Expert: James Bell - 9/10/2007

Question
My son wants to join the USAF. I served, his Grandfather served and his Grandmother served 2 tours in Vietnam.  His recruiter is saying that he can't get a guaranteed career. First he said he had to chose an area, now he says he has to pick the Top 5 careers.  I see on the Internet that it is possible but this recruiter says it's not.  He tested overall 85 on the ASVAB.  What do we need to do to get a guaranteed career??Chris


Answer
Greetings Chris -

I never want to say a recruiter stretches the truth or tells falsehoods, but what your son has been told is a bold faced lie.  Your son is most certainly allowed to demand a guaranteed job.  I went in with a guaranteed job reservation, and went in as an aircraft loadmaster.

Getting people to sign up using the techniques you described is very common.  They say the only way to get a particular job that you want is to go in under a type of "open" contract that encompasses the field you want.  Of course, the desirable jobs are rarely vacant, while the less desirable ones always seem plentiful.  You can imagine which job he would be given.

If your son has a particular job he wants (as in the AFSC ... Air Force Specialty Code [my loadmaster AFSC was 1A2x1]), he needs to have his recruiter show him the posting of available openings.  My recruiter tried to push jobs on me that had hundreds of openings (of course ... no one wanted to do them).  But, my mother didn't raise a fool, and I stood firm for the job I wanted.  They only had three openings ... I took the one that was a few months away, and thus began my 24-year career.  It would have been substantially shorter if I had been forced into a job I didn't like.

I hope this answers your question.  Good luck on your son's quest to get a good job.

Sincerely,
James Bell