HR Industry News

Army criticised over recruitment campaign

— 8 January 2008 —

The military is painting a misleading picture of life in the army, according to a new report published by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

The Trust claims that advertising and literature produced by the army glamorises life in the forces, stating that nearly half of all soldiers surveyed felt that army life to be worse than expected. 20% of all soldiers also wanted to leave the army at the earliest available opportunity.

The report also accuses the MoD of targeting children, partly through social networking and specialist sites.

Published alongside a new website, www.beforeyousignup.com, “Informed Choice” aims to give “independent and fair information about the benefits, risks and terms of a service of a career in the armed forces”. It goes on to underline the army’s failure to highlight legal obligations – namely that minors who stay with the army for longer than six months have no legal right to leave for four years.

The report makes a number of recommendations, including a new Charter to set out the state’s responsibilities, and an overhaul of recruitment literature and advertising.

The Trust also urges the army to cut back on its recruitment of minors. The UK is alone in the EU in its recruitment of 16-year-olds. The Trust claims that this recruitment is often carried out without the adequate safeguards and even without meeting the parents.

These findings go to show the importance of employers giving a clear and unequivocal picture of what it is like to work for an organisation. By all means companies should show their organisation in the best light. However they have to be careful not to go too far. Misleading information will not only lead to a disenchanted workforce, impacting on the business bottom line via reducing service lengths and increasing recruitment costs.Nick Thomson, Ceridian

Del.icio.us Digg Newsvine Reddit Technorati Google