What does it mean to be a competitive Officer Candidate?

You’ve made the decision that you want to be an Officer. Great! But are you a competitive candidate? What are the things you need to do to ensure that you’ve got a good chance of being selected? You know you’ve got to have a strong package to stand out from the other candidates to even be considered for a commission. But how?

Once you have determined that you meet the basic requirements to become a Naval Officer (see OPNAVINST 1420.1B), you have to separate yourself from the competition. Or, at the very least, be on the same level with the hundreds of other hopeful applicants.  You have got to assume that everyone else that is applying for the few available quotas is hard-charging, dedicated, and driven to be a Naval Officer — just like you.  

In this article I’m going to outline and explain the eight keys to being a competitive candidate.  Some of these keys are “go — no-go” criteria, and some fall on a scale from “just barely checking the box” to “meets and exceeds.”  The bottomline is that these eight keys are the minimum standard you can expect all quality applicants to be meeting, and it’s up to you to crush them.  

The Eight Keys to Being a Competitive Candidate

1. Get Qualified!
2. Sustained Superior Performance
3. Evaluations
4. Collateral Duties
5. Education
6. Physical Fitness
7. Awards and Recognition
8. Volunteering and Extracurricular Activities

1) Get Qualified!

This should really go without saying, but I have had people reach out to me for advice on commissioning programs that didn’t have a warfare device, and/or were not fully qualified to do their jobs.  So I’m just going to say it:  You have to get qualified!  This is a “go-no-go” criteria.  At a bare minimum you should have at least one warfare device and be fully qualified in your rate and rank before applying.  

The FY22 LDO/CWO Board Precepts direct the selection board to only select those applicants that are “Best and Fully Qualified.” Specifically, it says:

“Fully Qualified.  All candidates recommended for selection must be fully qualified; that is, each candidate recommended must be capable of performing the duties of the program or milestone for which selected.  Candidates who do not meet that standard shall not be recommended for selection.  Candidates fully qualified for selection demonstrate an appropriate level of leadership, professional skills, integrity, management acumen, grounding in business practices, and resourcefulness in difficult and challenging assignments.  Their personal and professional attributes include adaptability, intelligent risk-taking, critical thinking, innovation, adherence to Navy and Department of Defense ethical standards, physical fitness, and loyalty to Navy Core Values.

Best Qualified.  Among the fully qualified candidates, you must recommend for selection the best qualified within their respected competitive category.  Proven and sustained superior performance in command or other leadership positions in difficult and challenging assignments is a definitive measure of fitness for promotion.”

Now, I know there are some ratings out there that have limited opportunities to get warfare devices (certain corpsmen specialties, language specialists, legalmen, musicians, and religious program specialists immediately come to mind) and you all are the exception.  But if you have the opportunity, you need to take it.

But, this key doesn’t only apply to warfare devices, it also applies to your job.  You have got to be fully qualified for your rate and rank.  Although implied, the quote above from the Precepts doesn’t even mention warfare devices. Your opportunity to earn a warfare device will vary greatly depending on your duty station, your rate, and your rank; but, you should seek out and complete every qualification for which you are eligible.  The bottomline is that you have to be qualified and competent at your job which leads us right into the next key:  performance.

2) Sustained Superior Performance

While getting qualified is the “go — no-go” criteria, demonstrating sustained superior performance is the “mother” criteria to being a competitive officer candidate. All of the other keys to being a competitive candidate are either building blocks for demonstrating your sustained superior performance or are the vehicle through which your sustained superior performance is communicated.

Demonstrating sustained superior performance is the single most important key to success in the Navy, and to your chances of being selected for a commission! Sustained superior performance is the result of consistent performance of the highest quality, over an extended period of time, above the level of your peers. It’s so important I dedicated an entire article to it. Check it out here.

3) Evaluations

Having a set of well written evaluations in your Officer package is key to your selection! In addition to your your CO’s endorsement, letters of recommendation, interviews, and personal statements, your evaluations tell the selection board who you are.  Your evaluations are the vehicles through which your sustained superior performance is communicated.  Without solid evaluations, you don’t stand a chance.

There is a lot to cover when it comes to your evaluations. From how to develop an outstanding write-up, to how to understand hard and soft breakouts or your Reporting Senior’s RSCA (Reporting Senior’s Cumulative Average). There’s so much to cover, in fact, that I wrote an article about evaluations. You can read it by clicking here.

To briefly summarize the importance of your evaluations without going into too much detail (again, check out the article at the above link for an in-depth discussion of evaluations), your evaluations should communicate to the selection board that you are a sustained superior performer. To accomplish this, your evals should have competitive hard and soft breakouts, your Individual Trait Average should be higher than the Summary Group Average, and your Individual Trait Averages should be above RSCA. In addition, your write-up should be demonstrating your leadership ability, the scope of your responsibility, and your commitment to personal and professional development; both for yourself and for your subordinates.

4) Collateral Duties

Next in line after your evaluations — and, in fact, an enhancer of your evaluations — are collateral duties.  Collateral duties are a great way to separate yourself from the competition. There are two major things, however, that you need to know about collateral duties:  1) too many can detract from your sustained superior performance; and, 2) not all collaterals are created equal.

You’ve got to find balance

Collateral duties can be a great way to increase your leadership opportunities and scope of responsibility. In fact, they are absolutely necessary for you to be a competitive candidate.  However, you can over do it.  As the FY20 CPO Board Convening Order states, “[c]ollateral duty management must not come at the expense of leadership and expertise.”  Collateral duties are important, but they cannot come at the expense of your primary job, maintaining your expertise, or effectively leading your subordinates. 

I have known many Sailors who make the mistake of thinking their collateral duty is more important than their primary job; this just isn’t the case.  While there are certainly times where you will need to prioritize your time around significant events associated with your collateral duty — think Command Managed Equal Opportunity Advisor (CMEO) interpreting and preparing the Command Climate Survey report — this should not be a regular occurrence. 

If you find yourself spending more time on your collaterals than your primary duties, you need to reevaluate your priorities.  When it comes to selection boards, your sustained superior performance is driven by your primary duties, scope of responsibility, and leadership; and while you need collaterals, you must first be the master of these.

Not all collaterals are created equal

Some collateral duties are more valuable to your sustained superior performance and professional reputation than others.  The best collateral duties are those that are high visibility and specialized, meaning they: 

• 1) Are nominative (you have to be approved for the position by the chain of command).
• 2) Have a high degree of visibility with the Command Triad (CO, XO, and CMC).
• 3) They require special qualifications (i.e. training, or schools). 

Collateral duties that don’t meet these criteria are typically of lesser value.  In my experience some of the most valuable collateral duties are:  CMEO, Command Fitness Leader (CFL), Career Counselor (for commands without rated Career Counselors), Command Financial Specialist (CFS), Drug and Alcohol Program Advisor (DAPA), Urinalysis Program Coordinator (UPC), Education Service Officer (ESO), and cabinet positions in command wide associations (i.e. Chief’s Mess, First Class Petty Officer Association, Junior Enlisted Association).

5) Education

Education is, in my opinion, one of the most important things you can do for yourself while you’re in the military. 

This wasn’t always the case for me; one of the reasons I joined the Navy after high school is because I didn’t want to go to college —jokes on me, I now have a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree all paid for by the Navy.  When I joined the Navy, the last thing I wanted to do was write papers or read textbooks.  But, after some time on board my first ship, I quickly began to realize how taking college classes could help set me apart from my peers.  It was one more way for me to take advantage of all the opportunities the Navy was offering me.  In addition, it helped boost my evaluations, taking me to the top of my peer group and solidifying my sustained superior performance.

You can’t go wrong by improving your education.  Not only will it help you develop personally and professionally, but it will also help you think critically and become a valuable problem solver within your command.  In addition, having a degree makes you more marketable when the time to leave the Navy finally arrives.  Furthermore, to be a competitive candidate for a commission you need to have some college under your belt; your competition will.  

Like sustained superior performance and evaluations, there is a lot to cover when it comes to your education opportunities in the Military. I’ve written an article about all the different opportunities available to you, how to qualify for them, how to take advantage of them, and even why it may make sense for you to use your GI Bill while on active duty. To read it, click here.

6) Physical Fitness

There is no getting around physical fitness if you want to be an Officer; you have to be physically fit.  Objectively, you need to be within body composition standards and have competitive scores on your Physical Readiness Tests (PRTs).  Most officer program applications require the data from your three most recent PRTs.  A failure in either the Body Composition Assessment (BCA) or Physical Fitness Test (PFT) will result in your officer package not being considered.

But, if you do have a failure in your record don’t despair, you can still get selected; I did.  I have failed the BCA twice in my Navy career.  Much like NJP, overcoming failure and personal challenge is primarily a matter of time and effort.  The Physical Readiness Information Management System (PRIMS) maintains the records for your PFT and BCA scores.  However, it only maintains the most recent five years of data.  So, if you have a failure in your record, you need to wait it out.  In addition to waiting it out, you need to get your fitness under control.  

To be competitive, the majority of your overall PRT scores should be “Excellent” or higher.  That means the average scores for your plank, push ups, and run should be  75 or greater.  Make sure to reference the most recent OPNAVIST 6110.1 series for up to date PRT standards.

How to improve your PRT scores is beyond the scope of this blog, but because the PRT is a game of averages I always recommend focusing on your strengths.  I’ve always been a slow runner; but I’m strong, so I focus the majority of my efforts on push ups and plank.  If I’m able to max out the plank and pushups for my age group I can run very slowly and still get an “Excellent” or “Outstanding” overall.

A note to those of you thinking of applying to Officer Candidate School (OCS):   YOU NEED TO RUN YOUR PRTs!  If you’ve gotten by in your career on the bike, eliptical, swimming, or rowing, you need to start running.  While these other ways are all acceptable ways of completing your PRT you’re not doing yourself any favors by doing it this way.  When you get to OCS you’re going to run.  Point blank.  End of story.  You’re going to run everyday.  And you’re going to run a PRT every week.  You might as well just get used to running now.

The last thing I want to say about physical fitness — and this applies to the next two keys as well — is that it is relatively less important to your officer package than the previous topics.  It holds relatively less weight in your officer package than Sustained Superior Performance, evaluations, education, and your letters of recommendation and interviews which I’ll cover in a later article. 

However, you will never know how qualified the pool of candidates you’re competing against is, or how close the competition is.  The point is:  your PRT scores could tip the scales in a highly competitive board; you never know.

7) Awards and Recognition

Like the “Excellent” and “Outstanding” scores on your PRT, Awards and Recognition are enhancers of your sustained superior performance.  They add to the story you’re telling the selection board; giving a better view of who you are as a Sailor, leader, and possibly as a future Officer.  They are not required; what I mean is, if you don’t have any yet because you haven’t been in that long, don’t despair. 

They are also not all created equal.  As those that have been in the Navy for some time know, nearly everyone gets an End Of Tour (EOT) Navy Achievement Medal (NAM).  And, as I’m sure you can deduce, if everyone gets one, they’re not worth much on your officer board.

But besides the EOT NAM, there are several other types of awards and recognition that do hold weight:  Navy Commendation Medals (COM) or higher, Spot NAMs, Sailor of the Year (SOY), and Sailor of the Quarter (SOQ).  In my experience, these hold more weight than the standard EOT, and tell the selection board much more about you and your sustained superior performance; they set you apart from your competition.

In particular, the Sailor of the Year programs can significantly increase your competitive edge.  I fully credit being recognized as SOY for my selection to the OCS program; without it I wouldn’t have been able to get such outstanding recommendations and interviews (more on those in another article). 

Being SOY for E6, Junior Sailor of the Year (JSOY) for E4 and E5, or Blue Jacket of the Year (BJOY) for E3 and below means that you have been recognized as the best Sailor in your rank at your command — which is quite an achievement.  For E6s it’s even more of an opportunity because by winning SOY you’re automatically entered to compete at the Squadron level against other command’s SOYs.  Win at the Squadron level and you’re advanced to the Type Commander level.  Continue to win and you could see yourself competing for Sailor of the Year for the Navy — which comes with a spot promotion to Chief and a COM!

While awards are not required for selection into a commissioning program, having them will only improve your chances and make you a more competitive candidate.  In my opinion, the precedence of award importance is as follows:

1. SOY above the Type Commander Level
2. Navy Commendation Medal
3. SOY above the command level
4. SOY, JSOY, or BJOY at the command level
5. Spot Navy Achievement Medal
6. EOT Navy Achievement Medal

8) Volunteering and Extracurricular Activities

What you do in your off-time is also an important part of your sustained superior performance and gives the board a holistic view of you as a person and potential Officer.  Besides taking college courses — which you most definitely need to be doing — spending your time in a productive and meaningful way can be not only personally gratifying, but it can also make you a more competitive candidate.

The best part is volunteering doesn’t have to be boring or feel like work; you can literally choose to do anything you want.  I know plenty of people that have volunteered at soup kitchens, and just as many that coach soccer or little league.  You can choose to be a tutor, or a big brother or big sister to a child in need.  The possibilities are endless.  

It doesn’t matter if you’re on sea duty or shore duty either.  You can find many opportunities to spend a day during a port visit painting a local school or doing outreach programs in foreign countries through your ship’s Community Relations (COMREL) program.  And shore duty has endless opportunities.

I recommend finding something you truly enjoy and turning it into a productive extracurricular activity or volunteering opportunity.  I used to be big into SCUBA diving, and while on shore duty I earned my Instructor qualification.  So I spent my weekends teaching people SCUBA, CPR, and First Aid through a local dive shop.

Volunteering and productive extracurricular activities help make you a more well-rounded Sailor, and a more competitive officer candidate.  Furthermore, consistent volunteering can even earn you a military Award:  the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal (MOVSM).  Earning an MOVSM is a great enhancer of your sustained superior performance, and an outstanding contribution to your officer package.

Meeting the Eight Keys

Now, I hear some of you out there saying, “What if I don’t meet all of the eight keys?  What if my package is lacking in one or two areas?  Should I still submit my package?”  The answer is absolutely!  Submit your package!  There is no limit to the number of Sailors that all have the same story:  “I was going to submit my package, but… [insert excuse here].” The truth is even if you don’t meet all eight key criteria to be a super competitive candidate, you can still get selected!  For example, the majority of the prior enlisted Sailors I went through OCS with were never Sailor of the Year; it doesn’t matter, they still earned their commission.  Every year the boards that convene to select Officer candidates for their specific communities from the enlisted ranks have a quota to fill.  That quota is not publicly published, but there’s always a chance that you could slip in to the bottom of that quota with a less-than-stellar package.  So submit it anyway!  The worst they can say is no, and if they do deny you, just apply again, and again, and again.

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