A cavalry scout with the 1st Combat Brigade Combat Team gave a tour of the joint light tactical vehicle at the Kansas state fairgrounds in Hutchinson, Kansas on September 9, 2023. The soldiers hosted the booth at the Kansas State Fairgrounds to interact with the public and inform about enlistment opportunities and benefits. (Army Reserve photo by Pfc. Aiden Griffitts) The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.
By: FEDweek StaffThe Army is making changes in the way it identifies and recruits new soldiers. Specifically, the service wants to attract more young people, in hopes of addressing and resolving “the most challenging recruiting environment in a generation,” according to an Army press release.
Army Secretary Christine Wormouth and Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George spoke earlier this month of establishing a talent acquisition workforce that would be based upon a study of the service’s recruitment activities during the past 25 years. They said the service expects to have ended fiscal 2023 on Sept. 30 with some 55,000 recruiting contracts. Among them are about 4,600 contracts under the service’s delayed-entry program. These recruits would ship sometime during fiscal 2024, which began Oct. 1. Thus, the Army expects to meet its end-strength goal of 452,000 active-duty soldiers.
“The competition for talented Americans is fierce, and it is fundamentally different than it was 50 or even 20 years ago,” Wormouth said. “Understanding that reality is key to designing new practices that will make us a more attractive and compelling career choice.”
Wormouth went on to identify five key areas of transition:
• Changing how the Army prospects. Just as the labor market has changed since the inception of the all-volunteer force in 1973, so too must the service. This entails looking beyond the pool of recent high school graduates. College students and people in the workforce would be targeted. Wormouth and George would like to see as many as one third of the total force hold more than a high school degree, compared to the current 20 percent.
• Creating a “permanent and specialized talent acquisition workforce,” as George described. These full-time recruiters would be given whatever they need in terms of “tools, talent and training to reach prospects wherever they are. Two new military occupational specialties would handle enlisteds and warrant officers. A third, for commissioned officers, is being considered.
• Giving the Army Recruiting Command (USAREC) the ability to experiment, using tools such as IT, data management, survey design, labor market analysis, marketing, operations and procurement. Recruiters would adapt to labor-market trends instead of simply meeting annual production targets.
• Establishing “evidence based” measurements of recruitment policy decisions. This would incorporate data collection and evaluation into the processes of planning and implementing policies.
• Realigning the recruiting leadership and structure under a proposed three-star command that would report directly to the secretary and chief of staff. The officer in charge would hold the position for two to four years.
“Recruiting is one of the most important missions in the Army, and these changes reflect that importance,” Wormouth said. “The fact is that even though it remains a challenge to attract new recruits, we are exceeding our retention goals every year,” Wormouth and George said. “That means that people who are in the Army by and large love their jobs. And that’s the message we want all young Americans to hear.”
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