In the article Military Spouse Unemployment, Is it Really a Problem?, we discovered that the unemployment rate among military spouses is an excruciating 26%, as compared to the national rate of 7%. This doesn’t just mean that 26% of us are unemployed. What this means is that 26% of us are actively seeking work and are not currently employed.
What we know is that a much larger group of military spouses say they are either underemployed or not employed at their education levels. In today’s economic climate many military families want to have two incomes and some even need both parents working just to stay afloat or attempt to get ahead and plan for the future.
So many of us don’t feel like we are in a position to get the jobs we are applying for, and it can be hard to see how our lifestyle can provide us with any benefits in the job-seeking department. But there are some positives…being a military spouse CAN help you get a job. Here is a list of things you may not have considered:
9 Ways Being a Military Spouse Can Help You Get a Job
1) We are online networking masters
Years of various duty stations have led to Facebook friend requests and twitter follows and MySpace messages (is that still a thing?) and holy crap! We’re networking! Networking is as easy as that, honest to God. You can get more in depth if you like, but I started out my low paying highly rewarding career of a starving writer by networking.
My mom likes to call it “wasting time on Facebook” and my husband likes to call it “avoiding dishes,” but wouldn’t you know that, all because of one properly placed reply to a snarky comment on a Military Spouse article, I’ve now had nearly half a dozen articles published just on militaryspouse.com? As a result, my book sales have taken a *teeny* tiny lift, and my blog has a few followers. Plus, my mom now sees me as a bona fide writer.
Once you’ve figured out how you like to network online you’ll want to find out the best approach to doing it. Here are a few websites, outside of Facebook, that are designed solely for online networking: www.msccn.org, www.linkdin.com, www.meetup.com
Facebook may seem like a silly way to network, but EVERYONE uses it… including businesses. Here are my favorite “networking” organizations offline who have Facebook pages:
In Gear Career, Local chamber of commerce, Local spouse club, AND Local volunteer run organizations are a PHENOMENAL way to get in touch with people looking for employees. When you volunteer with people, they talk more openly and get a better feel for who you are as a person.
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