I have profound respect for our military–soldiers, spouses, and families. They provide a priceless service to our country and make sacrifices the rest of us can’t even begin to imagine. But spouses also make a career sacrifice because of the hit they take to their resume employment history. It’s hard to develop a solid career path when you’re moving from post to post every year or two.
I recently received an email from a military spouse asking me how to reassure recruiters and employers with reservations about her ‘interrupted’ work history and find a job. I looked at her background: great worker, ambitious, competitive…just didn’t have the resume full of performance numbers that job seekers need.
My advice to her: Look for folks on LinkedIn with her specific military branch (Marine) in their backgrounds and contact them directly. They will absolutely be more receptive to her.
If you’re in the job market, you should absolutely use every strategic advantage you have, and a military background is a strong one. Soldiers have a strong bond (as well they should) and take care of their own–and that includes spouses, too.
Veterans, your military background makes you an excellent candidate in the job search, too. You have skills, discipline, and a strong work ethic that’s valuable in the private sector.
But whether or not you were ever in the military, your best path to a job is ALWAYS through contacting hiring managers directly. (See these Hidden Job Market Strategy Tips for ideas.) They are the ones with jobs to fill, and they are the ones who make the decision to fill them. That’s who to talk to. LinkedIn is a great way to contact them, but other social media like Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ works, too. Use your network, do some research, and find them.
You can do that on your own, but if you’re interested in getting some help to get it done in a hurry, please check out my Hidden Jobs Finder system. It’s got a complete guide to finding hiring managers, sample emails to send to them, and lots of ideas for getting and keeping their attention.
Best of luck.