The Road to Mass Deployment

By Janet Newsome, Senior Regional Admissions Specialist

The Mission Continues has officially launched applications for our 4th Mass Deployment, Operation Charm City Charge (OC3), which will take place for one week in beautiful Baltimore, Maryland in June 2019! As any previous attendee can attest, the Mass Deployment experience is more than just a week of high-impact volunteerism in one city. It’s an investment in yourself as a community leader.

With all of this excitement circling around Mass Deployment, we want to offer you a behind-the-scenes look at our selection process! (Shhh…don’t tell anyone! It’s supposed to be a secret!!!)

The 3 “Simple” Steps to Selection

Step 1: Eligibility Verification

First things first (of course), we need to ensure that you are ELIGIBLE for the specific role you’re applying for!

Ambassadors are candidates that are seeking to return to Mass Deployment in a leadership capacity, having already completed an experience as a Crew Member — and didn’t get scared away!

We’re looking to see that you 1) reside in one of our 50 metro areas, 2) have attended Mass Deployment as a Crew Member in the past, and 3) have NOT previously attended Mass Deployment as an Ambassador.

Note: former Ambassadors – we love your zest for leadership and desire to serve again in this capacity, but we have to leave room for others to have the same opportunity!

Crew Members are attendees that are new to Mass Deployment’s programmatic side. These selected candidates will be the bulk of our crew, and as such, are called Crew Members.

They must 1) again, reside in one our 50 metro areas, 2) have a discharge status (Character of Service) that is other than Dishonorable Discharge, and 3) have never attended a Mass Deployment as a Crew Member or Ambassador.

Step 2: Application Review and Assessment

Ambassadors: Regional Admissions Specialists (shout out to the RAS Team!), will do a rubric review based upon the application questions.

We will also request input from Previous Ambassadors, asking for a quick assessment of the candidate’s performance, teamwork, leadership experience, etc. during his or her first Mass Deployment experience.  

Local City Impact Managers or local Platoon Leadership will provide input if for some reason a previous Ambassador is unavailable, or in the case of an applicant who attended Motown Muster, (where there were no Ambassadors).

Once we’ve confirmed that eligible applicants have a rubric interview and a complete performance assessment, we’ll schedule interviews with all eligible applicants.

Crew Members: As we are expecting more than 500 Crew Member applications, the process here is a little different.

Once eligibility is confirmed, the RAS Team will complete a dual rubric review for all eligible candidates, meaning each application will have two rubric reviewers specifically rating application responses.

The average rubric score will be the primary factor in determining who is invited to an interview. Our Regional staff also have the opportunity to provide feedback about candidates.

We will invite at least 150 applicants out of the 500 to an interview.

Step 3: Final Selection

After candidates are interviewed we will have a Regional Pre-Selection meeting and will present our Region’s recommendations to the National Selection Team, which is a composite of multiple TMC departments, including the entire RAS Team.

Final, final step that is new this year: all selected Crew and Ambassador candidates will undergo a criminal background check in addition to the “social media and Google scrub” that the RAS team completes each application cycle. This is to do our part in ensuring that all Crew, Ambassadors, staff, youth, and other volunteers are safe!

For those who do have a record, we will review each on a case by case basis. Please rest assured it is not an automatic disqualifier.

Still Have Questions?

Sooner rather than later we’ll have our 75 Crew Members and 10 Ambassadors selected, reporting in Baltimore, and making a HUGE impact on a number of neighborhoods within Charm City. Until then, the Admissions Team is available to answer any of your questions. Please contact us directly at admissions@missioncontinues.org.

Key Dates

• February 26th-March 25th, 2019: Application Open (Ambassador)
• February 26th-April 1st, 2019: Application Open (Crew Members)
• March 29th, 2019: Ambassador Assessments Complete
• April 10th, 2019: Notification for Interviews
• May 1st, 2019: Final Selection Emails Sent
  

We also want to remind you that during this full-week commitment you will are expected to be 100% present with us and your fellow veteran participants.

• June 19th-27th, 2019: Mass Deployment Happens (Ambassador)
• June 20th- 27th, 2019: Mass Deployment Happens (Crew Members)
  

What are you waiting for? It’s time to apply!