MILWAUKEE -- Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Hohmann didn't like recruiting during his first tour between 1999 and 2002. So when he got orders to report to recruiting school again in 2005, he fought them. He was convinced the orders were a mistake since he had already completed a tour. He lost the fight.
"When I went back to school, the training was new. Recruiting was no longer sales; it focused on one's personal Army story," Hohmann said.
The new approach instructed recruiters to incorporate their unique experience into the Army message. Recruiters would think of themselves as career counselors and bear witness to the effect of joining the Army, he said.
Hohmann started his second tour with the Milwaukee Recruiting Battalion at a time when it was transitioning to team recruiting. Although everyone was still working through the kinks of restructuring, Hohmann said the working atmosphere was improved.
"We were now looking at what strengths a recruiter brought to the team," he said.
After two years of recruiting under this concept, Hohmann made the conversion and opened himself to greater leadership opportunities. He has now been a station commander for nearly three years. He currently oversees 10 recruiters in Green Bay and Shawano.
"I enjoy recruiting. I love staying busy and changing people's lives," Hohmann said. "That is why I converted."
People are changed when they join the Army and he said being able to see that is a privilege he doesn't take for granted.
"I also enjoy working with noncommissioned officers and leading them, which is harder in recruiting," Hohmann said.
As a former infantry squad leader, Hohmann said its tougher leading recruiters. In this working environment he has to direct his subordinates in more subtle ways.
"I truly lead by example and do not sit in the station commander's office. My goal on a daily basis is to spend less than 20 minutes in the station commander's office in the back," Hohmann said.
He prefers to sit next to recruiters and work alongside them doing what they're doing. He'll go with recruiters to their appointments or help process applicants, even drive them to the Military Entrance Processing Station.
"I have found that this really motivates recruiters. They see that I'm willing to lead beside them and not cordon myself off in a corner. It's a 'we' concept. We're not individuals working alone," Hohmann said.
As a result of his daily involvement with recruiters, Hohmann has a greater awareness of what's going on and how recruiters are meeting their objectives. He's also able to provide better guidance to his recruiters as the senior recruiter.
But it's not just Hohmann who provides input. Every month and quarter, he leads a round table discussion where all his recruiters identify each other's strengths and weaknesses. He also offers recruiters the opportunity to provide him feedback as a leader - good or bad.
"I started this round table as an experiment to openly discuss their problems. At first they all thought it was crazy but since then we've been able to get rid of issues and work together," Hohmann said.
At the conclusion of each round table, Hohmann publishes a plan that outlines strengths and weaknesses of each recruiter, challenges they are encountering and how to move forward. Every aspect of the mission from processing applicants to countering the other services' presence in schools is identified and assigned to recruiters for action.
"I collect this information and then disseminate it to everyone. There are a lot of working parts to this team so everyone needs to know what each is doing. This is what makes us a winning team and it's what keeps Soldiers motivated," Hohmann said.
The Milwaukee Recruiting Battalion selected Hohmann as the station commander for the month of January in support of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command's "Year of the Station Commander" campaign. The battalion recruits with integrity quality young men and women into the Army and Army Reserve in Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula Michigan, and Northwestern Illinois.
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