: Posted by Rear Admiral Jack Dipper (Academy Commandant) in Discussion: Graduation Procedure
: Well, we haven't had a discussion for a while, and with Command quite, I'm getting bored :-)
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: Ok, bit of a background before I pose my question. Currently the procedure for placing graduates is not really defined. It's been left to the Commandant to decide how it should be done. One of the flaws of the system that currently is used is that the Cadet has no input as to where they want to be placed, nor in the department they want to go into (bear in mind that the department they are currently in may not have been their first choice).
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: What I am thinking of doing is allowing Cadets to decide for themselves which ship, department, etc they want to go to after they have graduated. They don't have to specify a ship, but it would be useful to get a list of departments they are interested in. The other question for them would be if they wanted to remain with other graduates from their ship (something I currently favour as it gives them someone they already know on their new ship).
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Specify which department, definitely.

Specify which ship... perhaps. We have to keep in mind the club's needs as well. A good cadet placed on a struggling ship can often do that ship wonders. Also, hard for them to know what ships they'd like right out of graduation, unless they've been in IRC and pre-recruited.

Wish to remain with other graduates... no, I wouldn't give them that option. They can always work out something behind the scenes themselves if they all want to be on a ship together, just like everyone else does when they want to be on a ship with their friends. I think spreading the graduated cadet love over the fleet is a better idea.

: Additionally, I want to discuss if there should be a protection period where new graduates cannot be recruited (say, two weeks). The reason why this has cropped up is because someone recruited graduates they day they graduated, which led to some confusion as to what ship they had been assigned to. It also gives them two weeks to have a look around the ships themselves and get settled in. At the end of the two weeks, a list of the graduates would be posted in Command.
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: Thoughts?
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: Jack

I don't really like this idea. If you're considering this, perhaps you should consider an alternative, where instead of placing cadets, we just let COs recruit cadets directly, and thus let the cadet chose their placement that way. Perhaps upon graduation, you post a list on command, and COs take their pick. If no one gets picked, then they get placed with COs who weren't paying attention to command. I'm not sure this is a better idea, but it's another one to consider. :)

Jen