A Pilot Study of Army Recruiters: Their Job Behaviors and Personal Characteristics

摘要

The objective of the research was to develop hypotheses concerning the personal characteristics and job behaviors associated with recruiter success. Based on the self-description data, few characteristics were significantly related to production records. Among the significant findings were the following: (1) High producers were less likely than low producers to cite 'independence' as a source of job satisfaction. (2) High producers were more likely than low producers to complain about their long hours of work. (3) High producers more often than low producers mentioned the use of Pre-Induction Physical(PIP) cards and mail-outs as prospecting techniques that they had found successful. (4) High producers less often admitted communication problems. (5) High producers were less likely to describe themselves in terms that were coded as 'not irritable,' and 'empathetic'. The responses made by the subjects in describing a successful and an unsuccessful recruiter they had known appeared to reflect sterotypical notions of what constitutes a good and a poor recruiter. The usefulness of these opinions for recruiter selection is considered to be marginal. A number of idiosyncratic prospecting and selling techniques were mentioned that might be worthy of more widespread utilization (e.g., cultivating drivers' license examiners or bowling alley managers as centers of influence). A number of complaints regarding recruiter management practices were noted, some of which might merit command attention.