Canadian Forces Recruiting

As part of a long-term strategy aimed at promoting Defence as a Career of Choice, the Department of National Defence continues to develop and implement innovative measures, which include:

• streamlining the Canadian Forces (CF) recruiting process;
• introducing new advertising concepts; and
• improving recruit training.

The Careers link on the National Defence site at http://www.forces.gc.ca or the Canadian Forces recruiting site http://www.recruiting.dnd.ca lists all available careers in each of the Navy, Army, Air Force and Reserves. A series of questions help applicants to determine their field of interest and to start the application process on-line through the Internet or the closest Canadian Forces Recruiting Centre. The benefits of on-line recruiting include:

• Efficiency. On-line applications will allow people to start the application process without visiting the recruiting centre, thereby speeding up the process.
• Reach. For those Canadians who do not reside near a recruitment centre or do not currently reside in Canada, on-line recruiting will provide a more effective means of applying to the Canadian Forces.
• Promotion. The series of questions on the recruiting site assist applicants to determine their field of interest as well as make potential recruits aware of the diversity and range of operations and services provided by the Canadian Forces.

The processing, selection and enrolment of high quality military members for the Department of National Defence is a major human resource and technological challenge. With the support of the National Defence On-Line (NDOL) Program, studies have been completed that clearly identified enhancements to the current Canadian Forces recruiting process. New programs are now underway to evaluate, select, and implement the technologies and processes necessary to move the system toward an end-to-end e-recruiting solution.

Some client-centric service characteristics being considered include:

• dynamic information access to allow an applicant to establish an on-line profile for comparison against existing opportunities;
• interactive on-line registration and response to an application; and
• status tracking for applicants to monitor the status of their application.

The shortage of skilled people is one of the biggest challenges facing the Canadian Forces, and addressing this recruiting and retention challenge is a key priority for the Department.

For more information contact the National Defence On-Line Program Manager