I tried to google another AF recruiter that was actually in the same city as me, and after telling him i was going to graduate next may, he told me that I couldn't start the paperwork until I actually had my license? what?

I've had so much trouble. I'm on the verge of giving up AF and going army (I've had much better luck with the army health recruiter). Maybe this is a sign. :/

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · May 25, 2010

See, and it's stories like that that burn me up.

Sounds to me like the second recruiter has gotten burned in the past by people who are all "I wanna join the Air Force" and then he does all the legwork - and they flunk the NCLEX. Still, it doesn't excuse his answer or his behavior, because he's completely wrong. (I wonder what the NCLEX pass rate is of the school he's nearest to...ya know?)

What part of the paperwork are you having trouble with? There might be someone here who can help.

wetzoo · May 26, 2010

See, and it's stories like that that burn me up.
Sounds to me like the second recruiter has gotten burned in the past by people who are all "I wanna join the Air Force" and then he does all the legwork - and they flunk the NCLEX. Still, it doesn't excuse his answer or his behavior, because he's completely wrong. (I wonder what the NCLEX pass rate is of the school he's nearest to...ya know?)
What part of the paperwork are you having trouble with? There might be someone here who can help.

carolinapooh I was hoping that you would answer. I can't pm! :yeah:

Regarding the 2nd recruiter: The nursing school that I attend is pretty noteworthy. I don't know about the traditional program, but the accelerated program that I'm in has a 95% NCLEX pass rate. I honestly think he just didn't know what he was doing. This address wasn't listed on the air force website, so I don't know how legit he was.

On the paperwork, I have questions regarding:

1. I haven't worked a lot in these 7 years. I've mostly been going to school and/or taking prereqs. I've worked 2 jobs- one, I can't remember the supervisor's last name (I stupidly threw away the business card thinking I wasn't going to need it again since the job doesn't pertain to nursing). Would it be alright to just put the first name? Regarding the 2nd job I worked, the supervisor is no longer there. What should I put? Additionally, I don't know if I would be able to get the personal addresses of these 2 employers (and honestly, I think it would be a bit weird considering it's been so long and I don't know if they'd remember me, and thus, feel comfortable enough to give me their personal addresses). Is that really necessary?

2. On the last pages, it has you pick your preferred active duty assignment prefences. I don't know my options. I'm using the packet the army recruiter gave me (the airforce health recruiter said it was the same paperwork as the airforce), but, of course, the assignment options in the army packet don't pertain to the Airforce.

Thank you.

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · May 26, 2010

carolinapooh I was hoping that you would answer. I can't pm!
Regarding the 2nd recruiter: The nursing school that I attend is pretty noteworthy. I don't know about the traditional program, but the accelerated program that I'm in has a 95% NCLEX pass rate. I honestly think he just didn't know what he was doing. This address wasn't listed on the air force website, so I don't know how legit he was.
On the paperwork, I have questions regarding:
1. I haven't worked a lot in these 7 years. I've mostly been going to school and/or taking prereqs. I've worked 2 jobs- one, I can't remember the supervisor's last name (I stupidly threw away the business card thinking I wasn't going to need it again since the job doesn't pertain to nursing). Would it be alright to just put the first name? Regarding the 2nd job I worked, the supervisor is no longer there. What should I put? Additionally, I don't know if I would be able to get the personal addresses of these 2 employers (and honestly, I think it would be a bit weird considering it's been so long and I don't know if they'd remember me, and thus, feel comfortable enough to give me their personal addresses). Is that really necessary?
2. On the last pages, it has you pick your preferred active duty assignment prefences. I don't know my options. I'm using the packet the army recruiter gave me (the airforce health recruiter said it was the same paperwork as the airforce), but, of course, the assignment options in the army packet don't pertain to the Airforce.
Thank you.

First off - must vent - OMIGOD OMIGOD OMIGOD. Proof some recruiters will tell people ANYTHING. Not your fault. There - it's out. I feel better. :)

(Pet peeve of mine; please don't be offended. We're the AIR FORCE - two words.)

Sounds like the second recruiter was an enlisted recruiter. Don't talk to him if he was; he can't help you. If he wasn't an enlisted recruiter, and he actually WAS the HP recruiter, I'm going to put it out there, no matter how unprofessional of me it is: he's an idiot. Can't help it.

Now - your numbers:

1. Track down the whole name of that supervisor. If you can't find it, put the present name of whoever is filling that position. Chances are you have an employee file somewhere. People move on and you can't always be expected to know everyone all the time; put what you can find. Don't just put the first name; it's unprofessional. You can explain yourself. You don't need a personal address, you only need a business address. My guess is you can drum that up on the Internet. If they didn't keep personnel files, you can't help that. But stick to what you know, and if the person's no longer there, put whoever is currently in that position.

2. The commissioning paperwork is SERVICE SPECIFIC. You can't use Army paperwork - they're DA forms. Ours are AF forms. And the bases/medical centers aren't the same even if some of them are combining. None of that's completed yet for the most part.

Here's a starting point: the base locator on airforce.com. Base Locator - Contact the U.S. Air Force - AirForce.com

Keep in mind not all of these bases have medical centers and not all of them have hospitals you'd necessarily be able to serve at. But it's a start; somewhere in this thread someone (I think it was wtbcrna) posted a more current listing of where the bases with functioning medical centers and clinics are. I'd be willing to bet if you did a search on the site for "Air Force base" or "Air Force clinic /hospital" you'd find it.

You can't use Army information or Army forms. Doesn't work that way. (I'm a bit peeved that you were told that, actually. Again, certainly not at you, but I'm trying to figure out why these recruiters think this sort of stuff is OK.)

Any more questions? Keep 'em coming if you've got them.

wetzoo · May 26, 2010

thanks so much carolinapooh.