Not seen a recruitment ad for ages

[Ayrey]

Hi,

Am I the only person that hasn't seen a Royal Marine recruitment ad in over a year?

You see all these Army recruitment ads, but none for the RM's.

Have the RM's hit recruitment targets this year, or are they still short?

[Dangermouse]

They used to have that 99.9% percent need not apply malarky, but from what I gathered the Marines/MOD believed that it backfired by putting people off. Havent seen or heard one for a while either.

[fodd]

They used to have that 99.9% percent need not apply malarky, but from what I gathered the Marines/MOD believed that it backfired by putting people off. Havent seen or heard one for a while either.

yeah but in my eyes if it puts people off from an advert there not the right calibre for royal they should want to be the best

[Alfa]

Yeah but the problem is if it puts everyone off joining then there won't be a Royal Marines anymore so if recruitment was down because of it then they have to pull that particular advert.

I think it was the water tunnel advert that was the controversial one, I think the reason it put people off as it made it look like your life was being put in danger just going through an obstacle course (the bit where he gets his leg caught) it may have looked good to some but given most people probably have a fear of drowning it probably wasn't the smartest idea especially as the real thing is nothing like it.

I just saw a video though which made me laugh, reading this topic made me think of it, it's aimed at Australians but it very definately would apply to the UK too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4l5TJD9-dQ

[Beowulf]

I don't think they are necessary. There seems to be plenty of potential recruits coming through from all types of places without advertisement so why bother? I agree with Fodd it's about getting the right chaps though the door.

Good luck to us all!

[kevin916]

Yeah, there hasn't been a recruitment ad for a while now. Here's the link to the t.v. ad that was presented a while ago with the ridiculously long water tunnel if anyone hasn't seen it already.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=IUcaM_0ztbM

Living in Glasgow though they did actually have some recruitment ads stuck up in the subway trains about a month ago.

I read that the Royal Marines and the Parachute Regiment get more applicants than required anyway hence the lack of adverts...?

[Polynikes]

I read that the Royal Marines and the Parachute Regiment get more applicants than required anyway hence the lack of adverts...?

Don't know about that... Word on the street is all those booked to go on RT on the 28th of May have been moved to the 11th of June because of a lack of recruits. Ah, here we go...

Butch wrote - "I've just found out that the troop due to start on the 28th May has been cancelled due to a lack of recruits. I've just been moved on to the 11th June recruit troop. Looks like it will be packed with lads from here."

Can't be too may people applying / passing the tests...

[fodd]

I read that the Royal Marines and the Parachute Regiment get more applicants than required anyway hence the lack of adverts...?

Don't know about that... Word on the street is all those booked to go on RT on the 28th of May have been moved to the 11th of June because of a lack of recruits. Ah, here we go...

Butch wrote - "I've just found out that the troop due to start on the 28th May has been cancelled due to a lack of recruits. I've just been moved on to the 11th June recruit troop. Looks like it will be packed with lads from here."

Can't be too may people applying / passing the tests...

mate when i was a nod this was happening my original troop was 872 but we only had 28 of us so they emalgrinated us with 873 who only had 29 i think end of day moaning about the adverts being to aggresive and putting people off is bull and a excuse!!!!! like i said earlier softening the adverts will attract the wrong calibre of man to the corps! not applying for royal beceause the advert looks to tough is pathetic i rest my case
endex

[Polynikes]

I agree… Not applying for Royal Marines because the advert looks too tough is a bit pathetic. But I wasn’t moaning about the adverts… And I don’t mind if the adverts do put people off… My point was that there don’t seem to be that many recruits.

They have to integrate 2 troops to make 1. I wouldn't have thought that that was normal.

The below was written on the 11 may, about foOqs PRMC.

“got back today.. with a pass.. only 20 on the course so pretty small.”

So when someone says that the Royal Marines get more applicants than required… In my opinion, it seems a little bit strange. That’s all.

[Butch]

Hey folks. Further to what Polynikes stated above, there were only 25 boys booked down to start RT on the 28th but I'm not sure how many have been moved to the 11th intake. If everyone has been shifted to the 11th, that suggests that numbers for that troop would have been mega low as well. I'm not sure how much adverts etc have an effect on recruitment numbers, and, I, like Fodd, am also of the view that the right type of man will be attracted to the corps regardless. I'd like to see how the boys who are put off by the water tunnel ad would cope when they're piss wet though on Woodbury or Dartmoor and it's icers.

[Ayrey]

I remember originally applying back in 2005 and there were a fair number of ads on TV for the Royal Marines. The local AFCO was moderately busy and my application went quite quickly.

This time round, each time I have been to the AFCO it has been empty and the chief petty officer has been fantastic, asking me to get an application in as soon as possible, etc.

It's strange to hear that they are having to combine troops to make up the numbers.

Is this purely down to people not being up for the challenge these days and opting for Uni instead?

[Dangermouse]

Is this purely down to people not being up for the challenge these days and opting for Uni instead?

[Ayrey]

That came out wrong... is it because people are put off by the ads, or because it's much easier to go to Uni instead?

[druadan]

God knows...seen a lot of adverts in toilets (you know, on the poster boards they have), mainly in studenty places in Pompey. Don't know if that's localised or nationwide tho, obviously targetting graduates. Bad move if you ask me, unless you've decided you want to join the Corps before you went to uni, you're not gonna go to uni then decide you want to join to make £12k instead of the £18k upwards you've been looking forward to for three years study.

[Macca]

When i went for my RT briefing on Friday i was told that one of the troops that were due to start RT in June have been cancelled due to lack of numbers.