Where's my recruiter?

kato10 · Mar 4, 2010

What branch are you looking at? I had problems initially with my recruiter and actually got a number for the office manager. She then got me a new recruiter who has been great.

MunkiRN, BSN, RN · Mar 4, 2010

I'm looking into the Navy. The recruiter seems really busy, I've called both his office and his cell. Talked to another recruiter (not for medical) in his office and he said that my recruiter has been busy this week. I can appreciate all of this but it's still frustrating to not be able to get answers and get the process started.

midinphx, BSN · Mar 4, 2010

I think that most recruiters in the medical specialty area cover a regional area. This means they travel more and are out of the office alot. I have my recruiter's cell phone number and that makes a difference. It is a slow process. If the recruiter knows where you are in the education end, he/she is aware there is no huge hurry to get you paperwork in asap, while there may be some that it is a closer oppertunity and more pressing. Be patient, but persistant.

MunkiRN, BSN, RN · Mar 6, 2010

Thanks for the advice. I will wait till middle of next week to try and get a hold of him again. The wait is hard already, and I'm just getting started on this process :)

hiddencatRN, BSN, RN · Mar 7, 2010

I've been having a hard time getting in touch with a recruiter too. I've called the number for my area and the cell of a recruiter I met at a career fair and so far haven't heard anything back. It's frustrating, but I'm just gonna keep calling

baker1bv · Mar 8, 2010

I also have had difficulty getting hold of a recruiter. Although Im mostly interested in the air force, I wanted to see what the navy had in regards to programs an incentives. I have called the officer number for nevada (its just an 1-800 number) and every business day for the last three weeks and not a soul has picked up.

My air force recruiter has been difficult to get ahold of, but I have been able to do it.

jentrump29 · Mar 11, 2010

Just to give some perspective...I was sitting in my recruiter's office a while back and he happened to be checking his phone messages from a 3 day period where he was out of the office doing recruiter stuff. He had 3 pages worth of messages to take care of. He said that was pretty typical and eventually got back to everyone on the list (which kept growing daily). They don't ignore you on purpose. It's ok to keep trying though. If you happen to call in when he/she is sitting at the desk, you could just get lucky. That's what happened for me, and he gave me his cell phone number during that conversation because he knew I was serious about the Air Force. Good luck!!

midinphx, BSN · Mar 11, 2010

When you do get ahold of them, be prepared. Have a list of reasonable questions. I was with my recruiter one day while he fielded a call from a girl who called his office, he then asked if he could call back this really pushy rude girl (who I could overhear on the phone) since he was with a recruit. Then she called him on his cell phone and proceeded to complain about how noone was calling her back. He explained that he was the regional recruiter and that he had just hung up with her and would call her back. She actually kept him on the line and demanded to know why she should join the Air Force!

Anyway... be prepared. When I first met with my recruiter I took pertinent documents. birth cert, marriage license, children birth cert. you license and bcls, acls cards. Go in with a nice clean folder and nice copies to hand in. If you look like you are truly interested, they will be more interested in moving you along.

We actually got all my packet in in the time frame we set out for. It is not his fault that I still have no answer since October. (It's getting hard to believe that this will really happen). Be prepared for more long and frustrating times that will eventually pay off.

annabeap, MSN, APRN, NP · Mar 11, 2010

If you are getting frustrated, you could call an office in another region... but you might just be getting that recruiter in trouble. I had a great recruiter for the AF... other nurses I met had terrible ones. You should be able to get a hold of his/her supervisor, and if they're really that busy, the supervisor might be able to help you. My recruiter had a "family emergency" and his supervisor stepped in and helped us out.

But sometimes it was a phone-tag game. And originally I contacted the Navy first, but they didn't have the info for me at the time, and they never called me back, whereas the AF took an interest in me right at the start!

MunkiRN, BSN, RN · Mar 11, 2010

I finally got in touch with my recruiter, YAY! He's been very helpful since then and I am in the process of filling out my application. Apparently he is working in two different areas at once, so I completely understand his time constraints.

I'm excited to finally be starting this process, although from what I've read I have a lot more waiting to come :)

hopeful_army_NP · Mar 12, 2010

I finally got in touch with my recruiter, YAY! He's been very helpful since then and I am in the process of filling out my application. Apparently he is working in two different areas at once, so I completely understand his time constraints.
I'm excited to finally be starting this process, although from what I've read I have a lot more waiting to come :)

Congrats and good luck!