Ranks and Ribbons and Recruitment.

There's now a flurry of activity at the corp as our killboard has been updated to include ranks, ribbons and rewards. Sure, I know that many corps have had this feature but for us, the novelty is still new and has invigorated some of our pilots to ever more deeds of daring and yarring.

I love the new RANK and RIBBONS now available as well as the rewards. The new KB has been improved to include both kills and losses, so at a glance one can see combat activity in the last few days. Additionally, we have automatic kill mail posting; in the heat of any combat some pilots simply forget to post their kills and losses. Now, this should be a thing of the past.

The new cycle of recruitment is open - here's the forum link and the EVE-O link for those who are considering joining The Bastards. We are looking for pirates / pilots who are experienced enough to use a directional scanner correctly as well as understanding the GCC mechanics in low-security space. Prior experience in piracy is a bonus but importantly, one needs to 'get it' about piracy in New Eden and who has an instant chemistry with the current members. No alts or part-timers please.

Piracy isn't all pretty explosions and ransoms. Sometimes it can be downright depressing. Feast or Famine is the only way to describe piracy.

So for your information our previous cycle was successful with the following statistics:

January to March 2009 Recruitment Intake
Total Applicants: 29
Instant rejection due to failing to complete form as directed: 2
Rejection due to failing basic security, AGE and API checks: 3
Rejection due to failed interview (ex. no vent): 2
Rejected due to inexperience in piracy: 8
Rejected due to other reasons: 11
Passed and accepted on a three-month probationary period: 3

The average time for a decision to be made on an application has been decided as two-weeks from being invited into our roaming fleets. Then, around day 14 there is a vote between amongst the recruitment officers on a 'yes' or 'no' to the application with the CEO having a deadlock breaking vote. However, we did slip up very badly with a couple of recruits whom completely split the recruitment officers complete with abstentions. This resulted in an unacceptable period of delay. So our system isn't perfect but we've put in processes to get round it. Basically, if you impress the recruitment officers and the corp pilots with your skills, kills and banter in the first two weeks; then your chances are good. If there's any doubts by anyone, we tend to take a closer look and there is a likelihood of the application being delayed or withdrawn or rejected.

The recruitment process is an unforgiving process, minor mistakes count more during this period of scrutiny than any other time and first impressions count as well. Unfortunately, this is about human nature and now with a time-constraint to ensure that we make a timely decision, it does mean that applicants need to be on the ball.

Anyway, we already have nine applications being looked at and some of the aspiring pirates are very impressive. Good luck to them all....now where are my damn medals?