Pipeline Recruiting

[NIN]

I'm in the process of setting up a presentation about pipelining.

It occurred to me that while my unit has been doing it since early 2001, and I know anecdotally of other units trying it, I am not really sure how widespread it is.

Anybody's unit either doing currently, or previously has done, pipelining for either cadet or senior member recruiting?

[Ed Bos]

I'm unclear what you're describing with the term "pipelining." What is it and how useful have you found it?

[NIN]

I'm unclear what you're describing with the term "pipelining." What is it and how useful have you found it?

Pipeline recruiting is described in the Cadet Great Start program guide and we've discussed it here several times.

It's been tremendously useful for us.  My unit has pipelined since January 2001. It has been a boon to retention,  unit admin, personnel & logistics ops, and has a number of hidden benefits too.

[Walkman]

We're starting to set up a new pipeline system for the unit. As we're just starting, we don't have anything in writing yet.

PM sent.

[Eclipse]

I would love to do it, have never been in a situation with enough new cadets to be able to.

It takes some planning as you need to have some concerted recruiting in advance of your evolutions.

[Garibaldi]

We have plenty but are running into the problem of keeping the ones we DO have interested. A lot of them come due to word of mouth from their friends, but don't stay long. We are rebuilding our AE program as well as enhancing the GS program in place. And the recent O-flight day didn't hurt things.

[NIN]

I would love to do it, have never been in a situation with enough new cadets to be able to.

It takes some planning as you need to have some concerted recruiting in advance of your evolutions.

Ah ha! Another pipelining myth!

More fodder! !

[Eclipse]

How do you pipeline cadets you don't have?

You can't make new cadets sit on the bench for 3-6 months while you wait for the next evolution to start.

I could totally see this working about a large recruiting event where yo let them know upfront that
"next cycle is in September" but don't see how it would work with random cadet wandering is as most do.

[Garibaldi]

How do you pipeline cadets you don't have?

You can't make new cadets sit on the bench for 3-6 months while you wait for the next evolution to start.

I could totally see this working about a large recruiting event where yo let them know upfront that
"next cycle is in September" but don't see how it would work with random cadet wandering is as most do.

And therein lies the problem. We don't "cycle"...wait, this is about pipe lining. Back to your regularly scheduled thread after this commercial endorsement...

[NIN]

We have plenty but are running into the problem of keeping the ones we DO have interested. A lot of them come due to word of mouth from their friends, but don't stay long. We are rebuilding our AE program as well as enhancing the GS program in place. And the recent O-flight day didn't hurt things.

This issue is certainly a problem, but isn't specific to pipeline recruiting. I think you'll see that pipelining has some ancillary benefits that can assist, but if your program isn't keeping them already, you've got another issue to address that pipelining won't fix.

[dwb]

How do you pipeline cadets you don't have?

You can't make new cadets sit on the bench for 3-6 months while you wait for the next evolution to start.

I could totally see this working about a large recruiting event where yo let them know upfront that
"next cycle is in September" but don't see how it would work with random cadet wandering is as most do.

That's the point. They're not "new cadets". They're potential recruits until the next enrollment period. Random cadets wandering in don't join right away.

If you run a pipeline in March and September, and someone visits in April, you give them the nickel tour, you get their contact info, and you call them in September when the enrollment period is opening.

Cadets join as a cohort, get trained together, and (hopefully) pin on C/Amn together.

[NIN]

How do you pipeline cadets you don't have?

You can't make new cadets sit on the bench for 3-6 months while you wait for the next evolution to start.

I could totally see this working about a large recruiting event where yo let them know upfront that
"next cycle is in September" but don't see how it would work with random cadet wandering is as most do.

You are right, you can't make new cadets sit on the bench. Well, more specifically, you don't make them sit on your bench.

The trick is that they're not new cadets until they join, and they don't join until the the pipeline is open.

Random cadet prospective member wandering in = 'trickle-in' recruiting.
Concentrated recruiting effort, joining window &  training cycle for new members = 'pipelining'

Honestly Bob, this is the biggest paradigm shift between trickle-in and pipelining and the reason why too many units won't do it.

I have detailed this journey a couple times here on CAP-Talk.

http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=16989
http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=1960.0 (especially: http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=1960.msg32869#msg32869)
http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=7753
http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=1708.msg27395#msg27395 (this talks about 2000/2001 and our pipelining start)

[Майор Хаткевич]

I've been all for it. Hell, even seniors. Ststus quo is hard to break.

[NIN]

I've been all for it. Hell, even seniors. Ststus quo is hard to break.

Yeah.   This is a difficult thing for units, especially units that are struggling to maintain numbers and get new members, to embrace.

It seems *tremendously* counterintuitive to what you're trying to do.

The biggest issue is "Well, what happens if the kid who wanted to join in mid-April doesn't come back in the fall?"

Nobody *wants* to turn away members.

If you're doing pipelining, the "inbetween" inquiries are actually pretty low.

[Eclipse]

Honestly Bob, this is the biggest paradigm shift between trickle-in and pipelining and the reason why too many units won't do it.

Agreed, but how many units are in a position to be telling anyone "come back in six months"?
And how many from that pile come back?
And assuming they do come back, how many have a big enough group waiting to have justified holding them off?

There's some chicken and egg here, not to mention a non-trivial critical mass issue that has to be overcome.

Not to mention the matter of artificially holding back a kid who could be two-clicks higher, or more, in progression
had they simply joined when the notion struck them.  That delay in progression could come back and be a retention
issue later.

I like the idea, and think it should be the standard CAP model.  If the whole organization was on the same clock,
things would be in much better synch on an annual basis then they are now - you'd have a mass of cadets all needing
encampment at the same time, progressing through leadership positions, and the whole program would
take on an air of "planned".

[NIN]

Agreed, but how many units are in a position to be telling anyone "come back in six months"?
And how many from that pile come back?
And assuming they do come back, how many have a big enough group waiting to have justified holding them off?

There's some chicken and egg here, not to mention a non-trivial critical mass issue that has to be overcome.

Not to mention the matter of artificially holding back a kid who could be two-clicks higher, or more, in progression
had they simply joined when the notion struck them.  That delay in progression could come back and be a retention
issue later.

I like the idea, and think it should be the standard CAP model.  If the whole organization was on the same clock,
things would be in much better synch on an annual basis then they are now - you'd have a mass of cadets all needing
encampment at the same time, progressing through leadership positions, and the whole program would
take on an air of "planned".

We started pipelining with 12 or 15 cadets showing up regularly and maybe 5 seniors.

The unit has been doing this for 13 years now.

The membership retention numbers are pretty steady, and we've consistently maintained 65-75 cadets on the books (peaks around 80), and 60-65 standing in formation, since at least 2003 or 2004. Across 4 commanders.

You need to create critical mass.

Trickling people in does not create critical mass.

[NC Hokie]

We started pipelining with 12 or 15 cadets showing up regularly and maybe 5 seniors.

The unit has been doing this for 13 years now.

The membership retention numbers are pretty steady, and we've consistently maintained 65-75 cadets on the books (peaks around 80), and 60-65 standing in formation, since at least 2003 or 2004. Across 4 commanders.

You need to create critical mass.

Trickling people in does not create critical mass.

Your first sentence basically describes my unit, minus a few cadets.  I'm willing to try pipelining, and I'd appreciate some answers to the following questions:

1) What months do you recommend starting pipelines in?

2) What are some of the hidden and ancillary benefits to pipelining that you've hinted at in this thread?

3) How do you define critical mass, and how does pipelining help achieve it?

4) What pipelining myth are you referring to in your reply to Eclipse's first post?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

[Spaceman3750]

Not to mention the matter of artificially holding back a kid who could be two-clicks higher, or more, in progression
had they simply joined when the notion struck them.  That delay in progression could come back and be a retention
issue later.

My theory on that would be that the cadet who is willing to wait until the next pipeline wants to be in CAP and will therefore not be a retention issue. The cadet who joins because the notion struck them is relatively likely to go two clicks and then quit because some other notion struck them.

My home unit is a "trickle-in" unit. For whatever reason, folks (seniors and cadets alike) tend to trickle-out at a similar rate. We balooned a couple of years ago, then shrank a bit and have basically had the same mass for about a year, while having a somewhat steady inflow of cadets (one a month maybe?).

[Eclipse]

My theory on that would be that the cadet who is willing to wait until the next pipeline wants to be in CAP and will therefore not be a retention issue. The cadet who joins because the notion struck them is relatively likely to go two clicks and then quit because some other notion struck them.

Maybe - or the kid who could Spaatz never joins because he finds something else that grabs his attention, or maybe just the couch.

I realize that most schools do it, most sports teams do it, etc.

I just don't see how it works in the current state of CAP.

It's also not just the cadets, you really need a separate pipeline staff.

I think it's a worthwhile experiment if you can gin up the people.

[Walkman]

In MIWG the largest squadron didn't exist three years ago. The CC grew it from zero doing pipelining. We did a great breakout session on pipelining and his Great Start on Steroids program for wing conference.

I've seen lots of posts on CT with concerns about the program, but I've yet to see anyone post that they tried it and it never worked over the long-term. Everyone that does it and keeps it going seems to get results.