Army’s new AI tool helps target qualified prospects

A new artificial intelligence tool is helping the Army refine its recruitment process, as the service continues to overhaul the way it brings in new recruits amid recruiting troubles that have plagued the service for more than a decade.

The new tool enables recruiters to analyze massive data sets — it combs through over 30 million applicant files and uses 1,700 different variables to generate highly refined prospect lists. The goal is to filter the data and identify individuals who have already shown a propensity for or interest in joining the service.

With the new tool in their arsenal, recruiters can shift away from traditional cold-calling techniques that often yield low success rates and use that time to engage more with prospects who are more likely to enlist.

Dubbed Recruit 360, the initiative is currently being tested in five cities. Maj. Gen. Johnny Davis, the Army Recruiting Command commanding general, said while the initiative has been operational for just two months, early results indicate a significant shift in the way recruiters connect with potential applicants. 

“It’s changing the way we do business and the way our recruiters connect,” Davis said during the AUSA event on Tuesday.

“Anytime you sit there with the list – it’s not fun for anybody. It just eats up a lot of time and it really can weigh on the recruiter. Let’s get away from that, and let’s refine this using AI so that those that we do call show propensity and show interest in service to the nation,” said Davis.

The service has long struggled to meet its recruitment targets, but things could turn around for the Army in 2024. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth previously said she is “feeling a lot better” about recruiting this year, partly due to the success of the future soldier prep course — nearly 27,000 recruits have gone through the program in the last two years and went on to become soldiers upon graduation. 

Additionally, Brig. Gen. Antoinette Gant, who leads the Army enterprise marketing office, said her team recently launched updates to the service’s official recruiting website, GoArmy.com, to improve user experience by offering features such as live chats with recruiters, online question submissions, and the ability to request callbacks from Army personnel.

“It is no longer the antiquated system of what it was previously.  It is now in the cloud,” said Gant. 

“It provides a better user experience. If [prospects] want to text, they can actually text a recruiter or our center to be able to ask them a question in regards to their journey and if they want someone to actually call them back. Having these things to work hand in hand together, I think, has allowed us so much more synergy, so much more energy in actually being able to touch and truly connect with our prospect audience.”

Expanding the targeted market

With high school graduates no longer representing the bulk of Army recruits, the marketing office is now expanding its focus to include older applicants —  those between the ages of 19 and 28.

The average age of recruits is now 22, and the trend is expected to continue — Secretary Wormuth said she wants to increase the percentage of recruits coming from this expanded market — not just from high schools – to 33% by 2028. 

“The high school market that we’re used to is shrinking, so we’re going to have to expand,” said Davis. “We’re going to have to understand where the market is and then transform to that market. Those who are established, who are out of school, we really want them to consider service in the Army.”

As for the fiscal 2024 recruitment goal, Davis said the service is “starting to see a wonderful momentum.” 

“I don’t want to get ahead of the Secretary of the Army, who’s going to make an announcement here very soon, but our Army is in a really good place for fiscal year 2024.”

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