The American Armed Forces Mutual Aid Association and the Department of Defense have partnered in an initiative connecting military spouses with hundreds of partner employers who have committed to recruiting, hiring, promoting and retaining them.
The effort, through the Military Spouse Employment Partnership, aims to increase career opportunities for military spouses by partnering with 700 organizations that offer career options and competitive salaries equivalent to their civilian counterparts.
“With the unemployment rate for military spouses roughly at 21 percent, we want to do what we can to decrease that number,” said AAFMAA President Michael Meese. “We are thrilled to join MSEP and are committed to increasing employment opportunities for military spouses who have long struggled to maintain steady employment due to the challenges associated with military life.”
According to the DOD website, MSEP is a “targeted recruitment and employment solution, creates employment connections that provide companies with direct access to military spouses seeking career opportunities and spouses with direct access to employers who are actively recruiting.”
AAFMAA is a nonprofit financial solutions provider for the military community with headquarters at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia. It also has offices in North Carolina, with military spouses working remotely from locations including Poland, Texas, and Joint Base Lewis-McCord in Washington State.
Meese told ARLnow.com that the non-profit strives to ensure deployment is not an issue for spouses hired at AAFMAA.
According to Meese, AAFMAA currently has a military spouse working for it while living in Poland. The spouse started off working onsite, then her husband was deployed to Poland and now her job is remote.
“When we do have military spouses hired we will keep them with us even after they leave here,” Meese told ARLnow.com.
AAFMAA makes sure families are kept current about available and upcoming job openings. Spouses can choose to connect with MSEP partners about job openings or explore opportunities within AAFMAA.
It believes hiring military spouses provides added value because of their insight into military life, Meese added.
“They understand the challenges when somebody says my husband is deployed, they know exactly what that means,” he said.
AAFMAA has also joined with Blue Star Families and the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes Program 4+1 Commitment to help combat military spouse unemployment.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.