Recruiting incentives

[RiverAux]

Right now if someone is an incredibly active recruiter they can get a ribbon for it after recruiting some people and if they're great they may also get sort of local award or maybe a Commanders Commendation.

However, recruiting is pretty hard work and I don't think a lot of people even consider doing anything other than talking to a few of their friends.  Of course, some will man recruiting booths at special events like airshows, but thats about it.

Since recruiting is so incredibly important to the future of CAP, should be do anything more tangible to reward those who focus on it? What can we do to encourage people to recruit?

Our options are very limited and the only thing I've come up with so far is to consider promoting people who are active recruiters.  Yes, I know it opens up a potential can of worms (why not promote active aircrew members? for example).  But, what I am thinking about is something like a 1 grade promotion for recruiting 10 members.  The member seeking the promotion would have to have met all the requirements except time in grade.  So, by essentially waiving the time in grade we have a way of really rewarding somebody without sacrificing any real quality in their CAP skills or abilities. 
 

[CAPOfficer]

Something like a discount on your yearly membership fees may be a grand idea.  It wouldn't have to be a 100% discount, just something, may be like 30%.  Further, the discount could be earned each membership year (or calendar year) in which a member recruits ten or more new members.  Fractions of the ten would be dropped at the end of each year (no carry overs).

[RiverAux]

Now that is even a better idea.   

[mikeylikey]

OR..... is anyone else still waiting on their "prizes" from previous recruiting drives from NHQ?  I think I am still owed a coffee mug and some pens from way back in 2000.

[♠SARKID♠]

But, what I am thinking about is something like a 1 grade promotion for recruiting 10 members.

Ehhh, not gonna agree with you on that one.  I have separate reasons that lead to the same conclusion.  For cadets, the rank system is there to teach leadership, teamwork, self discipline, and hard work.  For seniors members, the rank system is a status of skill, experience, and competency in CAP.  Thats why we give advanced grade for pilots, instructors, etc; because they have a higher level of understanding and ability prompting an increase in grade.  And as tough as recruiting is, I don't think its challenging enough to merit a commission like that.  If you start handing out promotions you're going to end up with people who have grade not befitting their skill level, experience, and long term input to the program.

Don't get me wrong, I fully support rewarding recruitment activities, but I don't think thats the way to do it.  I'm all for something like 10 recruits = a free o-ride, dues discount, vanguard gift cert, bottle of hennessy, etc.

Perhaps NHQ should push for more SMs to take the recruiting & retention specialty track.

[mikeylikey]

How about......the more total new members we recruit (as an organization) gets everyone's yearly dues bumped down a few percentage points.  Say we bring in 23,000 new members, only 12,000 leave in 2008, so for 2009 the yearly dues are decreased.

WHAT am I thinking......NHQ would suck even more $$ from us if they could.

[RiverAux]

SARKID, keep in mind that I said that the member would have to meet all requirements except time-in-grade -- so they would have done everything they needed to do to promote except drink coffee at some more meetings.  Frankly, whether you're a cadet or senior member, it takes a whole lot of leadership and initiative to recruit 10 members.  If someone does that I'd say they demonstrated some of the qualities we'd like to see. 

[mikeylikey]

^ The only people I have ever seen recruit 10 other members were those HUGE families that joined together and decided little Johny would get the recruiting prize.  That whole membership 2000 and 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 recruiting drives were skewed, and I am guessing those people recognized did something similar.  I know when I first joined as a Cadet, the SQD Commander wrote his name in the "which CAP member most got you to join block", even though I had never met the guy except the night I turned my app in.  Cadets do it all the time too.  They just take the members application, and write their name in.

[RiverAux]

How does a cadet get their hands on a membership application in the first place. 

But, you are right in that the same thing used to happen in our squadron with the personnel officer.  I think we would need some sort of check on the program to ensure that it is real recruiting effort that is rewarded. 

[AlphaSigOU]

As the admin/personnel officer for my squadron, many a cadet and/or senior member application has passed through me with the recruiting credit information blank. Ya, sure, I wouldn't mind the credit so I can put in for a recruiter ribbon, but I feel it would not be ethical for me to do so. So, if that space on the app comes to me blank, I'll fill in 'N/A' before I send it up to the commander or designee for signature.

[baronet68]

As the admin/personnel officer for my squadron, many a cadet and/or senior member application has passed through me with the recruiting credit information blank. Ya, sure, I wouldn't mind the credit so I can put in for a recruiter ribbon, but I feel it would not be ethical for me to do so. So, if that space on the app comes to me blank, I'll fill in 'N/A' before I send it up to the commander or designee for signature.

This is an refreshing example of Core Values in action and I salute you. 


Opening a can of worms here, but if you really want to see a boost in recruiting (especially among cadets), just authorize brightly-colored shoulder cords for recruiting:

Metallic Silver + Red = 10 members recruited,
Metallic Silver + Blue = 25 members recruited,
Metallic Gold = 50+ members recruited.

Generally speaking, CAP folks really LOVE bling and this would probably be more effective at increasing membership than NASCAR.   

[RiverAux]

Maybe the cadets would go for the shoulder cords, but I don't think the recruiting ribbon already authorized has shown to be of any real worth in this field. 

[AlphaSigOU]

Maybe the cadets would go for the shoulder cords, but I don't think the recruiting ribbon already authorized has shown to be of any real worth in this field. 

Nix on more 'deodorant strings'! (Lord knows, we have a boatload of 'em for cadinks in Texas Wing!)

I say get rid of the cadet recruiter ribbon and use only the senior recruiter ribbon as the generic CAP recruiter ribbon. Lower the minimum to get the ribbon to five (instead of the two for cadet and seven for senior currently) and award a first bronze clasp for an additional five; above that, make it every 10 recruited for additional clasps.

Unfortunately, this idea will probably stall out at the starting gate...

[jimmydeanno]

^ The only people I have ever seen recruit 10 other members were those HUGE families that joined together and decided little Johny would get the recruiting prize.  That whole membership 2000 and 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 recruiting drives were skewed, and I am guessing those people recognized did something similar.  I know when I first joined as a Cadet, the SQD Commander wrote his name in the "which CAP member most got you to join block", even though I had never met the guy except the night I turned my app in.  Cadets do it all the time too.  They just take the members application, and write their name in.

I guess you haven't seen me around then   Our last recruiting event, there was a 12 year old that came over for one of our balsa wood airplanes.  His 2 older brothers, grandfather and he joined after a nice conversation with me.  Over the last 3 years I can attribute probably 30 new members to joining because of my personal interaction with them.

As for incentives to get people to recruit more members...

Decreased membership dues is really the only one that I can really think of.  But perhaps an incentive to get people to join in the first place might be to offer discounted membership dues the first year - like 50% off.  Since it really takes about a year to realize what CAP actually is and what we really do it would help to relieve some of that initial hesitation of forking out a bunch of cash for your family to join.

[DNall]

I know this seems drastic for CAP, but what's wrong with paying people?

New members are paying dues. That's added income. If you recruit me 5 or 10 new members, it's a good business decision to pay a commission on that. Maybe that's in the form of discounted dues or merch gift certificates on the low end, and maybe it involves an actual check as you move up the scale.

Obviously this'd have to address the integrity issues above, but it'd also make that federal mail fraud if you did write in names after the fact.

[sparks]

The cadet recruiting ribbon is an inexpensive recognition of cadet recruitment. One other reward that has been tried is aircraft flights that weren't under the "O" ride program. Might even be a flight lesson if an instructor is included in the deal. That's a CAP instructo and airplane since renting something from an FBO would be expensive.
Keeping it cheap but unique will make other cadets take notice and possibly try to recruit themselves.
It's been said that organizations are either growing or shrinking, living or dying. I prefer the former.

[James Shaw]

My son earned a digital camera from NHQ a few years ago for recruiting 10 people in 1 quarter. He still has the camera and the ribbon. It was part of a recruitng drive.

I live in Albany GA and was at one time a member of Albany Composite Squadron. I was asked to help start a new squadron at a local middle school. I talked with some of the cadets from the squadron and worked with them on presenting different aspects of the CAP programs and benefits. Each of the cadets who wanted to participate then did their presentation. I had pre-printed the applications with the cadets name in the box and had them available. Each one wore a different uniform and did a great job. At the end of the program they were given a chance to talk with the cadets about their interests. They were offered a folder that all had the same recruiting material that NHQ offers. We also had some local pictures from ALbany Composite and some freebies from the local AF recruiter.

We then had a charter meeting a few weeks later and had 31 students join. I had 4 join and had previously recruited 5 and qualified for my recruiting award and the cadets combined  had 27 under their 3 belts. It was a great way  to start. I stayed the Commander for 3 years and eventually changed the Charter to a DDR Squadron. One of my "new cadets" from that squadron earned his Mitchell and is now joining the Marine Corps. He was in the Young Marines and CAP at the same time. his father would drive him 30 miles one way just to come to my squadron.

He called me a few weeks ago and was excited to tell me. His sister had also been one of my cadets and joined the military as well. His father is Retired AF E9 and his oldest sister is an AF Academy Grad. She is now a Captain. That recruiting ribbon is one of my favorite and best achievements because I had an impact in someone elses life. You cant ask for anything more!

[DNall]

That's a really cool personal story, but it isn't business sense translating to numbers on a national scale.

[SJFedor]

Coming from someone who just (10 min ago) forked over some more $$ to renew for the 8th time, I wouldn't mind seeing a bit of an incentive, especially a discount on membership, for recruiting people. Bling is a motivator, but saving $20 (especially to me, since $20 is beer soda and pizza money in college) would be an even bigger motivator.

[mikeylikey]

^ Congratulations and welcome, to the Eight-Timers CLUB!   

[IceNine]

Now take that a step further...

What about something like 100 members recruited makes you eligible for lifetime membership after 20 years

75, and $200
50 and $500

That makes it worth while for long time members.  Crap if I could stop paying dues for the rest of my life in 10 years, I'd bust butt to recruit another 75 members or so