{"id":668,"date":"2023-03-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=668"},"modified":"2023-03-31T07:10:08","modified_gmt":"2023-03-31T07:10:08","slug":"army-guard-conference-highlights-recruiting-tips-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=668","title":{"rendered":"Army Guard Conference Highlights Recruiting Tips, Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Master Sgt. Christopher Sehy, a recruiter with the Utah Army National Guard, embraces his wife, Crystal, as he receives the Army National Guard Recruiting and Retention Noncommissioned Officer of the Year award from Maj. Gen. John Andonie, left, deputy director of the Army National Guard, during the Director\u2019s Strength Maintenance Awards and Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, March 23, 2023. The conference brings together Army Guard recruiting team chiefs and the top Army Guard recruiters for training sessions and networking opportunities to tackle the challenges of recruiting. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Jon Soucy)
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NEW ORLEANS \u2013 Seven Soldiers stood on stage at the award ceremony, waiting to hear who had taken top honors. A drum roll built suspense in the darkened room as audience members shifted in their seats.<\/p>\n

The drumming reached a crescendo as Master Sgt. Christopher Sehy was named the winner to cheers and applause.<\/p>\n

As he stepped across the stage, he was unexpectedly met by his wife, Crystal, who had rushed onstage to hug and congratulate her husband for being the Army National Guard\u2019s Recruiting and Retention Noncommissioned Officer of the Year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a bit surprised when they called my name,\u201d said Sehy, a recruiter with the Utah Army National Guard. \u201cIt\u2019s a very humbling honor and it means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

The March 23 awards program was the culminating event of the annual Director of the Army National Guard\u2019s Strength Maintenance Awards and Conference, where recruiting team chiefs and top Army Guard recruiters network, exchange ideas and focus on ever-evolving recruiting challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an opportunity to bring in the top recruiters and section leaders or section chiefs into one forum,\u201d said Master Sgt. Anthony Vaughn, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the conference and the Recruit Sustainment Program NCOIC in the Army Guard Strength Maintenance Division at the National Guard Bureau. \u201cThen you also have training that\u2019s going to be disseminated out to the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the Army Guard rebounds from a year of lower enlistment rates, the conference focused on synchronizing efforts, said Vaughn.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we\u2019re in one of the most difficult recruiting environments we\u2019ve been in in a very long time,\u201d he said of all the service branches and components. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to figure out ways to increase accessions through recruiting.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crosstalk and training help, enabling recruiters in one state to talk with and bounce ideas off those in other states.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecruiting, it does vary based upon that local environment,\u201d said Vaughn. \u201cAll in all, it\u2019s a science and an art. So, recruiters in all the states can come in and kind of deliver their pieces of the pie, if you will.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conference allowed recruiters to \u201chear those best practices and think about things outside the box that they possibly aren\u2019t doing in their particular state\u201d that they can adapt to fit their mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intent is that they take all the knowledge that they\u2019ll learn and disseminate that back out [to other recruiters at home station],\u201d said Vaughn. \u201cThey can say, \u2018This is something that I learned, and this can help posture us for future success.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He said drawing on those ideas and applying them while mentoring others in their command makes for a good recruiter, or \u2014 as they are officially known \u2014 a recruiting and retention noncommissioned officer.<\/p>\n

\u201cA good recruiter, that\u2019s someone who is not going to forget the second half of the title \u2014 NCO,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re the ones that do not forget when they were that applicant going to see their recruiter and the process they may have gone through,\u201d said Vaughn. \u201cThey\u2019re the ones who follow up and are always ready to answer any follow-on questions, even long after that individual went from being a prospect to an applicant, to being at basic training and then back into a unit as a Soldier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sehy agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing is, it just starts with doing the work,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery day, you\u2019ve got to come to work and be present and engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard but rewarding work, Sehy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best part about being a recruiter is you have an opportunity to change the course of someone\u2019s life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy little brother, he\u2019s done 10 years in prison,\u201d he said. \u201cWe grew up in the same place; we just took different paths. And for me, every time I talk with a young man or young woman, I don\u2019t take that for granted. Because I look at what it\u2019s done for my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conference helps recruiters work with recruits and applicants seeking to make the \u201clife-changing\u201d decision to enlist.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take a needs analysis of the field, as far as what we need to hone in on,\u201d said Vaughn of the conference planning. In addition to recruiters, that analysis includes input from the Army Guard Strength Maintenance Division and broader Army recruiting efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose topics change from year to year,\u201d said Vaughn. \u201cBut again, they\u2019re based upon the needs of the field. So that\u2019s where here, as a division, we make sure that we meet that need.\u201d<\/p>\n

The intent is to increase the abilities of recruiting teams in the 54 \u2014 all 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia, said Vaughn.<\/p>\n

Recruiting often comes down to making connections within the recruiting career field and with potential recruits, Sehy said. That can sometimes mean calling a lot of possible applicants.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my mottos is 20 minutes of cold calls a day keeps the sergeant major away,\u201d he said, referring to the senior NCO overseeing recruiting teams. \u201cIf you\u2019re willing to put in just 20 minutes a day, you\u2019ll be able to get something out of it at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n

But rejection can be tough, said Sehy.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to have that personal courage to continue to make those calls, to go to that school or community event to meet people who may be interested.\u201d<\/p>\n

But seeing the changes in those he\u2019s enlisted makes it worth it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey leave for training looking a certain way,\u201d he said. \u201cThen to see them come back, they\u2019re usually skinnier, in better physical condition and they\u2019re more confident,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s really rewarding when you get a thank you. Sometimes it\u2019s from someone that you didn\u2019t really know appreciated you at all. That means the world and makes another 400 cold calls worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more National Guard news<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Master Sgt. Christopher Sehy, a recruiter with the Utah Army National Guard, embraces his wife, Crystal, as he receives the Army National Guard Recruiting and Retention Noncommissioned Officer of the Year award from Maj. Gen. John Andonie, left, deputy director of the Army National Guard, during the Director\u2019s Strength Maintenance Awards and Conference in New […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=668"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":671,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668\/revisions\/671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}