The US Army’s path to virtual recruiting

Abstract

The US Army is currently undergoing a multi-year process of adopting virtual techniques to recruit its target market. When the world pivoted to social isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Army easily adapted to the new environment. The US Army Recruiting Command, responsible for marketing the Army and processing new recruit packets, focused on leveraging virtual tools, social media intelligence analysis, and adapting its traditional culture of in-person recruiting to a more online, story-centric and visual content recruiting effort. The COVID environment expedited the expansion of virtual recruiting practices from just marketing to include most of the job application process, traditionally completed in-person. The result is an engaged online following that is reaching the target audience who are eligible for military service. The Army achieved its personnel end-strength goal for fiscal year 2020 despite closing 1,400 physical recruiting stations for two weeks, reopening less than 1 per cent through the summer and cancelling nearly all physical recruiting events. The Army also demonstrated its adaptation to virtual recruiting by digitally processing eligible civilians into the military while taking care of its existing force by adhering to nationwide social distancing mandates.