Optimizing VA Benefit Utilization for 2026

The new policy likewise prompted the department's hiring supervisors to prioritize military spouses for noncompetitive consultations before thinking about candidates without employing choice when working with for roles in the competitive and the excepted service. Department of Defense Education Activity schools will now be enabled to work with military partners as soon as they get official modification of station orders instead of waiting up until 30 days before their relocation.

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"The evidence is in the pudding, it's constantly how they pick to carry out. They can make all the ideas they want, but unless they follow through, unless they track it, it doesn't truly have any teeth. It's going to need to be among those wait and see example," Hoppin told Federal News Network.

Anything that's going to assist assist in much faster hiring and less wait time is a great thing. It's going to all go back to how effectively they implement things," she added. And the policy's emphasis on licensing alternative worksites may be restricted in practice, depending upon the types of roles readily available to military partners.

I think all of it depends on what sort of tasks they're going to push military spouses towards, because if they are classroom jobs or jobs that need you to be on website, then I do not understand how that's going to assist with the versatility part," Hoppin stated. The memo, nevertheless, presents a brand-new reporting requirement that could, for the very first time, shed light on how frequently military spouses are thought about and chosen for tasks and why they are passed over.

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Hoppin stated the department should not miss the opportunity to collect more granular data, such as the number of positions offer alternative work flexibilities, alerting that otherwise the gathered information might not inform the full story. "The feedback we get from military partners is we would like to see more remote work opportunities or hybrid opportunities.

The Updated Outlook on VA Retirement

"I don't understand of a time when we have actually truly had this strict reporting requirement so I believe that's heartening I hope we don't stay leading line questioning. I hope that they delve a bit much deeper and inquire to report more in depth about why military partners weren't worked with and what the obstacles were.

As part of this push to work with more military partners, the department likewise desires working with managers to make greater use of an existing database of military spouse prospects through the Military Spouse Education and Career Opportunities site. Firm talent management groups will provide hiring managers with access to and training on the MySECO system.

"Military spouses first off, have to understand about the resource. They need to know that they're supposed to register. They have to know to keep their details upgraded. As a military partner, you might put your info therein once, however by the time you return to it, you might have moved 2 or 3 times and the information might be unimportant so it's going to require a strong marketing push," Hoppin stated.

The success of the policy, Hoppin said, will depend upon how successfully the department brings numerous groups on board at the exact same time. Military spouses will need to understand what resources are available to them, while employing supervisors will need training on brand-new hiring mechanisms and how to use those systems to determine prospects.

What Are the Employment Options for Spouses ?

Plus, the policy is limited to DoD it would require to be scaled across the federal government to drive meaningful change. "I think it's a great start, however it's still one firm and one initiative. I also don't think that we're going to be able to reduce that military partner joblessness rate unless we look at the retention concerns," Hoppin stated.

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