Promotion Pools to Expand to Master Warrant Officers, Chief Petty Officers 2 and above

The latest phase in reshaping the promotion process will be unveiled this fall, according to the Canadian military.

Since 2021, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) has been taking concrete steps to reshape the promotion process of members of all ranks to ensure a transparent and equitable process.

The selection process will further be enhanced by the implementation of the Promotion Pools at the 2025 National Selection Boards, says the military.

Promotion Pools

The promotion pool will be used to determine the promotion of:

• master warrant officer (MWO) | chief petty officer 2nd class (CPO2),
• chief warrant officer (CWO) | chief petty officer 1st class (CPO1).

According to CANFORGEN, the military has already used promotion pools for the ranks of General Officer and Flag Officer:

• lieutenant-general | vice-admiral
• major-general | rear-admiral
• brigadier general | commodore
• captain-navy | colonel promotions.

“The use of promotion pools for CPO2/MWO promotion to CPO1/CWO will make use of both merit and best-fit principles, based on job-based leader profiles…which account for experiences, competencies, knowledge, education and training,” stated CANFORGEN 138/24.

The Process

The National Selection Board will select future promotion candidates by first using the Common Scoring Criteria to generate a ranked list. This list will help determine whether the candidates will be sent to the green or blue promotion pool.

The green promotion pool indicates that the member is suitable for promotion “without further development in the current rank.” While the blue promotion pool means that the member is suitable for a promotion but “would benefit from further development in the current rank.”

Once sent to a particular pool, the file will no longer have a score or ranking attached to it.

The NSB will then dip into the green pool for selecting promotions using the Environmental Succession Planning Process.

Candidates from the blue pool will only be chosen once the green promotion pool has been exhausted and vacancies remain. There are also exceptional circumstances.

“…in the exceptional circumstance that a member in the blue promotion pool is the only member possessing a specific positional prerequisite skill, qualification or experience,” read the CANFORGEN.

However, choosing a file from the blue selection pool requires authorization from the DGMC through the occupation manager DSA.

Four Years of Incremental Change

Since 2021, the CAF has worked to modernize the selection process for all ranks. According to the CANFORGEN, a Common Scoring Criteria was established in 2022 for use by all occupations to determine promotions at the CPO2/MWO rank.

Additionally, a competency-based evaluation through Pace was also implemented.