More than 40 employers, including several of the area’s most prominent businesses, gathered inside the main ballroom at The Clubs at Quantico to meet 350 registered military spouses who attended the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and Hiring Our Heroes’ Military Spouse Employment Program job fair Sept. 5, 2013.

Participating employers included some of the nation’s largest defense companies, such as Lockheed Martin and ManTech, as well as, law enforcement, healthcare, communications and food companies.

Despite the transitory lifestyle of military spouses, Laura Dempsey, director of the Military Spouse Employment Program, said employers are eager to hire them.

“We have employers who are much more educated about the value of military spouses, whereas before I think some were reluctant to hire spouses because of their temporary nature,” Dempsey said. “Employers now see how hardworking, flexible and self-starting they are and they are telling other employers about it.”

Military spouses aren’t the only group without career-long jobs. The median time of employment for American workers in one job is 5.4 years, according to research from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

“I really think employers’ attitude toward the longevity of any given employee is changing,” Dempsey said. “So the thinking [of employers] now is, ‘if I’m going to have somebody for a few years, do I want to take a shot at the general population or do I want this great [demographic of military spouses].’”

Rachel Rice, a Marine spouse at Quantico, is a testament to the program’s success. This is her second year attending the career fair, only this time she was there as an employer with The Major Group, a career training and certification company for military spouses.

“It’s great to be able to pay it forward,” said Rice, a career development specialist.  “I know there’s a lot of talent in the military spouse community so it’s great for employers to recognize that and find ways to make their abilities work for them.”

Although the Department of Defense’s Spouse Education and Career Opportunities program recently met their 2015 goal of hiring 50,000 military spouses, Eric Eversole, executive director and vice president of Hiring Our Heroes, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, said their program is always looking for growth opportunities.

“We’re constantly looking at ways to improve the technology to find new ways to connect with military spouses and continue to push the envelope that puts great employers with great spouses,” Eversole said.

One way the program is improving networking among military spouses and employers is through LinkedIn. When spouses attend career fairs or any of the spouse employment events, representatives from the program will add them to the “Hiring Our Heroes Spouses” group on LinkedIn.

“Typically spouses are the new person in town, which makes it very difficult to establish a professional network, which is [primarily] how people get jobs today,” Dempsey said. With our LinkedIn network for each region, we will facilitate job postings and events. [Additionally,] mentors and leaders can talk to each on how they can better serve the spouses.”

The program already launched groups in Tampa, Fla.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; and in the Washington metro area last week. Dempsey said the program plans to launch eight more around the nation.

The next Hiring Our Heroes job fair is Nov. 1, at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, D.C.

 Writer: afelton@quanticosentryonline.com