{"id":2485,"date":"2018-03-12T22:58:44","date_gmt":"2018-03-12T22:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/?p=2485"},"modified":"2018-03-15T15:37:33","modified_gmt":"2018-03-15T15:37:33","slug":"md-recruiter-named-region-ii-winner-competes-in-national-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/2018\/03\/12\/md-recruiter-named-region-ii-winner-competes-in-national-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Recruiter leads on and off the field"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Article by Cpl. Elizabeth Scott, Maryland Public Affairs Office<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]\"\"<\/p>\n

Working at a fast food restaurant and living out of his car, Staff Sgt. Kim Kerschner, a recruiter from Co. A, Recruit and Retention Battalion, Maryland National Guard, works to change the life of this potential recruit.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said \u2018I need a job,\u2019\u201d recalled Kerschner. \u201c\u2018I\u2019m making $9.75 an hour and I need a job. I want a technical job.\u2019 I am trying to put him as an air traffic controller or doing something with IT.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enlisting in the Maryland National Guard allows someone to train how to do a job that they have no experience in currently. Service members can then use the training that the Army provides as a way to help get a job in that particular industry in the private sector.<\/p>\n

This past year, Kerschner exceeded her enlistment goal set by the Recruit and Retention Battalion. She was named the Director\u2019s Strength Maintenance Award Program’s Chief 54, the top recruiter for Maryland, because she exceeded her enlistment goal by recruiting 23 recruits when her goal was only 16 recruits for the year.<\/p>\n

In Maryland, Chief 54 is based on a percentage, rather than the number of recruits enlisted, said 1st Sgt. Tina Sievers, Co. A, Recruit and Retention Battalion. Each recruiter has a different goal based on their recruiting area.<\/p>\n

In Maryland, there were two other recruiters who made the competition a tight race just to be named Chief\u2019s 54 for Maryland, said Kerschner.<\/p>\n

She appeared before a board to compete in the National Guard SMAG Region II\u2019s competition against five other National Guard recruiters from Delaware, Virginia, Washington D.C., Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey look at your performance in front of the board, your appearance, your overall ship rate, and everything like that to represent the region in front of the national board,\u201d said Kerschner. \u201cThis was my first board outside of Army training, so I was nervous that I would forget something that I already know or mess up something simple.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKerschner is probably one of the hardest working, most dedicated individuals out there,\u201d said Sievers.<\/p>\n

Kerschner competed and triumphed against veteran Chief 54 winners in the National Guard SMAG Region II competition. She would then compete against the winners from the other six regions in the national competition. That competition is a two-day board, where the recruiters are grilled with questions, similar to a promotion board.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Though she didn\u2019t win the national competition, it was a tight competition, said Kerschner. Sgt. Deborah Elliot from the Colorado National Guard finished first in the National Competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very honored, and very proud that I was able to represent Maryland and Region II,\u201d said Kerschner.<\/p>\n

Kerschner was not a recruiter from the beginning of her military service. She originally ensted in the active Army because of her membership in the American Legion and the history of military service in her family. Her grandfather was in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, her father in the Marines, her sister in the Navy, and an uncle who served in the Marines and the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to also join because I wanted to have pride in something that I do,\u201d said Kerschner.<\/p>\n

She started her military career as a chaplain\u2019s assistant at Aberdeen Proving Ground for three years. She decided to leave active duty because she wanted to continue her education.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to get a degree,\u201d said Kerschner. \u201cI was really having a hard time going to school full time and working full time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerschner didn\u2019t know about the opportunities the National Guard could provide until she spoke to a career counselor in the transition assistance program.<\/p>\n

She joined the National Guard as a saxophone player in the 229th Army Band. She earned her Associates Degree from Anne Arundel Community College and is currently working on a bachelor\u2019s degree from American Military University in emergency and disaster management.<\/p>\n

Kerschner missed working full time for the military and reached out to Sievers to find out how to become a recruiter. Once there, she proved herself by working in a temporary position with Recruiting and Retention. After an interview, she became a recruiter for the Maryland Guard in October 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe lives and breathes recruiting,\u201d said Sievers. She\u2019s very passionate about her job, and she\u2019s very passionate about the Maryland Guard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerschner takes the time in her off-hours to help others. Since 2012, Kerschner balances her National Guard service with her service as a volunteer firefighter, EMT, and hazmat technician for Anne Arundel County and Prince George\u2019s County.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kerschner was selected to tryout as a goalie for the women’s Armed Forces Soccer Team in 2015. She has played soccer since she was five years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a goalie I get to be the leader on the field,\u201d said Kerschner. \u201cYou control how the team plays, because you can see the whole field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having the vision and leadership is not only evident in Kerschner\u2019s feelings of soccer, it\u2019s clearly evident in the way she recruits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get to change people\u2019s lives,\u201d said Kerschner. \u201cBeing able to serve as a recruiter I know that I am impacting someone\u2019s life.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Article by Cpl. Elizabeth Scott, Maryland Public Affairs Office[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text] Working at a fast food restaurant and living out of his car, Staff Sgt. Kim Kerschner, a recruiter from Co. A, Recruit and Retention Battalion, Maryland National Guard, works to change the life of this potential recruit. \u201cHe said \u2018I need a job,\u2019\u201d recalled Kerschner. \u201c\u2018I\u2019m  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":2486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2485"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2544,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2485\/revisions\/2544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}