Happy Military Spouse Day! Let’s Talk Jobs for Spouses > DoD Blogger Roundtable

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What a great day! Celebrating the contributions of military spouses to their families, services and country! A special shout out to my favorite military spouses > MilAve_Deborah and MilAve_Leanne. Immense contributions at that but I digress from the purpose of this blog which is to announce how much progress can be said for military spouse employment and provide "How To" tools to help!

When the DoD Blogger Roundtable met yesterday afternoon there was no big announcements, no laudatory pats on the back, just continued improvement of tools that military spouses can use to find gainful employment or continued success in their choice of careers.


The top item of the Roundtable agenda was professional licensing for jobs that are transportable between states but require licenses. The top three jobs that spouses have identified with license issues between states (from MyCAA) were for 1) allied health (nurses, radiologists and other technicians), 2) K-12 Education and 3) Child Care professionals. The Chief of the DoD State liaison office, Max Beauregard said that they are working 10 issues a year on state policies and have now seen 36 states agree to improve the transportability of military spouse credentials (ie make it easier to move your license from one state to another). I did ask for the list of states that are not yet participating so we can hit them hard with “why not letters” and we will publish that after we receive it from DoDLive.

Max also said that a web page for licensing by state is ready to go on Military One Source and should be up any day! It will be an interactive map for each state’s licensing issues with links to each state for license application procedures > sounds like a fantastic tool!

Meg O'Grady, manager of the Spouse Education and Career Opportunities program said that MSEP (Military Spouse Employment Program) now has 160 business partners (up from 129) since we last met with her and that they are working on 30 more for this year’s program. They can identify 43,000 spouses that have been hired through MSEP.

One of the business partners is the Department of Defense and you can get a military spouse preference for federal employment! Call the Career Center through Military One Source for help with questions about federal jobs or any issues with employment. The number is 800 342 9647! They have career counselors standing by to help you and give you assistance with this somewhat arduous process. They do have quite a few openings according to Meg. The preference is also included for DoD Education Activity teachers so you can get going prior to an overseas PCS. They are trying to streamline the process but the Office of Personnel Management for the entire federal work force controls it so ….

The next level of effort for MSEP is going to be for spouse entrepreneurs and mentorship for this group of businesses. The MSEP is working with non profits like Blue Star Families to help with information and mentorship opportunities will be available. I came away from the Roundtable with a bit of excitement for the future of military spouse employment!

Have a great Military Spouse Day and best wishes in those career decisions! Do you remember this blog from MilitaryAvenue? 101 Ways to Thank a Military Spouse!   It is a fun one to share on your special day!  Maybe someone will take advantage of the list and do something special. 




Here is a great list of resources for you! A big thank you to DoDLive and the Social Media Operations at Defense Media Activity who hosted the Roundtable.

Website/pages 

http://www.militaryonesource.mil/12038/Project%20Documents/MilitaryHOMEFRONT/MyCAA/FactSheet.pdf 

http://www.militaryonesource.mil/seco 

http://www.usa.gov/ 

Twitter 

https://twitter.com/YourCommissary 

https://twitter.com/MSEPjobs The Military Spouse Employment Partnership (MSEP) is a targeted recruitment and employment solution for all military spouses and companies.

https://twitter.com/JoiningForces Official WH twitter account.

https://twitter.com/DeptofDefense

https://twitter.com/Military1Source Offering resources, referrals, consultations and counseling services on the issues that concern military families; 24 hours/day, 7 days/week, 365 days/year.

https://twitter.com/MC_FP Military Community and Family Policy provides policy, tools, and resources to further enhance the quality of life of service members and their families.

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Col K is a retired Air Force pilot who served with the best of the military community from the Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and Air Force. He flew combat rescue and special operations helicopters, fixed wing trainers and airlift and retired while flying the C-17 as the Vice Wing Commander of the 62nd Airlift Wing at McChord AFB. He enjoys writing about military issues and is a frequent contributor to the the DoD Blogger Roundtable at DoDLive. A member of a proud military family that created MilitaryAvenue.com to support the troops and their families, he enjoys the continued military ties from blogging.