Career Talk Blog | There’s Hope for Military Spouses Who Often Change Employers

Headlines of unemployment rates and political discussions on the workforce fill the news every day.

 

The job market will always be changing, and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average amount of time an employee is staying with an employer is 4.6 years.

Human resource departments across the country constantly face turnover. Employees leave for a variety of reasons and they need to be replaced.

 

This is good news for military spouses, who face many challenges when it comes to finding work.

Transitioning between jobs every few years is a common sacrifice that many military spouses have to make. It is clear that the military lifestyle may not be ideal for civilian employers. Investing money in training and then turning around to have to replace them can be a major setback.

But, the reality is that turnover is something that all employers deal with. Having a new job every few years is no longer common among just military dependents, but their civilian counterparts as well despite the reason for leaving.

 

In the United States, women have on average 11.4 jobs in their lifetime and men 10.7.

Combined with other factors, the younger generation is helping to drive these numbers up. It used to be common for employees to work for a single employer their entire career and then retire. You got “in” with a company, worked your way up, and eventually retired with benefits.

New graduates now find entry-level positions and get the experience they need to move onto another job with another employer. This cycle repeats and employees are able to make more money, be widely experienced in their industry, and hopefully advance into higher positions.

 

With the job market statistics shifting in this direction, military spouses should begin to eliminate the negative belief that working multiple jobs in their careers is a bad thing.

There are many positive aspects to workers who have a wide variety of experience. Experience with different demographics, industries, and work environments make well-rounded workers, which are desirable for employers.

 

Being educated and trained for portable careers in high demand fields will make the employment process easier.

Ideally, when at a new duty station military spouses will be able to find work quickly to reduce the amount of time unemployed.

The Major Group training offers over 70 certification programs in high-demand fields for military spouses. With the proper training and resources, military spouses can help make the job searching process shorter to help them maximize the amount of time they have available to work at each duty station in the future.

We’d love to help you advance your current career or assist you in learning a new one with one of our many MyCAA approved scholarship grants for eligible military spouses.

 

“Employee Tenure Summary.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 18 Sept. 2012. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.

“Spouse Employment.” National Military Family Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.