OKay I've been seriously considering joining the Canadian forces since I was 13 and every time I go to sign up I end up with cold feet and I was wondering if any of you had this problem and how you got over it. Also with the background checks I have close family who are criminals my uncle has been in and out of jail for his whole life and I was wondering if that kind of thing will completely ruin my chances of getting in.
working up the nerve and family issues
- Thread starter cooper12
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Well let me give you some info from my experience with everything so far. I am only in the middle of the recruiting stage, so it aint much, but it might help you.
When you go to join the Canadian Forces, you are talking about a process that takes months and months. You don't even need to speak to anyone on the phone or see them in person until 1-3 months after you originally apply. So what you can do, is just hit the application button on their website, look through the information they want from you and fill it all out, and then just wait until they contact you. That's gonna give you time to really think about things and decide if you want to keep going or back out.
If you want to back out, all you gotta do basically is email them and say you want to withdraw your application or put it on hold and think about it before going further. No hurt feelings, nobody cares, nobody is gonna judge you or get mad. It happens every single day in the recruiting world that people change their minds or need more time to think about things. So just hit the button, apply now, fill out the information for the online application, that takes a few minutes and its easy to do and will help you make up your mind if you wanna go for it.
About your uncle, it depends what trade you go for. It wont ruin your chances of joining, but it could limit your career choices. For example, I don't think you can pass Top Secret security clearance usually when a family member as an extensive criminal record. That might depend on the type of crime though. For most trades though, they don't do a background check on your family, just a basic background check on yourself.
The only ones I know off the top of my head that need top secret are:
Communicator Research Operator
Intelligence Officer
Intelligence Operator
Probably a few others as well. But for MOST trades, the only thing they do is a BASIC criminal record check, credit check and a couple other small things just on you. There are a lot of members of the Canadian Forces who have criminal records themselves.
When you go to join the Canadian Forces, you are talking about a process that takes months and months. You don't even need to speak to anyone on the phone or see them in person until 1-3 months after you originally apply. So what you can do, is just hit the application button on their website, look through the information they want from you and fill it all out, and then just wait until they contact you. That's gonna give you time to really think about things and decide if you want to keep going or back out.
If you want to back out, all you gotta do basically is email them and say you want to withdraw your application or put it on hold and think about it before going further. No hurt feelings, nobody cares, nobody is gonna judge you or get mad. It happens every single day in the recruiting world that people change their minds or need more time to think about things. So just hit the button, apply now, fill out the information for the online application, that takes a few minutes and its easy to do and will help you make up your mind if you wanna go for it.
About your uncle, it depends what trade you go for. It wont ruin your chances of joining, but it could limit your career choices. For example, I don't think you can pass Top Secret security clearance usually when a family member as an extensive criminal record. That might depend on the type of crime though. For most trades though, they don't do a background check on your family, just a basic background check on yourself.
The only ones I know off the top of my head that need top secret are:
Communicator Research Operator
Intelligence Officer
Intelligence Operator
Probably a few others as well. But for MOST trades, the only thing they do is a BASIC criminal record check, credit check and a couple other small things just on you. There are a lot of members of the Canadian Forces who have criminal records themselves.
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cooper12 said:
I would say the best thing to do is decide if the military is really soemthing you want to do, once you know for sure that you want to go down that route just push forward with the process.
As for family members being in jail? I am pretty certain that they will not hold that against you as the CF is more interested in what kind of person YOU are and what YOU have done rather than what kind of people your family members are and what they have done. The best thing is to decide wether this is the career path for you and then go for it or move on to something you would rather do.
I'll address the family thing first...If anyone was going to be affected by close family members being in trouble with the law it'd be me and my file is moving along smoothly (I was merit listed a few weeks ago). I've got everything from assault to home invasion to drug trafficking to murder in my family so I wouldn't worry about your one uncle haha.
It sort of sounds like your problem is that your just uncertain about the CF. It's honestly a major life decision and you need to really evaluate the reasons you want to join. Personally if I had any reasonable doubt in my heart about joining I wouldn't do so.
It sort of sounds like your problem is that your just uncertain about the CF. It's honestly a major life decision and you need to really evaluate the reasons you want to join. Personally if I had any reasonable doubt in my heart about joining I wouldn't do so.
Let me start by asking what trade your looking to apply for? Also what is it that is giving you cold feet?
I joined in 2010 and thus far joining has been the best decision I have made, and as a matter of fact I had signed my 25 year contract not long ago as well. Now.... the military life isn't for everyone, but you will never know unless you try. If you never try you will live the rest of your life wondering. That was something I couldn't stand to do. So I took the leap and signed the line.
I joined in 2010 and thus far joining has been the best decision I have made, and as a matter of fact I had signed my 25 year contract not long ago as well. Now.... the military life isn't for everyone, but you will never know unless you try. If you never try you will live the rest of your life wondering. That was something I couldn't stand to do. So I took the leap and signed the line.
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JM2345 said:
Uhhh, it's not really that simple. There are plenty of trades that may require Level III. It all depends on what you might be doing; security clearance levels are not trade specific.
CombatMacguyver said:
I never said it was that simple. There are plenty of trades which MAY require top secret, but those trades I listed absolutely require top secret. You can NOT get in those trades without top secret security clearance. Most of the other trades you can get in just fine without top secret, but it may effect your career progression.
They do not require level 3 (top secret) security clearance to hire you for the infantry for example. They just don't. But you CAN NOT become an Intelligence Operator or Communicator Research Operator if you can't get top secret security clearance, you would just be wasting everyones time. It doesn't depend what you will be doing in those positions, the trade simply requires it right away.
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