I don’t know about you, but job hunting as a military spouse has been an emotional rollercoaster. I mean shoot, job hunting without the military spouse piece involved is a wild ride, but doing it while relocating frequently drives me one step closer to insanity each week.
Being at this current juncture I’m in (trying to find a remote opportunity that will bring me closer to my long-term professional goal) I have often felt confused, frustrated + dumb. BUT I’M NOT DUMB. This process is just that
hard
. Thankfully, we have amazing resources available to us as military spouses + it’s important to both Jen + myself that this blog can be a place those resources are housed so WAFs feel encouraged + know where to start if they’re ever in the same boat.
WAF Mary sent us a DM on Instagram a few weeks ago (thank you Mary!!) about a Virtual Spouse Symposium that was happening. We shared the info on our Instagram story + I decided to register because it was free + I was curious what they had to offer.
The symposium was hosted by the
Spouse Education + Career Opportunity
program (SECO) established by the Department of Defense. Prior to this symposium I had no idea what SECO was or what resources were available through them. Now, I know it consists of 3 major components:
- The Military OneSource Spouse Career Center – A FREE coaching service available to military spouses. This can include pre-packaged areas developed by SECO or you can reach out + develop a coaching package catered to your specific needs.
- The Military Spouse Employment Partnership – This consists of multiple components, the most relevant for most of us is the job search engine.
- My Career Advancement Account Scholarship Program – A scholarship program for spouses with a high-school degree seeking licensure, certification of some sort, or an associate degree.
You guys, my eyes were opened in a major way to these awesome resources through this symposium. I literally had no clue any of this existed. SECO is doing a LOT to try to help military spouses not only get hired, but get hired in fields that are meaningful + capture that passion piece most of us aren’t wanting to sacrifice for the sake of a job. One big event they host is this annual Virtual Symposium. As I mentioned, I signed up for several talks + truly took something away from each speaker. I deeply appreciated that each speaker was extremely knowledgeable, passionate + engaging (anyone ever try to sit through a talk with a monotone presenter…idc if you’re in person or virtual, no chance you’re able to take as much away from that).
is the link to the archived talks, they aren’t available yet, but keep your eyes peeled because they should be coming soon!
Beyond the tangible knowledge I took away from each speaker (e.g., applications like Asana _ Slack that employers are expecting you to have an understanding of operationally + where to get trained for those types of apps that support remote work), they hosted a chat room off to the side that participants were allowed to ask questions + SECO reps were ready to respond (almost immediately) with an answer + often connections to additional resources. A resource that I immediately took advantage of was the
. As I said earlier, I’m at a juncture where I’m trying to shift my career into more remote opportunities + I know I need someone knowledgeable about what that would take in my corner. I’m signed up for a phone call with a coach + will be sure to jump on the Instagram to update you on how that goes + later do a follow-up post on here! (Side note: if you’re having trouble getting signed up, I utilized the live chat feature + the SECO staff were super helpful).
Taking it a step further, there were SO MANY knowledgeable military spouses in that chat providing resources that have been a huge help to them. As we all know, this milso community is FULL of incredible people + ultimately the best resource we have is each other, so I would highly encourage everyone to look into SECO, especially next year’s symposium + take advantage of networking with other spouses who get our daily struggle + are here to help! One spouse in the group chat mentioned this
that has been a great way for me to get my information out there + begin networking with other military spouses either in the working world or trying to get back in the working world. This facebook group is exactly what led me virtual assistant program I signed up for earlier today + will be periodically updating you on, so stay tuned!!
In the meantime, stay positive + stay persistent with your job hunt (I say this very thing to myself at least once a day). There are so many success stories out there of WAFs landing their dream opportunity that fits right in with their military spouse lifestyle, I’m hoping to start getting more resources I stumble across up on the blog as I continue on this journey with you all!
Xo, Kirst
