I am a greedy little woman. It isn’t enough that I am in love with a sailor who also folds laundry. It isn’t enough that I have three kids who brush their teeth every day (OK, the ten year old ain’t so good on the teeth thing, but we’re working on that). I want more.
I want an education.
I want meaningful work.
I want to be paid.
See, I told you I was greedy. But I know a lot of military spouses who are every bit as “greedy” as I am—if that is what you want to call it. Military spouses do want it all—maybe not all at the same time, but we do want it all eventually.
That is why I am psyched for the panel that I am moderating for the Spouse Summit being held Saturday, March 3 in Washington, DC. I get to interview experts about all the hottest issues that affect military spouse employment and spouse education. But what the experts think is hot and what you readers think is hot might be two different things. So see if I am on the right track here:
Do you have age-specific advice?
Advice for new spouse jobseekers without children is necessarily different than advice for the spouses of career military whose children are back in school. Since every military spouse has his or her own constellation of family demands, professional skills, geographic boundaries and personal ambition, how do we figure out what works now?
How do you get a 4 year degree?
I still dream about the old version of the MyCAA program. It allowed spouses married to military members of any rank a total of about $6000 to seek training in transferrable job skills. This included money toward a four-year college degree or a Masters degree. We spouses liked the program so much we signed up in droves—and crashed the program. I want MyCAA back because it was the right program. What do we have to do to convince Washington that spouses are capable of much much more?
What are our MSEP strategies?
Although there are quite a lot of partners in the new MSEP program, I keep hearing that there aren’t jobs specifically aimed at spouses with transferrable skills—yet. The program is still growing. What is the best way to use that program and its military spouse job fairs right now?
So that is my idea of “hot.” Which is not nearly as complete as it should be. What is the most important military spouse career topic for you? Do you care about the new licensing agreement? Is working for yourself a better option for military spouses? Do you have time to pursue education now or are programs needed in the future? And most importantly, do you really think military spouses can have it all or are we kidding ourselves?
Navy wife Jacey Eckhart is Editor of SpouseBuzz and author of I Married a Spartan?? The Care and Feeding of Your Military Marriage.
About Jacey Eckhart
Comments
i guess you call me GREEDY then lol ! I worked all my life untill i married my husband last year. Long story short i moved and since that day i applied at many many jobs and still havent found a job. I am really depressed because before my marriage i had it ALL ! So i guess i am greedy because i have a wonderful husband but i WANT A JOB LOL “”"!
It makes complete sense to want it ‘all’ because that’s what it’s going to take to really make a dent in the ‘double-the-civilian-average’ military spouse unemployment rate. So far, we've only been addressing 'some' of the pieces of the puzzle. Licensing and education are two key components of what should be a three pronged approach. The other key missing piece? Employers. If tomorrow we were to have 100% license portability *and* spouses educated in a professional field that is meaningful to them, we would still suffer higher than average unemployment rates if employers view them as too expensive to hire in the first place. There's the actual cost to retrain their replacement and an emotional cost when the psychology of the workplace is disrupted after they leave.
To be clear, as a military spouse, I fully support the efforts of those who are diligently working on the military spouse licensing and education issues as we are disproportionately affected by them. But are we leaving something out? My questions for military spouses are ‘What have been your experiences in job interviews where the employer knows or finds out you are a military spouse?’ ‘To what degree did you feel that knowledge impacted whether or not you got the job?’ ‘In an interview, are you hesitant or forthcoming about being a military spouse?’ (I think I’m starting to feel a survey coming on…) I genuinely believe we bring more to the table than an interviewer/employer may realize. I also want to believe that the stories (plural) I’ve heard of a military spouse losing a job opportunity due to her (and it’s mostly ’her’) servicemember’s career are merely anecdotal and that a hard look proves otherwise; that employers are delighted to hire military spouses because of the fine-tuned skill sets that come with their diverse experiences.
Since my 'hot topic' is employers, I would encourage spouses to call their Representatives in Congress and ask that they co-sponsor the Military Spouses Employment Act (HR687), a bill that would qualify employers who hire military spouses to apply for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit. The intent of the WOTC is to identify segments of our population facing unique challenges/are disenfranchised from employment opportunities, and provide an incentive for the employer to hire them. (You may remember the existing WOTC for veterans was recently expanded when President Obama signed the VOW to Hire Heroes Act.) Other members of targeted groups include food stamp recipients, 16-17 year old summer youth, and ex-felons.
Recognizing military spouses as similarly disenfranchised from employment (through a bill, which hopefully becomes law, which makes it ‘official’) and extending a tax credit to their employer won’t fix everything, neither will solely focusing on licensing and education. But just like those other two ’prongs’, it’s at least a good start.
Well done navygators. Employers ARE the target group. Employers look at military spouse employees like us as a problem–even when they are hiring for jobs that require knowledge about military life! Thanks for your insight here.
I too am very frrustrated about the MyCAA program…not as a spouse, but as a retiree. I was there the day it was announced at a conference on military education and we all found out during a Spouse Education Panel…the most frustrating aspect was the avoidance of the reason for the 'retooling'. Basically, the old program was so overwhemingly received, they ran out of money 4 months into a new fiscal year…I wish they would have just told folks about it instead of stonewalling for MONTHS.
While I agree the new program is 'better than nuthin', it is woefully inadequate. I would gladly pay more taxes if I knew my money was an investment in the achievement of educational dreams of spouses. When it comes to new platforms, defense contracts, or superior 'air to air combat fighter?', this morale builder, and more importantly extremely successful program merits full funding for ALL who wish to attain degrees, diplomas, or certificates!!
I would be happier to consolidate other programs and give spouses what they overwhelmingly “voted” for with their applications!
I'm sorry, but 20 years ago when I became an Army Spouse, the Army never promise it would pay for my school, babysit my kids or find me a job. So I took care of my own education, hired babysitters and set up baby sitting co-ops with other spouses, and found my jobs the old fashioned way (the Sunday newspaper). Without a single exception, I was able to find a job at every duty station. Sometimes it took a few weeks, sometimes it took six months, but I always found a job. Heck, the last duty station it took three days! I didn't expect any handouts. I didn't expect the Army to do this for me. I did it myself. Frankly, I think the Army does WAY too much for families and spouses. There is duplication (and sometimes "triplication") of programs, many of which do the same things, but in different ways. I am not a fan of the sense of entitlement that has developed among the military spouses in the last 10 years. Spouses need to be aware that many, many things are going away as the Pentagon gets ready to cut millions of dollars from the budget. Some things have already gone away. (For instance, if your soldier deploys as an IA to Iraq or Afghanistan (Individual Augmentee), it used to be considered a PCS, and therefore, the family was eligible to move to a different post, or place of their choosing, while the soldier is deployed. As of January 26, 2012, the Army will no longer pay to move your family to a place of your choosing while your soldier is deployed. After 10 solid years of "taking care of families" by moving an IA family while the soldier deploys, the Army has changed an IA deployment from a PCS to a TCS. This is a perfect example of things starting to "go away". Make no mistake, the cuts are coming. And although there might be considerable backlash if the end of MyCAA were suddenly announced (again), spouses need to be prepared for the fact that it is one of the programs that may very well be cut as the Pentagon begins to trim the budget.
I do not agree. The fact that programs did not exist 20 years ago, does not mean that it was fair.
I have a degree, my husband was moved to the "middle of nowhere", our older daughter lost credits from her college, my credits towards my new degree here are not accepted, and we have been unable to find a decent job.
lack of programs is lack of advance, and a poor economy. Is it fair to the soldiers and the families? I do not think so!
I have to agree with the last poster, Melissa. When I married my husband 17 years ago I was also a soldier and never once did it occur to that once we started a family (and I got out of the Army) the military was going to carry us. It took many years for me to finish school, between changing diapers full time and duty stations a handful of times in there. But I did it, on our dime. And at the time my husband was a jr NCO. While I would have loved to go out and make some big bucks myself, I felt my priority was being home with our kids and supporting my husband in his job advancement. He is now a seasoned Warrant Officer with over 20 years coming up on his final promotion. I have been fortunate enough to have stayed home for 14 years and now I am back out in the work force and know we did the right thing for our kids, our family all by ourselves. I am so tired of hearing young wives complain about not having educational opportunities or job opportunities and expect some government organization to find it for them, and at no cost often times. I say put on the big girl panties and do it yourself or realize maybe the Military lifestyle really isn't for you.
I agree with Melissa and Heather. My husband just joined the military over a year ago so we know the diiferent very well between the civilian life and military life. I don't want to rely on the military for everything because if we decide this is not the career path God wants us to be in then our transition back to civilian life will be a little easy compare to us relying our education and finding jobs through the military.
I am in school right now but I'm only doing part-time online (through a private Christian University, which is one of the high paying Universities to attend) but the Federal grant and a scholarship I won is paying for the expenses, yes I do get the military benefit of lowered tuition but other than that grants and scholarships are helping me pay for it and I like it that way, so like I said, if we do get out of the military I can still try to attend school.
No matter what services the military offers spouses, we will ALWAYS have to be proactive about getting our own education, our own jobs, and our own careers. The old MyCAA program offered spouses a grand total of $6000 towards their education. No way would that pay for the whole thing. But it was seen in the spouse community as "seed money" toward transferrable job skills. The program sent the right message–that other military spouses could be like Melissa and Alicia and Heather and work toward having a career.
What happened to the idea of getting your degree AND THEN getting married?
LOL, in a perfect world. ;) It's true, education, career, marriage, then kids would be the ideal, right? But, that isn't always how it works out.
I have my degree before I get married them 2 kids came and NOO job!
While I appreciate the extra benefit for spouses I'm disappointed with the rank cut-offs. For many of us, its not until the kids are older that we have more time to focus on ourselves and to try to finish our educations. I understand the younger wives probably need it more, but I wonder if this was ever considered!
After we moved, I have been unable to get a job and study. I do not qualify for MyCAA, and my husband's salary barely covers the mortgage of the house we have rented at a loss. We were sent to the middle of nowhere and there is no education or job opportunity for spouses or family members.
I am tired of "knocking doors" looking for opportunities.
I do not see any support from the government to military spouses that have dedicated years to support their husbands.