But there are more obstacles than usual when they look for employment opportunities.
August 15, 2006
The search for employment is a daunting task for anyone in the job market. Potential employees must consider basics like salary and wages, working hours vs. personal time, and how their work will affect their quality of life.
Additionally, there are always obstacles to employment. Degrees and certifications are required, interviews must be conducted, background checks must be completed, references contacted, and licenses issued…especially when moving from state to state.
Military spouses, who generally relocate when the military asks their service member to move for his or her job, face the process of finding and securing a job more often than they would like.
Finding an employment opportunity in a particular field of expertise is sometimes difficult for military spouses. It’s true that some bases and posts are located in or near metro areas where many industries, trades and types of commerce require large numbers of employees to generate necessary products and services.
However, many military families find themselves living in small cities and towns that do not require such a large and varied work force. These smaller communities cannot offer employment in a variety of fields. This is disappointing for military dependants who would like to build their careers as they relocate with their service members.
“We really don’t know from one PCS assignment to the next if our [employment] options will be limited or not,” said Shantel Scrogin, who has relocated twice since she married her husband.
Scrogin, who earned a bachelor’s of science degree in marketing from Northwest Missouri State University, has never had the opportunity to work in her field of study. While she is often able to use her marketing skills, she has not yet been able to develop a marketing career.
Having left the cold, snowy winters of New York for the milder cold season of the southeastern states, Stephanie Powell had no warmer choices in which to dress for her job interview in Colorado but a light blazer and wool skirt.
“I followed my husband Jeff to his duty stations in Georgia and Florida, and I realized after a couple of moves that you just can’t keep all your clothes and things,” she said. “By the time Jeff got stationed in Colorado, I didn’t have any cold weather clothes left.”
Walking up a steep incline from the parking lot to the office building where Powell would meet her prospective employers for her interview, her leather-soled shoes slipped on an icy patch of sidewalk, causing her to scramble for balance. In this struggle, her knees bent and her arms, once holding her purse and portfolio, flew in front of her body to catch her fall. As a result, she arrived at her interview with a deeply scraped and bloody knee, torn nylons, and a palm full of little cuts and pebbles.
The receptionist working in the foyer of the office building compassionately offered to reschedule the interview, but Powell emphatically declined her offer, worried already that her status as a military dependent might be a strike against her.
Although she had considerable experience in her field, excellent references, and great interpersonal skills, she feared that changing jobs three times in six years might negate her qualifications for the position.
Longevity in one job setting is a resume characteristic difficult to come by when you are a military spouse.
“Some people don’t want to hire and train someone who might not be with the company for a great length of time,” Powell pointed out. “During interviews, I have to show potential employers that the time they spend training me will benefit their company … just like all the other candidates. The difference is, my resume shows that I have less longevity with my former employers than most of my competition.”
Scrogin recalls from her experiences searching for employment that after the interviewing employers learn that she is part of a military family, “The question I am asked most often during interviews is, ‘How long will you be stationed here?’ And honestly, there is no straight answer that we, as spouses, can give them to reaffirm that we are the best candidate.”
Different Situations in Different States
Moving from state to state introduces an entirely different set of obstacles to many working military dependants. Many fields of employment like education, medical care, legal services and real estate require the employees to obtain state mandated certificates and licenses.
Not only are these often difficult to earn, they can be expensive. For example, most states require teachers to pass specific tests in several areas of study based on the areas the educator will teach. State licenses cannot be issued without meeting the scoring requirements set by state boards of education. Each test that an educator registers to take requires a separate fee. These required tests can cost the educator several hundred dollars.
Michelle Kohlweiss, a teacher with nine years of experience, recently moved from one state to another. Before she moved, she investigated the school district in which she was interested in teaching. Kohlweiss found that, because it was common for the district to hire educators from other areas, the district offered some telephone interviews and provided access to application and licensing processes via the Internet.
These were all excellent features for the district to offer someone in Kohlweiss’ position, but there were a few problems. Because much of the hiring process was completed through computer technology, it was not the same as working with people. If something within the application process became confusing, it was difficult to find someone with whom to speak about the problem because, in this particular district, not many people were working in positions set aside to assist applicants.
Kohlweiss also had preferences concerning the type of school in which she would like to teach but found it difficult to learn precise information about vacancies in individual schools using the technology that this district offered on the Internet.
She wanted to learn about programs offered at the schools and the needs and challenges that different campuses were facing. With this more detailed information, she would have been able to apply and request specific jobs at specific campuses, rather than file a general application with the district and hope for position that she would enjoy.
“Just not knowing for sure if there is a [desired] position available is tough,” she said.
Because military spouses move so frequently, they are usually the most recently hired members of a working staff. These workers face the risk of losing their jobs if companies decide to decrease the number of employees they utilize. Kohlweiss, who has changed teaching positions and locations many times, pointed out that you lose all seniority when you come into a new employment position.
“So, if there is a reduction, you are the first to go,” she noted.
Spouses Make the Most of Opportunities
When military spouses do have the opportunity to choose from a variety of employment opportunities, they love to be able to weigh personal matters that can improve their family’s quality of life. Pay is certainly always considered, but surprisingly, not always the first characteristic of an employment opportunity that spouses contemplate.
Time as a family is repeatedly mentioned as a top priority among military spouses seeking employment. This is a consideration for military spouses with and without children. Military personnel have unpredictable work schedules. Service members spend several months away from home each year, sometimes more than twelve consecutive months.
And after their normal work duties, there are military functions, formal and informal, that require the service members’ attendance. At times, military personnel have duties that require their attention “24/7.” As Stephanie Powell put it, “If I can’t see him at home after work, then I’ll see him at his staff call. I’d rather see him there, in a crowd of people, than not at all.”
When spouses seeking employment are not able to find work in their most preferred field, many choose the job with the employer who will offer them the best quality of life as a military dependant. Employers who are able to place a high value on family life and allow for flexibility in the work place will be able to attract the most experienced military dependents to the interview table.
Shantel Scrogin’s former boss sent her and her husband, James, on a luxury cruise to show his appreciation for her success in improving the efficiency of his business and for her dedication to his company.
And despite Stephanie Powell’s winter wardrobe problems and possibly unprofessional appearance at her interview in Colorado, she was hired and has been working for the same company for three years.
At the end of Michelle Kohlweiss’ long search for a job, she obtained a second grade teaching position in an elementary school with a high-needs population, which is perfect for her personality and teaching style.
“It could have worked out in an opposite manner, though, and I might not be so happy,” she said.
Military spouses bring to the interview table many valuable characteristics that others just do not possess: wisdom that is earned by working with diversified groups of people from all over the world, a variety of professional experiences that can improve the function, service and/or production of a work place, and the flexibility necessary to foster new and improved ideas.
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Shannon Herzik, an army spouse who has relocated five times in the past nine years, is experiencing a variety of unexpected employment challenges at her new home overseas.
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