Posted on Dec 12, 2021
What can you do about a bad recruiter when you're already deeply invested into the enlistment process with that recruiter?
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I have been out of the active duty Army for about 2 years now. I have spent the last 3 months working with a recruiter doing all the extra crap that prior service have to do to get back in. Everything was great up until I went to meps. I want to add before I get into this that the platoon sergeant at this recruiting office pull be aside the day I was going to meps and told me that if I did not pick a job and station and enlist that day, then he was taking me out of his system and I wouldnt get to go again. That says a lot about this recruiting office alone. To keep this short there was a small medical thing that I had last year(kidney stone removal procedure) and I told my recruiter about it when I first started the process. He said it wasnt a big deal and dont worry about it. Well it wasnt included in my packet that was sent to meps. When I got to meps I was told about the new update to their system that was to start on 12/1/21 where they could see all medical records. Well I came clean about it during the amnesty period and the meps doctor told me I need a waiver but it would be a simple waiver because it is nothing medically serious. Well they let me finish my complete physical and I passed it all. I was told I just need to get that waiver sent up and I could come back and enlist. I am unbelievably frustrated at this point because I did not think something so small would require a waiver. Well I notify my recruiter and he was pretty upset because I didnt lie to them. He leaves me sitting at meps for almost 2 hours when the office was less then 15 min away. Oh and one of the liaisons was trying to aggressively interrogate me about if I told my recruiter about the medical procedure and if i didnt and I lied on the initial screening paperwork that I wasnt going to be able to enlist and so on. Well I get my recruiter the documents for the waiver the next day and he said he would get it sent up. Well he ignores me for just over 4 days not answering any text or calls giving no updates. I figured out of spite. At this point I was weighing my options and I had a good buddy that I served with who was a recruiter in another state. I gave him a call and told him what was going on and he told me i should just drop them and go remotely though him. At this point I was strongly considering it. I gave it a day or two to see if my recruiter would get back to me and that next day he finally texted me(6 days later) and said my waiver was sent up. I found out from my buddy that his commander called their office and asked them the status of my enlistment. Well idk if that kicked them into gear or they just decided to start doing their job but he got my stuff sent up. well it got kicked back a dat later because i needed a clearance appointment with the doctor. I went and did that a couple days later and when I went in to the office to give the paper work to my recruiter the platoon leader snatched the documents out of my hand before i could hand them to my recruiter and was trying to decipher what the doctor wrote. I tried to explain it to him but he snapped and interrupted me. They have made it very clear they are not fond of me. There are many situations of disrespect and attitude I did not include in here but this is such a unprofessional office. I keep giving them more chances because i really dont want to have my buddy take control and have to somewhat start over. All i need is this waiver to be approved so i can go to meps for literally 1 hour and enlist with the liaison. They are taking forever for every task and not keeping me updated and its obviously out of spite for making them look bad at meps. The recruiter already made himself look bad by screwing up loads of my paper work from my first enlistment that he sent up to meps. I just dont know what to do when dealing with recruiters like this when they have all the power. What can I do about these terrible recruiters, when im already so far invested?
Posted 3 y ago
Responses: 8
I was unaware that the waivers are approved locally by the recruiter.
That is the Decision Point of your issue. Who has to approve it?
That is the Decision Point of your issue. Who has to approve it?
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SPC Charles Babcock
It kind of depends on the severity of the medical issue that requires a waiver. If its a smaller issue then the MEPS doctor can review the medical documents submitted and approve the waiver on the spot. More severe issues require being submitted to division headquarters where they will decide. My waiver is very minor and should only have a few days turn around. They first time it was submitted it was kicked back the next day. That shows how fast the turn around is. I got them the additional required documents that caused it to get kicked back, within a few days. They said they resubmitted it and it has now been a week with no response. These are they kinds of things im talking about when it comes to inconsistency with these recruiters. There should definitely have been some kind of response from meps by now, good or bad.
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You could to go to another office, but then come back here and tell us how the experience is the same.. truth is PS is a pain in the ass for recruiters. I know because I was a PS that required a waiver and it takes a very long time. From my perspective, seems your attitude is driving the situation in a negative way. Be patient, it will happen but waivers can take months to process... you aren't the only person trying to get a waiver through... best of luck to you
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SPC Charles Babcock
I understand this is a generic experience with recruiters but the immediate change in attitude and effort I saw from my recruiter when I chose not to lie at meps, has changed my attitude. I was nothing but excited from the beginning but this experience has turned into nothing but awkwardness and stress when dealing with them. My main issue is deciding if it would be worth pulling out and switching recruiters. Hell, for all I know they could be sitting here telling me my waiver has been submitted and they are waiting for a response, when this whole time it could be sitting on their desk. Knowing the way this office operates if wouldnt surprise me.
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SSG (Join to see)
SPC Charles Babcock - I get the frustration, but remember with PS; we don't help their numbers (at least we didn't when I came back through). I had to do a lot of the work myself to get back in and it took a very long time. All in I worked with a recruiter from every branch for years. What did it for me was I found a National Guard Recruiter that had met his numbers and was willing to let me do all the work. He just signed off on everything he could and then would push it up... hell I even drove myself to MEPS all three times it took to get through it all. If this is something you want, there should be no wall you are not willing to smash through to get it. I would say, if you really want back in, talk to another office and ask if they can take a look at your packet.
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I went from active, to reserves, back to active, over 13 years.
Most of the time, there is so much crap going on behind the scenes that you don't know about. Sometimes it's just that someone is busy and they aren't dragging they're feet, but they are literally up to their neck in other business. Sometimes they are short-staffed, a system went down, or channels above them are giving them a hard time. I am always generous in giving the benefit of the doubt; that's what I would appreciate if I were on the other side. I have worked hard to develop this in myself because I have the bad habit of taking things personally or seeing spiteful behavior that isn't what I think it is.
Having said that, from your side of the story it sounds pretty exhausting. In my opinion, you should talk to the other recruiter. Give the office a courtesy call or email telling them you're working with another office. Thank them for their hard work, list an email to send your packet too and CC the office (with their permission) and pop smoke. If there is drama, just politely back away from it at this point.
Most of the time, there is so much crap going on behind the scenes that you don't know about. Sometimes it's just that someone is busy and they aren't dragging they're feet, but they are literally up to their neck in other business. Sometimes they are short-staffed, a system went down, or channels above them are giving them a hard time. I am always generous in giving the benefit of the doubt; that's what I would appreciate if I were on the other side. I have worked hard to develop this in myself because I have the bad habit of taking things personally or seeing spiteful behavior that isn't what I think it is.
Having said that, from your side of the story it sounds pretty exhausting. In my opinion, you should talk to the other recruiter. Give the office a courtesy call or email telling them you're working with another office. Thank them for their hard work, list an email to send your packet too and CC the office (with their permission) and pop smoke. If there is drama, just politely back away from it at this point.
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