Military Recruiting

Based on indications of increased difficulty in meeting recruiting goals, in spring 1994 the Army Chief of Staff and the Deputy of Secretary of Defense asked RAND to examine recent trends in the recruiting market and to assesss their implications for meeting accession requirements. An initial examination of the 1994 market concluded that the pool of interested high-quality young men was adequate to meet DoD needs. But the system appeared to be less effective in tapping into this supply of potential enlistees. The longer-term analysis, reported here, confirms the reduced effectiveness of recruiting, and also finds that the significant increase in FY97's accessions required to sustain the postdrawdown force, coupled with a smaller decline in youth's interest in military service, translates into a possible supply shortage.

Explores how military service can be made more compatible with college plans instead of being perceived as an alternative to attending college.

Explores how military service can be made more compatible with college plans instead of being perceived as an alternative to attending college.

Decribes RAND's evaluation of the performance of the first year of operation of a prototype marketing-enchanced recruting station located in Potomac Mills outlet mall in Northern Virigina

This book will appeal to persons interested in national security issues and, more specifically, to those who may want to know more about the manpower and recruiting problems facing the military of the future. The authors come from a wide variety of backgrounds and academic disciplines--including economics, political science, psychology, sociology, operations research, education, and public administration. This book will also appeal to persons interested in human resource issues beyond the military, as well as those interested in tracking trends in the labor force, public opinion, education, youth attitudes, or society in general.

The authors estimate an econometric model of high-quality enlistment supply using geographically disaggregated data from two periods.

Develops improved econometric analysis methods for evaluating whether military advertising has been effective in increasing the numbers of high-quality enlistments in the services and illustrates the methods using data from the early 1980s and mid-1990s.

This report focuses on the factors affecting the supply of information technology personnel to the active duty enlisted force, and the findings point to the conclusion that the IT training opportunities offered by the millitary can help secure the supply of IT personnel over the long haul.