"Recruiting is a twenty-four-seven job," SSgt. Scott Coty, a RS Des Moines recruiter, said with a smirk. "And the difference between a good recruiter and a struggling recruiter is how they manage their time."Coty has been a recruiter for RS Des Moines since November 1999 and works out of Permanent Contact Station Fort Dodge, Iowa, located about 95 miles from his NCOIC in Recruiting Substation Des Moines."A recruiter is always thinking about work, even while trying to relax," said Coty a 25-year-old native of Menlo, Wash. "But you have to make time to be with your family and find a way to relieve your stresses. Once you figure out how to do that, the rest falls into place."Finding a hobby, according to Coty, is a vital way for him to wind down and relieve stress, which eventually leads to him becoming a more productive and efficient recruiter."I like to buy old cars and fix them up," he said. "It makes me think about something other than work. It also gives me something to do where I can spend time with my kids. They're not old enough to really help me, but they hang around and act like they're helping me out."He has two children, Tyler, 3, and Kaden, six months.Another key to Coty's success on recruiting duty was "accepting the duty.""Once I accepted the reality of the job and gave it all my energy," Coty said, "things turned around for me and started working out."When I first got here," he added, "I had no turnover and my first NCOIC really didn't help. He basically just said 'Here's your office, and here are your 30 high schools. Good luck,' and that was pretty much it. I didn't get very much support and it was very frustrating at first. My numbers will even back me up. I really struggled when I got here, but I accepted the duty and focused on my task of being the best recruiter I could, and it is paying off."Coty, a Harrier Ordance technician, reemphasized the importance of support."Now, I have a great support base," he said. "I have a very good NCOIC who has really helped guide and teach me, but I would have to say my wife is the biggest help."Shannon, Coty's wife of four years, not only supports her husband at home, she takes an active role in his work."She's always in the office helping me out," he said with a relieved look on his face. "She helps with high school lists and other administrative work and she even carries business cards with her. She will talk to people when she is out and give them card. She is also more than willing to meet with an applicant's girlfriend or wife to ease any concerns they may have about being a military spouse."Coty said his wife's active role in his work not only eases his workload and may allow him to go home earlier, it is also another way for the family to spend as much time as they can find together."We will also take time during the middle of the day to go grocery shopping together," he said. "I'll go in uniform and we will split up at the store. I will canvass the store as I am doing my shopping and my wife will talk with people, too. It knocks out a bunch of things all at once. We get to spend time together, we get the shopping done, and I get some of my canvassing done. You have to be creative like that sometimes."Finding unique ways to spend time with his family, and at times forcing himself to step away from the office to spend time at home, has allowed Coty to rise from a struggling rookie recruiter to one of the best recruiters in RS Des Moines. It ahs also earned him a meritorious promotion to staff sergeant; something he said might still be waiting for if he had not been successful on recruiting duty."I am way ahead of my peers I went through boot camp and ordnance school with," he said. "I have actually caught up to some of the instructors I had in school and will go back to the fleet way ahead of where I would have been if I had never come out here."Coty states his final driving force for being a successful recruiter is he knows he may run into some of these young men and women later on in the Marine Corps."I am the gatekeeper," he said. "The Corps is a small place and I know I may run into some of these kids in the fleet somewhere, and I want to make sure that anyone I put into the Marine Corps is someone I think I could trust and want to have beside me in the fleet. I won't let just anybody into my Marine Corps."