Hi, I would love to become an NCO in my sqn. In my sqn there are not many female cadets, and I am the oldest there. We don’t have a female NCO - our Cpl left before Christmas due to A-Levels.
I am 16 and I am currently working on my leading cadet classification. I would say that I am strong in leadership and can lead cadets in many activities. I have been in cadets for 15 months now and have been noticed to be a reliable cadet. I took part in a camp last April, did my L98 training, and been on many parades outwith cadet nights. I have led drill exercises and I am getting confident with commands. Since I have my GCSE’s I cannot take part in many activities until July. Currently, I have not taken part in a sports competition, however, after my GCSEs are over I hope to take part in many more activities.
I am just wondering where I can improve to make myself eligible to become an NCO
There are quite a number of posts on this topic in this forum, you would do well to read through them.
One small piece of advice, however. Read back through your post and just take notice of how many of your sentences start with “I” - consider how that would be interpreted by your OC or other adult volunteers in an application letter. Promotions are 80% about the squadron and probably only 20% about the individual applying for promotion.
It’s also good practice for moving into the working world, and adjusting your wording appropriately. It’s something that comes with practice.
Ultimately, unless we’re on your squadron we can’t really give you any specific advice.
I would say for cadets at my sqn, I would want them to be taking the initiative - doing things before we have to ask for them to be done. I would want them to be motivating others, someone others can look up to for advice or guidance.
A good way of getting that is getting a breadth of experience - trying lots of things. I once had someone turn up to a parade night in civvies, hang around and when asked why they weren’t taking part said something along the lines of “I just didn’t feel like it”. For me, that is an immediate warning that they won’t make a good leader of others, so trying your best no matter your personal feelings shows someone with the right character I think.