The Air Force has two enlistment options: Guaranteed Job and Guaranteed Aptitude area. There are only enough guaranteed job slots made available to the Air Force Recruiting Service to accommodate about 40 percent of the recruits who enlist each year. Most enlist in a guaranteed aptitude area.
The Air Force has four aptitude areas: General, Electronics, Mechanical, and Administrative. Various combinations of ASVAB scores make up line scores for each of these areas. Under the Guaranteed Aptitude Enlistment Option, one is guaranteed that they will be assigned to a job which falls into that aptitude area, but won't find out what their actual job is, until the last week of basic training.
If you're very lucky (and the computer-Gods are smiling on you), you may be able to reserve a specific job at the time you meet with the Job Counselor at MEPS. More likely, however, there won't be any available slots listed in the computer system. In that case, you'll give the Job Counselor five (or so) choices. Usually, at least one of your listed preferences must be for an aptitude area, and the other preferences can be for specific jobs. You'll then enlist in the DEP (see next section) and your preferences will be entered into the job computer system. When one of your choices becomes available, your recruiter will notify you of your job assignment and your shipping date.
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