Photo By Austin Breum | Fire Controlman 1st Class Nicholas Hively is highlighted in this week's "Recruiter...... read more read more
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MILLINGTON, Tenn. (NNS) - Going through high school and into college, Nicholas Hively never really considered the Navy as an option, but at 26, his struggle of finding a job elsewhere eventually led him to Navy recruiters.
“I had been let go from a couple jobs during the recession and decided to join because I needed a job,” said Hively. “I walked into a recruiting station. I didn’t do anything special. I just needed a job. I walked in, signed up, went through the enlistment screening process and then moved on to boot camp about a year later.”
After joining the Navy, Hively felt he could breathe easier knowing he finally had job security. Hively knew he had made a good decision for himself, but he never thought his decision to join would help others find their path as well, until he found himself recruiting for the Navy.
“I was in Great Lakes for two years and had about a year of school,” said Hively. “Then I went to the [the amphibious assault ship] USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) for five years, and now I’ve been here for the last two years.”
Hively enlisted as a Fire Controlman and quickly earned the rank of petty officer 1st class. While the first part of his career was spent on the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge, his current assignment to the Personalized Recruiting for Immediate and Delayed Enlistment (PRIDE) office at Navy Recruiting Command (NRC) headquarters has sparked a different kind of passion. Hively said he loves helping people join the world’s greatest Navy.
“My first year here, I was working as a PRIDE operator, and now I’ve been the PRIDE leading petty officer (LPO) and it is very rewarding,” said Hively.
PRIDE is the department that assists Navy classifiers at Military Entrance Processing Stations give jobs to incoming Sailors. Data from applicants, including their Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) scores and education level, is uploaded into the PRIDE system to determine their eligibility for different jobs in the Navy.
“My job can be very complicated,” said Hively. “Much more than I ever expected. I’m in charge of the buying [job procurement] process. When classifiers out in the field call, I’m basically the overall authority on what jobs get bought and when they get bought. I handle all the special requests for people.”
Hively has led the effort of buying over 21,000 jobs for active-duty and Reserve Sailors. Adding to the challenges of this demanding job, he has come up with a “COVID office schedule” that allows for 100% PRIDE operator coverage and customer service to field classifiers while maintaining minimum in-office manning to mitigate possible spread of the coronavirus.
“He has been instrumental as the LPO of PRIDE,” said Master Chief Navy Counselor Jay Smith, Operations Chief Recruiter. “He’s been involved with Sailors getting MAPs [Meritorious Advancement Program] and being nominated for Sailor of the Quarter awards. He also has a huge impact across the nation, communicating weekly job availabilities to ensure the Navy gets the right Sailor at the right time. His training of his peers has increased customer service and the effectiveness of the PRIDE shop.”
Hively, like many others who have joined the Navy, never knew what to expect or where his journey would take him, but he said he’s grateful to have helped so many other Sailors along the way. Now he is looking forward to what opportunities may come next.
“I look forward to getting back out to the fleet,” said Hively. “I hope to be the LPO of a big deck like a LHD or a LHA [amphibious assault ships], preferably out on the West Coast.”
As the LPO for PRIDE, he is in charge of leading 12 Sailors, one civilian and he led one 1st class petty officer who was promoted to chief petty officer this year. He has executed quality control on over 21,000 job buys and he guaranteed $25 million in signing bonuses to future Sailors.
When reflecting on the Navy and what he has accomplished so far, Hively wants others to be able to experience the same pride in their work he has experienced while working in the Navy recruiting PRIDE department.
“I wish I would’ve done it sooner,” said Hively. “If I could talk to myself years ago, I would’ve told myself to join the Navy at 18 and not 26.”
Navy Recruiting Command consists of a command headquarters, three Navy Recruiting Regions, 26 NTAGs and 64 Talent Acquisition Onboarding Centers (TAOCs) that serve more than 1,000 recruiting stations around the world. Their mission 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: | 02.12.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 02.12.2021 14:45 |
| Story ID: | 389005 |
| Location: | MILLINGTON, TN, US |
| Web Views: | 749 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Recruited Later in Life, Sailor Takes PRIDE in Recruiting Others, by Austin Breum, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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