Under New Minister, Recruitment Continues to Struggle

[Sopo]

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"Under New Minister, Recruitment Continues to Struggle"
Sopo
Deputy Editor
Op-Ed

Since being confirmed by the Senate 10 days ago on October 13, Minister of Recruitment Bri Shakespeare has already faced sharp criticism over the status of recruitment in Europeia. Bri is the third minister of recruitment this term, following the unfortunate resignations of Carathetopia and Snowball earlier in the term. Given the amount of turnover, Bri is facing a monumental task: turn around consistently tepid recruitment numbers and build Europeia's population back up after falling from over 1,000 nations to (currently) 847 in the past year.

Five days after his initial confirmation by the Senate, Senator Calvin Coolidge pointed out that Minister Bri had not logged onto the forum since the previous Saturday, which was during the confirmation hearing. First Minister Pichtonia came to Bri's defense, pointing out that "Bri is indeed around and I've talked to him daily. His forum activity has never been to the standard of many of us active forum users and that's something we've tackled through various means in the last term and will try to get into again this time around." Bri himself noted that the ministry needed a lot of work and that he had been in talks "behind the scenes" to get things up and running.

We are now ten days out from the good minister's confirmation, and the situation is looking rather bleak. Despite an upbeat opening address on Saturday, October 19, only 59 telegrams have been sent between two recruiters (Maowi and Xecrio) since the new recruiting week began that same day. Perhaps most shocking is that, since taking office, Minister Bri has not sent a single recruitment telegram. While the minister reassured the public both in the Grand Hall and in his opening address, it appears that the minister has not yet turned his words into actions.

First Minister Pichtonia, meanwhile, has also faced increasing criticism over the status of the ministry this term. In the aforementioned Grand Hall thread, Deputy Chief of State HEM laid the criticism over recruiting squarely at Pichtonia's feet: "For what it's worth, I think the criticism in this thread, to the extent it's deserved, probably should've been directed to the First Minister more than the newly-minted Minister. I love Pichtonia, but we're not struggling in recruitment because Bri needs a week to get up and running (very typical and normal). We're struggling because we've been struggling all term."

With less and less time remaining, the first minister and the minister of recruitment will need to step it up in order to turn things around this term.

 

[Sopo]

Addendum: Bowzin has had a pending application to become a recruiter since October 16.

 

[Bowzin]

Addendum: Bowzin has had a pending application to become a recruiter since October 16.

Comment 1: I hate your signature
Comment 2: I've made it! But for real, I realize there was some turnover and was waiting patiently to be accepted, but after being confirmed, I had expected Bri to go through the applications thread.

 

[Pichtonia]

I have also addressed this a bit in the recent weekly wrap-up:

There has been some criticism surrounding the whole recruitment Ministry and my efforts in that regard. And I understand it: Throughout this term, there hasn't been done enough. If we want to grow our region, our TG numbers need to be higher each week.

To counter this, I have continuously made sure to knock on our Minister's door: Every Minister - Cara, Snowball and Bri - received instructions from me. And we proactively made sure that there would not be a difficult transition in the Ministry, which has shown off: For both resignations, we had a new nominee ready within 24 hours. Last week, I even tried to recruit and motivate recruiters myself. But sometimes efforts are just fruitless. If they don't want to recruit that week or don't have the time to do it, you can't force anyone. To loosen this Gordian knot, it's vital we try new things once more.

Last term, Bri's Race to 2020 was a huge hit at first. So we'll learn from that (and the things that weren't such a hit) and try to invent new initiatives. Bri has already worked hard on this and discussed it not only with me, but with other Ministers as well.

Of course, this doesn't disarm every criticism from this article and thread. I am discussing any and all concerns with Bri.

Bowzin, I am very unhappy your application hasn't been dealt with and apologize wholeheartedly. I added you on the forums, discord and NS, so you are good to go, and I hope the Ministry and myself can assist you if you have any questions about recruiting.

 

[Sopo]

I have also addressed this a bit in the recent weekly wrap-up:

There has been some criticism surrounding the whole recruitment Ministry and my efforts in that regard. And I understand it: Throughout this term, there hasn't been done enough. If we want to grow our region, our TG numbers need to be higher each week.

To counter this, I have continuously made sure to knock on our Minister's door: Every Minister - Cara, Snowball and Bri - received instructions from me. And we proactively made sure that there would not be a difficult transition in the Ministry, which has shown off: For both resignations, we had a new nominee ready within 24 hours. Last week, I even tried to recruit and motivate recruiters myself. But sometimes efforts are just fruitless. If they don't want to recruit that week or don't have the time to do it, you can't force anyone. To loosen this Gordian knot, it's vital we try new things once more.

Last term, Bri's Race to 2020 was a huge hit at first. So we'll learn from that (and the things that weren't such a hit) and try to invent new initiatives. Bri has already worked hard on this and discussed it not only with me, but with other Ministers as well.

Of course, this doesn't disarm every criticism from this article and thread. I am discussing any and all concerns with Bri.

There are a number of simple things we used to do that we've stopped doing: custom Discord emojis, contests to change someone's avatar, recognizing top recruiters on a regular basis... while these things are not the end-all-be-all, I do think they motivated people to recruit week to week. Right now it feels like the most we've had is reminding people to recruit without giving them any reason to do so. And, of course, you need an active and engaged leader who's out there promoting these things regularly and recruiting themselves.

I'll admit that I haven't been paying a great deal of attention to this sector of the region to know what, if anything, the previous two ministers did, but these are a few basic starting points that would help get the ball rolling again--not everything needs to be a big dramatic production. If Bri has really spent this whole time coordinating behind the scenes, that time definitely would just have been better spent recruiting.

 

[Pichtonia]

There are a number of simple things we used to do that we've stopped doing: custom Discord emojis, contests to change someone's avatar, recognizing top recruiters on a regular basis...

Slowing the avatar changing contests was actually something I asked the Ministers to do last term, because at that time, it was used a bit much. Culture then continued to do them sometimes and Recruitment changed to the Race to 2020, which I think worked well.

So that is fully on me.

But I agree with your arguments otherwise. Particularly because leading by example is something I have long been an advocate for. As I said, we will earnestly discuss all concerns and I expect that there will be visible progress, starting this week.

 

[Olde Delaware]

Don't worry Sopo, tomorrow is always a 'New Day'.

 

[Whitmark]

The bad shape of Recruitment is the proof of Pichtonia’s bad leadership and overwhelming mediocrity.

Bri Shakespeare is an all talk/no action Europeian and political servant, he has been elected in the ECP several times promising a lot of changes and has not done a single thing, he himself has recognized this fact, even if Pichtonia comes into his defense as always.

Bri Shakespeare’s political career started on the Ministry of Recruitment under my watch and was severely mediocre, I never saw future in him, I had never seen a Deputy Minister literally disappeared for weeks and giving excuses and excuses that “was out of the country without internet”, when I was Ministry of Interior under Lloenflys the region nows I bought a data plan to stay online during my 20-day trip in Europe. To continue with Bri’s history, even when he was back home he recruited very little; numbers showed he did very poorly recruiting as Deputy Minister of Recruitment recruiting between 15-30 nations per week, if he recruited at all. That’s mediocre. Off course our fabulous Pichtonia after sacking me, rewarded Bri’s mediocrity and short career in Euro promoting him. Here the Ministry started to slow down because of Bri’s lack of leadership, lack of engagement, lack of energizing the recruiters, lack of posting the updates and advances of the recruitment status, lack of everything frankly. If you are too busy with RL step down, but don’t occupy a Ministry with your idleness. Fact of the matter half of the term Bri disappeared from the public eye, no announcements and if any were very short, much shorter than mine, and lacking content. Off course our fabulous First Minister will tell you this is a lie and that Bri was doing great, as great as he is doing in the ECP were he has done NOTHING. Truth is now the region is aknowedging the Ministry has been Suffering because of Pichtonia’s very inactive picks.

After the term ended. Pichtonia picked Cara to replace Bri, Cara a rising star in the region, at least I was hopeful. Cara had showed work in the past, a big difference with Bri’s constant excuses and mediocrity. I had big expectations with Cara, she recruited in big numbers during my terms in Interior and Recruitment but real life drag her out of Europeia. It’s a fact she as Minister of Recruitment didn’t do announcements, updates, or energizing recruiters. Again, Pichtonia comes in her defense but facts are facts and the numbers are there. The shape of the Ministry shows this inactiveness. In consequence the numbers were mediocre. Mediocre as Pichtonia’s leadership. I am not mad at Cara as Pichtonia likes to point out, I’m mad at the fact that she was an inactive Minister for a WHOLE MONTH and she was not sacked as others. Same as Bri, who did a poor job and got disappeared half of his first term and not only no resignation, he got nominated again. LOL!!!!!!

For the sake of the circumstances regarding Snowball I will ignore his brief term, at least he approached recruiters and tried to reenergize the Ministry. He would have been great. But he couldn’t continue in the job for the reasons we all know.

To show again his mediocre leadership, Pichtonia nominated the inactive, the lack of ideas, the excuses for all, Bri Shakespeare and here we are.

Thank you Pichtonia for having Europeia’s Recruitment Ministry in this shape.

 

[Olde Delaware]

The bad shape of Recruitment is the proof of Pichtonia’s bad leadership and overwhelming mediocrity.

Bri Shakespeare is an all talk/no action Europeian and political servant, he has been elected in the ECP several times promising a lot of changes and has not done a single thing, he himself has recognized this fact, even if Pichtonia comes into his defense as always.

Bri Shakespeare’s political career started on the Ministry of Recruitment under my watch and was severely mediocre, I never saw future in him, I had never seen a Deputy Minister literally disappeared for weeks and giving excuses and excuses that “was out of the country without internet”, when I was Ministry of Interior under Lloenflys the region nows I bought a data plan to stay online during my 20-day trip in Europe. To continue with Bri’s history, even when he was back home he recruited very little; numbers showed he did very poorly recruiting as Deputy Minister of Recruitment recruiting between 15-30 nations per week, if he recruited at all. That’s mediocre. Off course our fabulous Pichtonia after sacking me, rewarded Bri’s mediocrity and short career in Euro promoting him. Here the Ministry started to slow down because of Bri’s lack of leadership, lack of engagement, lack of energizing the recruiters, lack of posting the updates and advances of the recruitment status, lack of everything frankly. If you are too busy with RL step down, but don’t occupy a Ministry with your idleness. Fact of the matter half of the term Bri disappeared from the public eye, no announcements and if any were very short, much shorter than mine, and lacking content. Off course our fabulous First Minister will tell you this is a lie and that Bri was doing great, as great as he is doing in the ECP were he has done NOTHING. Truth is now the region is aknowedging the Ministry has been Suffering because of Pichtonia’s very inactive picks.

After the term ended. Pichtonia picked Cara to replace Bri, Cara a rising star in the region, at least I was hopeful. Cara had showed work in the past, a big difference with Bri’s constant excuses and mediocrity. I had big expectations with Cara, she recruited in big numbers during my terms in Interior and Recruitment but real life drag her out of Europeia. It’s a fact she as Minister of Recruitment didn’t do announcements, updates, or energizing recruiters. Again, Pichtonia comes in her defense but facts are facts and the numbers are there. The shape of the Ministry shows this inactiveness. In consequence the numbers were mediocre. Mediocre as Pichtonia’s leadership. I am not mad at Cara as Pichtonia likes to point out, I’m mad at the fact that she was an inactive Minister for a WHOLE MONTH and she was not sacked as others. Same as Bri, who did a poor job and got disappeared half of his first term and not only no resignation, he got nominated again. LOL!!!!!!

For the sake of the circumstances regarding Snowball I will ignore his brief term, at least he approached recruiters and tried to reenergize the Ministry. He would have been great. But he couldn’t continue in the job for the reasons we all know.

To show again his mediocre leadership, Pichtonia nominated the inactive, the lack of ideas, the excuses for all, Bri Shakespeare and here we are.

Thank you Pichtonia for having Europeia’s Recruitment Ministry in this shape.

Sir, this is a Wendy's.

 

[Sopo]

The bad shape of Recruitment is the proof of Pichtonia’s bad leadership and overwhelming mediocrity.

Bri Shakespeare is an all talk/no action Europeian and political servant, he has been elected in the ECP several times promising a lot of changes and has not done a single thing, he himself has recognized this fact, even if Pichtonia comes into his defense as always.

Bri Shakespeare’s political career started on the Ministry of Recruitment under my watch and was severely mediocre, I never saw future in him, I had never seen a Deputy Minister literally disappeared for weeks and giving excuses and excuses that “was out of the country without internet”, when I was Ministry of Interior under Lloenflys the region nows I bought a data plan to stay online during my 20-day trip in Europe. To continue with Bri’s history, even when he was back home he recruited very little; numbers showed he did very poorly recruiting as Deputy Minister of Recruitment recruiting between 15-30 nations per week, if he recruited at all. That’s mediocre. Off course our fabulous Pichtonia after sacking me, rewarded Bri’s mediocrity and short career in Euro promoting him. Here the Ministry started to slow down because of Bri’s lack of leadership, lack of engagement, lack of energizing the recruiters, lack of posting the updates and advances of the recruitment status, lack of everything frankly. If you are too busy with RL step down, but don’t occupy a Ministry with your idleness. Fact of the matter half of the term Bri disappeared from the public eye, no announcements and if any were very short, much shorter than mine, and lacking content. Off course our fabulous First Minister will tell you this is a lie and that Bri was doing great, as great as he is doing in the ECP were he has done NOTHING. Truth is now the region is aknowedging the Ministry has been Suffering because of Pichtonia’s very inactive picks.

After the term ended. Pichtonia picked Cara to replace Bri, Cara a rising star in the region, at least I was hopeful. Cara had showed work in the past, a big difference with Bri’s constant excuses and mediocrity. I had big expectations with Cara, she recruited in big numbers during my terms in Interior and Recruitment but real life drag her out of Europeia. It’s a fact she as Minister of Recruitment didn’t do announcements, updates, or energizing recruiters. Again, Pichtonia comes in her defense but facts are facts and the numbers are there. The shape of the Ministry shows this inactiveness. In consequence the numbers were mediocre. Mediocre as Pichtonia’s leadership. I am not mad at Cara as Pichtonia likes to point out, I’m mad at the fact that she was an inactive Minister for a WHOLE MONTH and she was not sacked as others. Same as Bri, who did a poor job and got disappeared half of his first term and not only no resignation, he got nominated again. LOL!!!!!!

For the sake of the circumstances regarding Snowball I will ignore his brief term, at least he approached recruiters and tried to reenergize the Ministry. He would have been great. But he couldn’t continue in the job for the reasons we all know.

To show again his mediocre leadership, Pichtonia nominated the inactive, the lack of ideas, the excuses for all, Bri Shakespeare and here we are.

Thank you Pichtonia for having Europeia’s Recruitment Ministry in this shape.

I don't want to derail this thread and make it about Whitmark, so I'll respond and ask everyone else to remain on-topic.

As before, there are points here that I agree with, though in Pichto's defense, its not like there was a deep bench of qualified folks to serve as minister of recruitment. Bri certainly has some things to answer for, but I'm still hopeful that he and Pichto can turn this ministry around. As far as I'm concerned, this is the only area where the past two terms have been consistently weak.

 

[Prim]

Now hey, I may not agree with everything you had to say, especially in regards to Pichtonia, but at least I can respect this political opposition when it is presented earnestly and with your own name behind it, Whitmark. And I'm saying that sincerely.

I definitely think there has been a run of rather lackluster ministers, for one reason or another, but as Sopo pointed out, there aren't a ton of eager people willing to step up and I think that both affects who is nominated and how much leeway to give them before sacking them. When Whitmark was removed, it probably looked like there were a lot more leadership options than when Cara was the minister, so he probably gave her a little more time to get back up to speed.

 

[Kari]

While I have no doubt that Pichto and Brí are both approaching the crisis in recruitment, which has been ongoing for well over a year now, with anything but the best intentions, the sum total of TGs sent in a week being 59, none of which were sent by the Minister of Recruitment or First Minister, is extremely, extremely worrying.

things we used to do that we've stopped doing: custom Discord emojis, contests to change someone's avatar, recognizing top recruiters on a regular basis

Of these 3 rewards/recognition of actions taken in recruitment all are simple to run and implement, requiring little more than a good lines of communication. That being between the recruiters and their Minister or between the Minister and the affected parties. The Minister has only to request the awards be granted by the Admins directly, or via the dedicated Discord channel, to supply the picture required in the case of emojis; to contact the people whom have volunteered their avatar slots with the picture provided; or to mention notable efforts in weekly, or bi-weekly, dispatches or reports. Though I do agree with Pichto's logic that the avatar change being overused across the region as a whole. Such overuse of that specific reward has in essence resulted in it becoming a gimmick.

-snip because it doesn't deserve to be repeated in even that form-

Seriously? I guess people should be happy you are putting your name to this now instead of making anon comments.

If this is your first interaction since the Regarding Anon Comments thread nine days ago, as it appears to be by the latest activity tab of your profile, then I would seriously recommend you consider why you still feel so strongly about something that happened literally months ago, in a game, to the point that you feel belittling teenagers, in a game, and are actively attempting to smear a member of the community you participate in, in that same game, is how you deal, or rather fail to deal with, those emotions.

To directly quote an excerpt from a post in that thread that I believe sums up a lot of people's attitude to this "campaign" you are conducting:

Whitmark, I don't care that you had to resign that one term. I don't think anyone cares.

But your conduct afterwards has been terrible. (...) You say that you're more sensitive because of your history with bullying. Well -- I hope you're proud of yourself, because you might have created a "history of bullying" for some of our citizens.

 

[Pichtonia]

I don't want to derail this thread and make it about Whitmark, so I'll respond and ask everyone else to remain on-topic.

As before, there are points here that I agree with, though in Pichto's defense, its not like there was a deep bench of qualified folks to serve as minister of recruitment. Bri certainly has some things to answer for, but I'm still hopeful that he and Pichto can turn this ministry around. As far as I'm concerned, this is the only area where the past two terms have been consistently weak.

Hmm, I will agree to disagree on the first term. We started at 851 nations on July 6th and ended at 880 nations on September 7th. That was up nearly 100 nations from the lowest we had reached during my last term and an effect of not only intense recruitment efforts, but also creative incentives.

It largely fell to Bri to turn this around, and he did. As I said, I understand and agree with your criticism about this term, but if you are willing, I think we should discuss your statement about the last term a bit more. Because I frankly don't understand it at this time.

 

[Whitmark]

I’m glad Kari brought the fact that Bri doesn’t recruit, and this is not new Europeia, this has been a constant in Bri’s career. As I pointed out, when i appointed Bri as Deputy Mimister of Recruitment he was not online, he never recruited and always promised to catch up “next week” and he never deliver. And when he did, numbers were horrible less than 15-30. Off course Pichtonia loves to present Bri as a bright, effective, rising star when the facts are that he has disappeared during half of his first term; no posts, no announcements, no encouragements, and if the numbers improved were only, and only because the summer slump was over Pichtonia. Stop defending the indefensible. Stop defending what everyone is now seeing.

 

[Olde Delaware]

I’m glad Kari brought the fact that Bri doesn’t recruit, and this is not new Europeia, this has been a constant in Bri’s career. As I pointed out, when i appointed Bri as Deputy Mimister of Recruitment he was not online, he never recruited and always promised to catch up “next week” and he never deliver. And when he did, numbers were horrible less than 15-30. Off course Pichtonia loves to present Bri as a bright, effective, rising star when the facts are that he has disappeared during half of his first term; no posts, no announcements, no encouragements, and if the numbers improved were only, and only because the summer slump was over Pichtonia. Stop defending the indefensible. Stop defending what everyone is now seeing.

She never said Bri doesn't recruit.

 

[Whitmark]

I’m glad Kari brought the fact that Bri doesn’t recruit, and this is not new Europeia, this has been a constant in Bri’s career. As I pointed out, when i appointed Bri as Deputy Mimister of Recruitment he was not online, he never recruited and always promised to catch up “next week” and he never deliver. And when he did, numbers were horrible less than 15-30. Off course Pichtonia loves to present Bri as a bright, effective, rising star when the facts are that he has disappeared during half of his first term; no posts, no announcements, no encouragements, and if the numbers improved were only, and only because the summer slump was over Pichtonia. Stop defending the indefensible. Stop defending what everyone is now seeing.

She never said Bri doesn't recruit.

She said the Minister didn’t recruited last week from the 50 or so telegrams sent. Please read. I know you are lazy.

 

[Kari]

I’m glad Kari brought the fact that Bri doesn’t recruit

... It might be wise for you to read the entire article (where I got the information i cited, it also being clearly visible and eye-catching as it is the only bold text in the entire body of the article. I also would have no way of acquiring information with regard to the specifics of individual recruiters as I am not even in the ministry.) before you launch into attacks when showing that you didn't read the article only proves that your argument is not based on any rational or good faith critique.

I would also, again, advise you to seriously consider why you feel so strongly about this and if necessary take some time to deal with the underlying emotions.

 

[Olde Delaware]

I’m glad Kari brought the fact that Bri doesn’t recruit, and this is not new Europeia, this has been a constant in Bri’s career. As I pointed out, when i appointed Bri as Deputy Mimister of Recruitment he was not online, he never recruited and always promised to catch up “next week” and he never deliver. And when he did, numbers were horrible less than 15-30. Off course Pichtonia loves to present Bri as a bright, effective, rising star when the facts are that he has disappeared during half of his first term; no posts, no announcements, no encouragements, and if the numbers improved were only, and only because the summer slump was over Pichtonia. Stop defending the indefensible. Stop defending what everyone is now seeing.

She never said Bri doesn't recruit.

She said the Minister didn’t recruited last week from the 50 or so telegrams sent. Please read. I know you are lazy.

There's a big difference between saying a Minister never recruits and hasn't sent one this week. I'm not going to even bother engaging you in insults.

 

[Whitmark]

Minister @Brí Shakespeare needs to step down and resign because we don’t see any of this fabulous work.

A political servant who is on constant excuses because of school, needs to step down for real life and for the good of Euro, power hungriness will only deeper the damage done to Recruitment by the inactivity. Especially when this has been a constant in Bri’s career, he has always been half march, half speed, not recruiting at all and if recruiting doing very very very poorly with numbers between 15 and 30 telegrams once a month. This is not the example a Ministry needs to show.

He is not posting the updates every week, not on his first term were he disappeared publicly and now, were some Europeians are beginning to worry for his disappearance. A Ministry of Recruitment needs to be visible and under Bri and Cara, because they haven’t had time and had different priorities, the Ministry has been invisible. Pichtonia’s has made this worse saying both of them have done great and have been the best Ministers in years. I wonder how the region would look like with Bri’s work, like the one he is doing the in the Europeian Cosmopolitan Party, having being elected several times and not fulfilling ONE of his promises, not one. This is Bri my friends. This is what Pichtonia has gotten you.

 

[Aexnidaral]

Who would you suggest replacing Bri?