Portability helps spouses on the job hunt Published Nov. 14, 2011 By Stacy Huisman Goodfellow Monitor Contributor GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- There's nothing more exciting than finding out where your next assignment will be. A million questions run through your mind including: Where will we live? What will life be like for us? If you have kids, how are the schools and the neighborhoods? But one of the questions that weigh heavily on military spouses is, "Will I be able to work at our new location?" The new buzz word in the community is job portability. Do you have an occupation or skill that is portable and can be easily be transferred to each new location? Many military spouses, including myself, are confused on how we can maintain our career and skill sets while being married to the military. Moving every two to four years can be a turn off to some employers. Location is everything for some occupations. Promotions are few, if not nonexistent. Timing of job openings is really nothing more than luck, and going to back to school for training in a new career is expensive, especially when you don't have that second income of a job coming in. The Defense Department cited the challenges of military spouses in their 2008 Report on Military Spouse Education and Employment. According to the report, two major issues face the military family/spouse that must frequently relocate: managing the education of their children and trying to sustain a career while their military sponsor is in the service of the country. According to the DOD report and others like it, the military spouse is paid on average $3 per hour less than his civilian look-alike. Spouses also tend to be under employed, which means they agree to be hired into a position for which they are over qualified. The statistics also show that most spouses are searching for a higher education or new training. Over the years, DOD has tried to address the unemployment and under employment of the military spouses. There are new programs and funding assistance that can ease the process of finding that right portable career for you. MyCAA Military Spouse Career Advancement Account is a program designed to help military spouses find and fund the search for the portable career. The program was wildly popular when it was first released and quickly ran out of funding. However, they have recently reopened it with revised guidelines. The government will pay for spouses to go back to school or pay for licenses and certifications associated with moving from state to state. How long this program will be funding is still uncertain, so it's important that spouses act quickly. Spouses of an active duty Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine service member, or activated Reserve and National Guard members in pay grades E1-E5, W1-W2, or O1-O2 are eligible to apply. MyCAA accounts will be limited to the new $4,000 maximum benefit with a $2,000 fiscal year cap. Spouses must finish their program of study within three years from the start date of the first course. However, the funding is limited to only Associate's degrees, certifications and licensure programs. For more information, visit www.military.com for details about the program. Federal hiring preferences New hiring rules for Federal agencies apply to the spouses of military service members relocating for a new assignment, some physically disabled spouses, and those whose husband or wife was killed in the line of duty. Eligible spouses are able to apply for a federal job and ask that recruiters allow them to bypass the traditional hiring process. Joining Force Initiative and Military Spouse Employment Partnership This newly devised program is designed to bring awareness of qualified and skilled labor force of the military spouses to fortune 500 companies. Spearheaded by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Biden, the program hopes to provide better employment access to military spouses and veterans. www.msepjobs.com Airman and Family Readiness Center Goodfellow's A&FRC further assists spouses in job placement through our annual job fair, resume preparation and review, mock interview preparation, job postings and collaboration with local employment sources, both on and off base. A&FRC staff members are available to offer employment assistance in every way possible. Please call (325) 654-3893 to make an appointment or check out their user friendly website at www.familysupportgoodfellow.org for more details. Online Job Search Career and education management website that cater to the military spouse. www.msepjobs.com www.militaryonesource.com www.usajobs.com www.military.com When looking for that right job or considering going back to school, you may want to explore some of the most common career fields for spouses. Some occupations are perfectly suited for this life. Common careers fields for military spouses cited in the DOD report are: Healthcare - Careers in nursing, health technician (radiology, x-ray, and chemo), physical therapist, pharmacology, dental hygiene, and medical record management, etc. Financial services - Careers in banking, mortgages, insurance, investments, real estate and financial counseling, etc. Information services- Careers in computer networking, systems, administration, web development, software design and help desk administration, etc. Education - Careers as teachers and/or teacher aides in elementary, secondary and post-secondary schools, early childhood education, curriculum development and administration, etc. The struggle of the all-volunteer military family and job portability is not being overlooked. Many spouses have sacrificed in ways that cannot be tallied or reported. However, no matter how much money you receive for education or how wonder your resume looks, if you don't know what your passion is in life, you may continue to struggle to find your place in this unpredictable journey as a military spouse. After interviewing several fellow military spouses about the difficulty of finding a new job with every move, many very happy spouses have disclosed to me that their burden has eased by finding their passion and turning it into a career. Highly skilled nurses have turned into professional quilters because it makes them happy and can be very lucrative. Financial traders have turned into professional cyclist because it's their passion and better suited for their family life. Stay-at-home moms have turned into artists, writers, wedding planners and florists. Accountants have turned into elementary school teachers and teachers have in turned in to chefs. The most content people are those who have found a way to be paid for doing what they love. Keep this mind when you are doing your next job search. Happy job hunting.
