Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Nolan Pennington | 190418-N-CO784-0001 DALLAS (April 18, 2019) Aviation Boatswain's Mate 1st Class McCord...... read more read more
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Story by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nolan Pennington, Navy Recruiting District Dallas Public Affairs
DALLAS (NNS) - As one of the largest Navy recruiting districts in the nation, with over 40 recruiting stations and nearly 200 recruiters, Navy Recruiting District (NRD) Dallas is a competitive environment for any recruiter to stand out among their peers.
Because of a large workforce filled with aspiring talent and experience, being seen as a top recruiter is extremely competitive at NRD Dallas. Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (ABE) 1st Class McCord Brickle, a native of Augusta, Georgia, stationed at Navy Recruiting Station (NRS) Lewisville, has been on a hot streak in recruiting, earning a multitude of awards, including NRD Dallas’ Sailor of the Year for fiscal year (FY) 2018. He easily attracts attention.
Brickle, now almost three years into his first tour of recruiting duty, arrived at NRD Dallas with the same recruiter training as every other recruiter in the nation. However, with his background serving aboard two aircraft carriers, USS Nimitz (CVN 68) and USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), he feels his experiences translate directly to his current role as Navy recruiter.
“An ABE has a really hard job,” said Brickle. “I think a strong work ethic is required to be successful out in the fleet. You must have a lot of tenacity, and you will succeed as long as you have the metal fortitude to push through those 14 to 18-hour work days.”
Brickle says his recruiting success is directly attributed to the mental fortitude, and strong work ethic he had to develop to get the job done.
Nevertheless, recruiting still presented challenges that took him time to overcome.
“It took me a solid year-and-a-half to feel confident in the processes of recruiting,” said Brickle. “My biggest ‘ah-ha’ moment was when I finally realized I had to develop my own tactics to recruit.”
“I remember I was doing a classroom presentation and it finally clicked that I should try something different,” said Brickle. “I stopped trying to sell these kids on Navy opportunities and started asking them what they wanted to accomplish.”
By changing his approach in recruiting, Brickle learned to communicate with his applicants, and he was better able to serve their interests and goals in joining the Navy.
“Once you get a person to open up, recruiting becomes easy,” said Brickle. “Each person is different. You have to tailor the Navy to each person’s needs and wants in life.”
Brickle says, that not all applicants are easy to get to open up but Brickle developed a new tactic when trying to push past a stale moment with an applicant.
“I am not flawless,” said Brickle, “I think it has happened to me on multiple occasions; where I will be talking to an applicant and I’ll be so focus on getting this person in the Navy that I missed something important by accident.”
“I’ve also learned it helps to have another recruiter there to bring a new perspective,” said Brickle. “There are more than a handful of people that have helped me tremendously at recruiting.”
It is important for most people to feel appreciated and recognized for the hard work required to finish a job, but for Brickle, that is not where he finds his gratification.
“It feels good knowing that I am doing my job and that it is seen and noticed, but I love having the satisfaction knowing that these kids are going to go out and do great things,” said Brickle. “I still have Sailors who I put in the Navy two-and-a-half years ago that come see me every time they come home to visit. It feels good knowing that I have had such an impact on them that they want to continue to check in with me and tell me how their doing in their careers.”
Brickle says he cares deeply about the people he talks to, and he wants to help them get the most out of life in whatever way he can.
“Having these high school kids say to me ‘thank you Petty Officer Brickle... you really helped me.’ That makes me feel good, and it gives me the feeling that I have done my job to help mentor them,” said Brickle.
Brickle has enjoyed recruiting so much that he is preparing to change his job and convert from an Aviation Boatswain’s Mate to Navy Career Counselor. He said he wants to continue helping others.
“Being an ABE is great. I love being on the flight deck and launching planes but I have done two deployments, been around the world and seen so many countries,” said Brickle. “I really like recruiting, I like helping people change their lives and achieve their goals. I want to be a Navy Career Counselor so I can continue to do I what I love.”
“I have loved my time in the Navy,” said Brickle. “I have really enjoyed the things I have done and the places I have seen, but I want to be able to encourage others to have these same positive experiences that I have had.”
For his recruiting efforts, Brickle was awarded two Navy Commendation Medals, four Heavy Hitter awards given for writing 12 contracts in three months, two Gun Slinger awards for writing 15 contracts in three months, Sailor of the Quarter for the third quarter of FY 2018, Warrior of the Quarter for the first quarter of FY 2019 for writing the most warrior challenge contracts, Recruiter of the Quarter for the first of FY 2019 and Recruiter of the Year for FY 2018.
NRD Dallas encompasses 150,000 square miles that includes North Texas and Oklahoma. For more information on NRD Dallas, visit: http://www.cnrc.navy.mil/dallas/
Navy Recruiting Command consists of a command headquarters, three Navy Recruiting Regions, 18 Navy Recruiting Districts and eight Navy Talent Acquisition Groups that serve more than 1,300 recruiting stations across the world. Their combined goal is to attract the highest quality candidates to assure the ongoing success of America’s Navy.
For more news from Commander, Navy Recruiting Command, go to http://www.cnrc.navy.mil. Follow Navy Recruiting on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NavyRecruiting), Twitter (@USNRecruiter) and Instagram (@USNRecruiter).
| Date Taken: | 04.18.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 04.18.2019 11:01 |
| Story ID: | 318649 |
| Location: | DALLAS, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 302 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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