Apply for a post office job, get recruited
The U.S. Navy is apparently taking out ads in newspapers recruiting sailors. Problem is, it's not an ad for the Navy. A television station in San Diego responded to an ad for firefighters placed in the San Diego Union-Tribune, and found out the ad was for Navy recruiters.
The story continues: "Navy recruiters would not go on camera for this story, instead they gave 10News a written statement saying their recruitment ads 'meet all Navy guidelines for integrity' and 'callers are in complete control.'"
The "firefighters" ad published in the Union Tribune offers "Paid training with excellent benefits. Paid relocation to HS diploma grads. Ages 17-34." (17-34 being, conveniently enough, the Navy's enrollment age requirements.)
It also appears this is not the only location, or type of "blind ad," that the Navy has run. According to San Diego 10News: "Navy recruiters tell us they also run similar ads for law enforcement, electrical and construction jobs in other cities."
A news station in Boston found that responses to an ad seeking dockworkers were answered by the Navy.
According to WCVB reporters, "'The Navy has found that it's cost-effective and it reaches the market that they're trying to reach," said Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke in a statement for the Navy. "[Blind ads are] widely used by industry. They get inquiries without generating bias towards the employer."
It seems to me pulling a bait-and-switch with military recruitment is much more likely to "generate bias" than it is to reel in happy new sailors.
