Recruiters at the Flushing, New York Center made their annual mission April 22, six month in advance.
New York Center Closes Mission Half Year Early
By Fonda Bock, USAREC, Public Affairs Office
Courtesy photo
April 22, 2015
It’s never been done before – a center closing its annual mission six months in advance. That’s what happened today at the Flushing, New York Center, when its 124th applicant enlisted.
“We’ve always made the annual mission, but it always got down to the last month,” said Sgt. 1st Class Michael Susi, center leader.
Two things contributed to their success – the reactivation of MAVNI and being given an annual mission instead of quarterly.
“We’d been building a funnel of MAVNI applicants since October. So when MAVNI opened up in January, we immediately enlisted 22 foreign nationals into the regular Army and 10 into the Reserve,” said Susi.
So far this year, the center has enlisted 35 MAVNI applicants.
Assigning an annual mission created a sense of urgency for the recruiters, giving them plenty of time to perform with precision, but in a more relaxed environment, according to Susi.
“The stress went down and the production went up,” he said.
“Our mission became 104 for the regular Army and 20 for the Reserve. Since there were no repercussions for not making mission monthly, there was no need to rush and mistakes weren’t being made.
“We could focus on precision and accuracy when inputting information into the data base. During my nine years in USAREC, this was probably my least stressful year.”
A more relaxed environment allowed recruiters to provide better customer service. Recruiters were responsible for taking care of particular Future Soldiers throughout the application process.
“This kind of customer service creates a more intimate relationship,” said Susi. “In small unit recruiting, applicants get passed on a lot. The personal relationship is not really there. Having one recruiter process an applicant from first contact to ship date creates a closer bond between the two. We still get e-mails and letters from Soldiers thanking us for the extra time we’ve put into their careers. Customer service brings in referrals.”
As a result, the Flushing Center has only two Future Soldiers losses this year compared to 13 last year.
Closing out the mission doesn’t mean Flushing recruiters get to take leave for the rest of the year. Susi does see more time to spent with families and concentrate on self development.
By Fonda Bock, USAREC, Public Affairs Office
Courtesy photo
April 22, 2015
It’s never been done before – a center closing its annual mission six months in advance. That’s what happened today at the Flushing, New York Center, when its 124th applicant enlisted.
“We’ve always made the annual mission, but it always got down to the last month,” said Sgt. 1st Class Michael Susi, center leader.
Two things contributed to their success – the reactivation of MAVNI and being given an annual mission instead of quarterly.
“We’d been building a funnel of MAVNI applicants since October. So when MAVNI opened up in January, we immediately enlisted 22 foreign nationals into the regular Army and 10 into the Reserve,” said Susi.
So far this year, the center has enlisted 35 MAVNI applicants.
Assigning an annual mission created a sense of urgency for the recruiters, giving them plenty of time to perform with precision, but in a more relaxed environment, according to Susi.
“The stress went down and the production went up,” he said.
“Our mission became 104 for the regular Army and 20 for the Reserve. Since there were no repercussions for not making mission monthly, there was no need to rush and mistakes weren’t being made.
“We could focus on precision and accuracy when inputting information into the data base. During my nine years in USAREC, this was probably my least stressful year.”
A more relaxed environment allowed recruiters to provide better customer service. Recruiters were responsible for taking care of particular Future Soldiers throughout the application process.
“This kind of customer service creates a more intimate relationship,” said Susi. “In small unit recruiting, applicants get passed on a lot. The personal relationship is not really there. Having one recruiter process an applicant from first contact to ship date creates a closer bond between the two. We still get e-mails and letters from Soldiers thanking us for the extra time we’ve put into their careers. Customer service brings in referrals.”
As a result, the Flushing Center has only two Future Soldiers losses this year compared to 13 last year.
Closing out the mission doesn’t mean Flushing recruiters get to take leave for the rest of the year. Susi does see more time to spent with families and concentrate on self development.