Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, the military spouse unemployment rate was at 24% — 7.5 times higher than all adult women. The pandemic is likely to exacerbate this as the economy recovers from widespread job losses. We know that military spouses have the diversity of work experience, maturity and leadership skills that come with managing an unpredictable lifestyle, but this talent is often hard to translate to a resume. What military spouses need most is a foot in the door.
To help address this critical need, Booz Allen Hamilton partnered with Hiring Our Heroes (HoH) to sponsor the launch of the Hiring Our Heroes Military Spouse Fellowship Program. A HoH fellowship provides military spouses with six weeks of professional training, networking, and hands-on experience in the civilian workforce. The program is free for participating corporations and provides a stipend for the spouse. Spouses benefit from a direct connection to local employers that enables them to quickly build their networks and gain localized job experience. Employers benefit because they gain access to a highly skilled and educated talent pool that they may not otherwise consider.
Booz Allen also partners with Hiring Our Heroes to facilitate workshops that help military spouses focus on their personal brand. The goal is to give military spouses a competitive edge, whether they are pursing direct employment or an available spot with a fellowship. The training focuses on helping military spouses build their online presence and helping them achieve their career goals with an emphasis on clarity and action.
Only the spouse can decide what their career goals are and the options they want to pursue in order to achieve them. But in order to fully tap into this highly talented population, corporations would benefit from investing time and money to find partners that can help them connect with this global, skilled and hard-working talent. We urge our fellow employers to reach out to organizations like DoD’s Military Spouse Employment Program, Hiring Our Heroes and others to learn how.
To learn more about this partnership and the Military Spouse Fellowship Program, visit hiringourheroes.org.
To learn more about veteran career opportunities made available through Booz Allen, visit boozallen.com.
This post was provided to Hiring America by George Bernloehr, Head of Military and Veteran Affairs at Booz Allen.
