8 Resources To Help Us Find Our Dream Job
Regarding the issue of military spouse employment, we can break it down into two primary facets to address. First, we have to address what people actually want to do. The goal should not be to simply find every military spouse a job if they want a job. The goal should be to find something that every military spouse is passionate about and working towards. If that looks like a traditional 9-5, then great! Let's work to get you in that position. But for many of us, it probably won't look like that. And there will be others of us still who have a dream job in mind that doesn't necessarily translate to a position that currently exists.
Second, we must put military spouses in a position to get the job they want. And we need to work to maintain their growth opportunities regardless of location. There is a great deal of frustration in never being able to advance past a position in a company simply because we never work at a place long enough to do so.
Let's start to tackle the first issue today. Most of us are starting from scratch. Even if we aren't at day one of our life (and even if we are very far from that day), we are all in a new position right now. We may be early into military life, facing our first deployment. We may be new to an area facing the task of establishing life there. We may be experiencing empty nesting. Even if we feel well-established in our lives, things are changing constantly. Someone with two kids in school who has already PCS'd three times may feel frustrated that they are struggling with this most recent change. But it is still their first time parenting a 6 and 8-year-old while settling in Bismarck, ND. Even the old stuff is brand new, and we have to learn to adjust while accepting the fact that we may feel inexperienced at the moment.
The perfect job at one duty station may not be right at the next. A dream job may only fit one season of our lives. We will probably need to switch things up when we go from deployment to reintegration. Or when we go from two kids to three. Or when we move from California to Maine. So when we find ourselves in a new position and need to start again at finding what works for us, what resources can we turn to? Today I will share some military-friendly and military-run programs that help with this process. And on Monday, we will talk more about the internal soul-searching process that we can go through as well.
1. Career Center on Base
Every branch does this a little bit differently, but each one offers a place to go for job resources. They can help with resume building, sharing local hiring opportunities, or pointing us in the right direction to get additional information or training. This is a great way to get help in person, with someone directly connected to your base and the local job market in your area.
2. Blue Star Families
Their website offers help with resume building, networking opportunities, mentorship, and professional development. Mentorship can be a huge help when figuring out what we want to do. Mentors can show us what a field we are curious about is like. They can also provide guidance based on what they learn about our personalities, strengths, and weaknesses. Look for more information on https://bluestarfam.org
3. Hire Our Heroes USA
Through their website, they offer online career coaching, assistance, and workshops. When we move from the figuring out what we want stage to the actually finding it stage, they can help too. I'll share more about it later when we get to that step, but this organization offers multiple routes to connect us with potential employers. Their website is https://www.hireheroesusa.org
4. Military.com
In their spouse's career section, they offer career ideas. They have many articles that describe various careers. They also share information about what kind of jobs would be good for certain scheduling concerns, personality types, and just about anything else we can think of.
5. Military Spouse EMentorship
This online program provides personalized job search tips and career guidance. They also offer advice and support from fellow military spouses through mentorship. These spouses have ridden the job-finding roller coaster a lot longer than we have, so they have great advice to share regarding our work journey. More information is available on https://mentor program.org
6. Spouse Education and Career Opportunities
A website sponsored by the DOD that works with the Military Spouse Employment Partnership. They provide job coaching, assessments, tools, and resources to help spouses find and prepare for the careers they want. All their information is accessible through https://www.militaryonesource.mil/education-employment/seco
7. The Milspo Project
For those of us that feel entrepreneurship is the way we want to go, this is the perfect spot to check out. We can communicate with other spouses pursuing their own businesses to find mentorship and ideas for what we may want to build. They also offer meetings through local chapters so that we can actually meet in person. These meetings operate in tandem with their online resources and annual conferences. Check out their website at https://milspoproject.org
8. Simple Google Search
Honestly, when we are in discovery mode, trying to figure out what we want to do, Google may be the best option. When we are purely searching for a job that fits our talents and passions, then we are just like everyone in the civilian world. We may, of course, have to adjust our position to work within military life. Still, all the quizzes, questions, and resources in the civilian job market can be just as beneficial to us when we are searching for our perfect job.
All of these are a great jumping-off point to figure out what we want to do. If we start from ground zero, we may have no clue where to go next. Those of us in new stages of life will be equipped with new skills, and we will also probably find ourselves lacking in some skills that we used to have. Once we have some ideas in mind of what the "perfect" job would be (at least for right now), then we can begin to do the internal soul-searching to decide if and how that job would best work within our lives.
The perfect job will be different for everyone. And it will probably look different for us in each stage of life. We may maintain the same job title, but our roles, responsibility, and time commitment may look very different depending on where we are at. Change can be good, and a shift in job style may mean that we are advancing in a field. It could also mean that we are finding, even more so, what our niche in a career is going to be. Come back on Monday to learn the questions we should ask when we find a few jobs that seem like they could be the right fit.
