Hiring Preferences
Some savvy employers recognize
the value of hiring employees who understand the military lifestyle. For
example, the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) employs nearly 18,000
people and about 30 percent of them are military spouses. DeCA uses
various recruiting strategies to attract and retain military spouses and
has established a Family Member Placement Program to facilitate
continued DeCA employment when a staff member’s spouse is
transferred to a different duty station.
The federal government
recognizes the importance of military families and has established a
program that provides hiring preference for qualified military spouses
looking to fill job vacancies within DoD. Spouses of active duty
military personnel (including Coast Guard spouses) who are relocating
due to PCS orders are eligible
to receive priority in DoD’s employment selection process. The
preference is not available to spouses who are relocating because of
retirement or separation from the service. Click here to learn more about DoD’s spouse
preference program, or visit your nearest Defense agency civilian personnel
office.
A broader federal program is also in the works that will allow hiring
managers for all federal agencies to hire qualified military spouses
without going through the competitive process. This is not a hiring
preference program, but will allow some managers to hire some military
spouses without advertising the job. The program will be available to
spouses of active duty personnel on PCS orders, spouses of 100-percent disabled
retirees or separated military members, and unremarried widows or
widowers of military members killed while on active duty. The program is
slated to begin in 2009.
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