Reply #143: Correction: recruiters do NOT work on commission

[MADem]

All recruiters in the field get, in addition to their salaries which are based on their paygrade, what is called SDAP (special duty assignment pay) and it truly is not worth the hassle--you do just as well with isolated duty pay, sea pay, or overseas allowances. They get reimbursed if they buy a kid a meal or a coke, as well.

Most recruiters are NOT volunteers. They choose people who are on a career track, who have a very good record in their chosen specialty, and force them to do a salesman's job, under pain of losing all they have invested thus far in their careers. There is a small group of "career recruiters" but these people are a very small minority of the total recruiting force. Most recruiters have regular operational or support jobs in their respective service, and in order to learn the game, they are sent to a crash course in recruiting prior to assuming their jobs.

Recruiters ARE on "quota" though. If they do not make their quota, they are ordered to work harder, and threatened with bad evaluations that can affect their promotion potential as well as their follow-on assigments when they are finally freed from the slavery of recruiting.

What you see coming out of recruiters is a combination of fear and desperation on their part, engendered by harsh supervision from their superiors, which produces a "say ANYTHING" sales technique.