| Chief wants recruiting revolution
Volume 11, No. 52, September 21, 2006
By Sgt Damian Griffin
MORE female recruits and easier enlistment and re-enlistment processes are among some of the changes CA Lt-Gen Peter Leahy wants implemented to improve recruitment.
“Frankly, it’s important that we improve the performance of the recruiting organisation,” he said.
He said spending would increase on recruiting advertising and would include a new I am an Australian Soldier campaign, and that easier recruitment processes for reservists would also assist in gaining the additional 5000 soldiers Army now needed.
Lt-Gen Leahy also wants to increase the number of female soldiers in the Army from its current 12 per cent, which he said would greatly assist in meeting recruiting targets. He is seeking feedback from female soldiers on what would make the Army a more attractive career path for women.
“With the recent opening up of female employment in combat arms, I want to know why we can’t recruit more females into the Army,” Lt-Gen Leahy said.
Lt-Gen Leahy said recent changes to recruiting processes that allowed for older recruits or those with minor drug convictions, asthma, tattoos, piercings and weight problems, would not relax the high standard required for soldiers.
He said that Army would retain and enforce its zero tolerance to drug use, and that by joining Defence, recruits were offered the opportunity to commit to Army’s high standards.
“What’s important is we recognise that it’s not what you did before you joined the Army, it’s what you do while you’re in the Army,” he said.
Advances in asthma treatment and public attitudes to tattoos and piercings have made those exclusions all but redundant. So too with age restrictions, especially in specialist roles such as surgeons or lawyers, or if fit enough, in arms corps roles.
“If you’re fit and can do the job, that’s fine,” Lt-Gen Leahy said.
However, he admitted “it’s a difficult job, it’s a demanding job. It tends to be a young person’s job especially in the forward units.”
The process for joining the Reserves is also set to become a lot easier, with Lt-Gen Leahy wanting the introduction of provisional recruiting.
This will allow civilians that want to attend their local Reserve unit to simply attend and then commence the recruitment process during parade timings.
“Reserves are about mates, local identities and being in the unit that belongs to that area – and the national recruiting model is frankly not working in the Reserve,” he said.
Additional attention will also be given to the Army cadets, which already provides a large amount of part and full-time recruiting.
Soldiers wishing to contribute recruitment ideas are encouraged to email them to the CA at http://intranet.defence.gov.au/ArmyWeb/sites/SpeaktoCA/. |
