Military service members and spouses have several new resources from the Department of Defense and the USO when looking for work.
The Pentagon announced late last month that it was launching its new upgrades MySECO website, which provides career and educational guidance to military spouses around the world.
“The DoD Spouse Education and Career Program connects military spouses with benefits and support that help them overcome barriers to employment, such as frequent relocations,” said Patricia Montes Baron, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Military Community and family policy. “MySECO is an important tool for spouses and we are excited to offer them an easier, faster and more intuitive way to explore their interests, explore professions and seek scholarships, seek schools and find work.”
The website helps spouses take advantage of DoD benefits such as $ 4,000 for education and training and a database of companies that have committed to hiring and hiring military spouses.
Blue star families study found that military spouses were particularly hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Almost half of the working spouses have lost their jobs. The spouses were already struggling with high unemployment due to the need to move frequently with their employee.
DoD will also hold its fifth annual virtual fair for hiring military spouses on June 16. The fair gives them the opportunity to talk to hiring managers from over 100 companies around the world.
“We are proud of the success of [the] military employment program (MSEP) since its inception 10 years ago, “said Montes Baron. “The MSEP Virtual Recruitment Fair is the ideal platform to recognize this success, making it easier and more convenient for military husbands around the world to connect with hiring managers who recognize their value as employees.”
USO, a charity that supports service members and their families, also provides a new one mentoring program for transitional members of the service and spouses.
Those who sign up for the program take a survey at the beginning to assess their interest in different careers.
“In fact, there is an algorithm that connects mentors to mentors from a point of view,” Laura Zabriski, USO’s military family team program manager, told the Federal News Network. “When a mentor seeks mentors, there is a list that is provided to them based on the way they answered the questions at the beginning and based on the availability of mentors. The great thing about this is that you can go down to this list and contact these mentors. You can also do a keyword search. Suppose you want to learn more about yoga – write “yoga” and it appears with mentors who have yoga on the list or knowledge of yoga, or maybe have basic meditation or something in their profile. “
Sunny Babauta Lee, a transition management program specialist at USO, said these pairings could also target settlements so that employees and spouses can meet with mentors when they move to a new area.