The 5 C's of Career Success for Spouses
THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE COMES TO US FROM THE ARMED FORCES PRESS SERVICE. ALTHOUGH AIMED AT MILITARY SPOUSES, IT CONTAINS GOOD CAREER ADVICE FOR ANYONE WHO'S SPOUSE MOVES A LOT FOR THEIR JOB.
Bishop Crutchfield
By Rudi Williams
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 29, 2006 - With frequent moves preventing them
from moving up the career ladder in a single workplace, military
spouses face unique career challenges, a military spouse career
counselor told more than 150 spouses attending a recent Military
Spouse Career Expo at Fort Belvoir, Va.
Laureen DuPree, an Army Community Services employment readiness
counselor and instructor at Fort Belvoir, told the group about
what she called "the 3 C's to career success."
Noting that over the past 20 years, the percentage of military
people who are married has tripled. "Five years ago 52 percent of
the military were married," she noted. "Research shows that the
number of marriages among active duty servicemembers is
increasing."
More than 1.1 million military spouses provide a lifeline of
love, support and encouragement to servicemembers who have a
24-hour-a-day job, DuPree said, and their opinion matters. "A study
published in Military Psychology Journal showed that a spouse's
opinion about the active duty member's re-enlistment was at least
as important, if not more so, than the opinion of the active
duty member himself," she noted. Military spouses who are employed,
she added, express a higher degree of satisfaction with military
life than those who aren't.
But finding a job matching the spouse's talents isn't always
easy as the military family moves from place to place. "The numbers
indicate that military spouses on the whole make less money than
their civilian counterparts even, though they are generally
better educated," DuPree noted. "Seventy-five percent have at least
some college education."
The unemployment rate for military spouses of active duty
personnel is twice the national average for men and three times the
national average for women, she said.
"We're also getting older, which represents another career
challenge," she said. About 20 percent of active duty personnel are
over the age of 35, which makes it likely that their spouses are
close to that as well," DuPree said. "Entering and re-entering
the job market becomes more difficult as time passes."
Dupree cited her "Three C's of Career Success" as the keys to
career building: recognizing one's calling, or niche, in the work
world; expanding connections, or networking; and broadening
choices by taking advantage of education and training opportunities,
volunteer work opportunities and other enrichment opportunities.
DuPree noted that 85 percent of workers are dissatisfied in
their jobs. "I believe that the root cause of much job disaffection
is because the worker lets the job choose her or him instead of
the worker choosing the job," she said. Often, people take jobs
that are not a good fit for them and work hard to fit themselves
into the job, she explained.
"That's too hard work to do for a lifetime of jobs," she told
the audience of military spouses.
"I've spent 30 years trying to help people get in touch with
their calling," she said. "I have talked to people who are 16 and
people who are 66. It's never too late or too early to look at
yourself to find this. For most of us, it's a process. But it
should be a mindful process. There are lots of career
decision-making tests out there."
She recommended that the spouses reflecting on their teen years
early adulthood to determine their calling. "What were you
excited about?" she asked. "What could transport you into
timelessness?"
DuPree said she didn't know what her niche was until she became
a military spouse and was faced with unemployment and
underemployment. "I began to make career choices that suited me," she
noted. "These then evolved into the career counseling and spouse
training positions that I've held for 22 years. My niche is guiding
others into possibilities."
She challenged spouses in the audience "to reflect on your
childhood passions, ask yourself what have you absolutely loved doing
in some of your volunteer jobs, what did you absolutely love
doing in some of your jobs. Discover your calling, honor it, find
your niche -- keep looking and pursuing it. The joy it will bring
is worth the pursuit."
DuPree's second "C" of career success is connecting "steel cable
ties" with friends and families as well as building "social
capital" with labor unions, community and social clubs, military
spouses clubs and other organizations. "All of these are
organizations which put people in touch with other people," she noted.
"These relationships build a wealth of connections which we call
'social capital.' The more capital or connections you have, the
more job opportunities will present themselves. People like to
help people with whom they have a connection."
She noted that good jobs always seem to come from somebody who
knows somebody. "But you have to work at expanding connections
and ties," DuPree said. "Become a joiner, get involved in school,
sports, church organizations, professional organizations,
whatever your interests are. Talk to people, connect with people, earn
that social capital. You can take that to the bank, and you can
withdraw it from the bank when you need it later."
DuPree's final "C" is choice. "I believe that we as military
spouses often feel like we have no choices," she said. "The
military sends our spouses, and we, of course, follow. And we make the
best of it. We get rather passive, I think, because of the
circumstances of frequent moves. Often we can't find the energy to
make active, positive choices, and so we just let things happen."
Military spouses too often take the easiest route to finding a
job and don't get involved in activities or groups, DuPree said.
"However, the choices we make, whether active or passive,
determine the quality of our lives," she added. "We want to make
choices that will expand our menu of choices when it comes to
employment options. Choose to discover your calling, think about it and
dream about it."
Choosing work that leads to expanded skills, DuPree told the
audience, is another choice military spouses should make.
"Every job that you choose to take should help to expand your
career choices at your next duty station and the next, and so on,"
she said. "Always ask yourself, 'Will this job bring me in
closer touch with my calling?' Make active choices and choose wisely.
Our choices determine the quality of our lives."
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