New resources help military spouses find jobs
Frequent moves for military spouses can make trying to find employment as grueling as push-ups during basic training.
But recently, there have been a growing number of initiatives-including targeted Internet job listings, career building efforts and job placement programs-designed to help military spouses find employment. Meanwhile, at least one state has considered offering tax credits for companies that hire military spouses.
Michelle Pendleton and her family moved twice while stationed in southern California and did a three-year tour in Sicily, Italy before they moved last year to Virginia Beach. Along the way, she sometimes struggled to find meaningful employment because of the transient nature of military life.
Pendleton, 37, embarked on her most recent job-seeking mission last year when she and her Navy chief petty officer husband and two teen-aged children returned after three years at Naval Air Station Sigonella in the Mediterranean.
"It was a real challenge for me once we got back to the states to go out and look for a job," Pendleton recalled. "I hadn't been employed in three years, and since I had been out of the job pool it was particularly frightening."
Pendleton skimmed newspaper advertisements, asked people she knew about possible jobs, then checked out http://www.military.com/spouse, an employment portal developed by www.Monster.com and built under contract with the U.S. Department of Defense.
Pendleton was skeptical of online job searches, thinking they never resulted in jobs, but says she found Military.com's listings "better quality" than those on other job search sites. She had previously worked as a loan processor for a California credit union, so she applied online for a real estate loan assistant position.
"I though heck, that's perfect for me so I shot my resume out there and two weeks later, I got a phone call," Pendleton recalls. She has since quit her part-time retail job and is now working, and continuing to build her skills, at Resource Bank in Virginia Beach.
Linking spouses to jobs
Military.com, launched in 1999, is designed to reach U.S. companies committed to hiring wives and husbands of military enlistees. Last year, the site added the Spouse Career Center, a targeted online feature that averages more than 300,000 page views a month, company officials say.
"It has really revolutionized how employers can access the talent pool," said Tom Aiello, vice president of marketing for Military.com, which is based in San Francisco. For companies and HR professionals, it includes tools for accessing and searching spouse resumes. It is free to prospective employers and employees.
The Spouse Career Center has content about spouse benefits and scholarships, and it featudres child care information that could defer costs for employers.
There are more than 1 million military spouses; about 85 percent are female, Aiello says. Military spouses have always been an attractive talent pool, but until recently it has been a somewhat elusive market, he adds.
"There had never been a good mechanism in place where the spouse could go and access all the jobs and employers could go to one source and find these talented military spouses," Aiello said.
Health care and teaching remain hot careers, but different employers are coming to Military.com in increasing numbers. They include USAA, Ceridian, Home Depot, Adecco Inc., Merck, Ann Taylor and Kaiser Permanente, among others, Aiello says.
"It's an incredibly talented pool, and I think previously there may have been some stereotypes of the sort of education or skills they were bringing to the workforce," Aiello said. "It really covers the full spectrum. It could be someone working in retail or a leader or manager or an engineer."
Years ago, Aiello-a West Point graduate and former Army officer-witnessed the problem firsthand when his wife, a degreed electrical engineer, couldn't find a job in her field while living in Texas.
"I think of all the available companies that could tap into this market, and they haven't scratched the surface," Aiello said.
For HR professionals and the companies they work for, Aiello says, military spouses embody many of the values of their service member partners, including loyalty, a strong character and work ethic, and a sense of teamwork.
"There is definitely a feel-good part to this, it's patriotic but at the same time. The employers that are coming to use it almost always realize there's a market arbitrage and it's good business for them," Aiello said.
Military.com holds Hiring Heroes Career Fairs with employers interested in hiring military spouses or severely injured service members.
On Jan. 30, for example, a variety of organizations will be represented at the Ft. Bragg Reserve Training Center in North Carolina. Among them are Boeing; Dollar General; Hudson Financial; IBM; Lockheed Martin; RE/MAX and Southeastern Regional Medical Center of Lumberton, N.C.
Work that can move
Since 2001, Adecco of Melville, N.Y., has partnered with the U.S. government on a project called Career Accelerator. Recruiters at the large staffing and human resource services company provide career counseling, training and job placement at no cost to military spouses.
The program began with a partnership with the Navy and Marine Corps and now includes the Army and military reserves, along with the Coast Guard and Air Force, with which Adecco works "on an informal basis," said Erin B. Walerko, Adecco's Career Accelerator program director and JAG liaison, who is based in Bedford, Va.
Adecco places military members who want part-time work or are transitioning or retiring from the military, as well as family members such as students ages 17 and older who are seeking summer or part-time work. Adecco representatives speak at seminars and hold training sessions on resume writing and job searches, on site, for military spouses.
While there is no guarantee of employment, the Career Accelerator program means that spouses often can take jobs wherever they are stationed and can retain eligibility for benefits and vacation time. Walerko, herself a military spouse, says portability is a key benefit.
"What happens is they don't have to lose any seniority or anything of that nature, they can stay within Adecco and we will transfer them," Walerko continued. "The transferability can be seamless."
The majority of placements are for clerical and administrative support, as well as in production, distribution and assembly and areas such as accounting and finance. "It's a pretty broad spectrum, and we do whatever we can to match the specific skills" to the position, Walerko added.
Walerko said that for HR professionals the program is a "great recruiting source" because many military spouses are "highly educated and their education level typically reflects his or her military member's education level."
The program has made more than 13,000 placements-although total registration is considerably higher. An estimated 26 percent of spouses in the Career Accelerator program have parleyed assignments into permanent employment, Walerko says.
Finding jobs for military spouses is a big concern to the government, because there is a direct correlation between military retention and spouse employment. The expression "If momma's not happy, nobody's happy" holds true, particularly when a spouse can't continue to develop his or her career or when the family needs two incomes.
"If the spouse is very dissatisfied with the opportunities for employment, they often convince their military [family] member to get out," Walerko said.
Study uncovers issues
A 2005 study by the Rand Corp. in Santa Monica, Calif. found that successful recruiting and retention of service members depends in large part on how much they and their spouses are satisfied with the military lifestyle.
The most satisfied families are those with an employed spouse. The study says that the influence of military spouses on service member retention has increased as more spouses work outside the home.
The majority of military spouses are employed, the study found. But when compared with similar civilian counterparts, they are less likely to be employed, are more likely to be looking for work, and often earn less money than comparable civilian spouses.
As a result of the study, Rand researchers made several recommendations to the Department of Defense about how to become more family-friendly. Among them:
* Design programs or policies that recognize that spouses work for various reasons.
* Continue to address child care, including affordability. * Pursue relationships with local and national employers. * Consider incentives or requirements for military contractors hiring military spouses. * Reexamine the priority system for civil service jobs. * Address licensing and certification hurdles. * Raise awareness about spouse employment programs. In another effort to make it easier for military families to find employment, lawmakers in at least one state have pushed to provide tax credits to employers who hire military spouses. A bill sponsored by Oklahoma State Rep. Joe Dorman would provide tax credits to businesses that employ military spouses and have to train a new employee when that military spouse has to move because of redeployment. The credit would cover up to 100 percent of the cost of training up to $1,000.
The bill passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives on a 94-1 vote and was pending in the Oklahoma Senate.
Wait, there's more
More resources have been developed by the Department of Defense, the Department of Labor and other groups to address employment challenges for military spouses. In addition, they offer opportunities for companies wanting to tap this market. Among them:
* Military OneSource, www.militaryonesource.com, a 24-hour employee assistance program run by Ceridian Corp., is available to all active duty, guard and reserve members and their families.
* The Military Spouse Corporate Career Network, http://www.msccn.org, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to placing military spouses in jobs. Corporate members can post jobs, and spouses can submit resumes online. * In addition, www.Milspouse.org, sponsored by the Department of Defense, details employment, educational, training and other community resources available to military spouses, including child care and transportation. * Information about the Army's partnership with corporations that offer employment to military spouses can be found at www.myarmylifetoo.com. Pamela Babcock is a freelance writer based in the New York City area. She has worked as a reporter for The Washington Post and the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., as well as in corporate communications. For the latest HR-related business and government news, go daily to www.shrm.org/hrnews.
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Military.com is 10 million members strong. As the largest military membership organization, Military.com empowers members to make the most of all of the benefits they've earned, advance their careers, enjoy military discounts, and stay connected with their buddies, unit, and service.
