The Defence Force has been annoying me lately which is strange since i don’t have anything to do with it these days and there is little need for it here in sleepy hollow but it is succeeding never the less. For those that don’t know i spent 14 years in the Army, mostly reserves but with two call ups to the regular army. For some of the time i was posted as a Defence Force Recruiter and when i moved on, the job followed me to my new posting so i was well versed on how to do a professional display, how to conduct yourself, dealing with difficult visitors (think anti war hippie in the middle of your careers display) and generally do the best chance of getting people to take an interest and maybe join.

So how is it annoying me now? I have twice in the last week seen recruiting displays set up in my travels around town and at a careers expo (which was in itself crap) and as a recruiter i was disappointed. The displays themselves were good with interesting stuff but the people running them seemed a little disappointing as instead of presenting an open face that encourages people to come over they were standing in small groups that were not inviting to the casual observer. Interupting a group of people, especially those in uniform can be daunting and more so in uniform. Its a shame because the defence force is facing a competitive job market and if they aren’t going to do whatever they can then they will miss out. I guess too it just wasn’t the standard that was expected when i was in the job.