Overcoming Military Spouse Career Gaps in 2026

The new policy also advised the department's hiring supervisors to focus on military partners for noncompetitive consultations before thinking about candidates without employing preference when working with for functions in the competitive and the excepted service. Department of Defense Education Activity schools will now be allowed to employ military spouses as quickly as they get main change of station orders rather of waiting until 30 days before their move.

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"The evidence remains in the pudding, it's constantly how they pick to implement. They can make all the ideas they desire, however unless they follow through, unless they track it, it does not truly have any teeth. It's going to have to be one of those wait and see kind of things," Hoppin told Federal News Network.

Anything that's going to help facilitate faster hiring and less wait time is an excellent thing. But it's going to all return to how efficiently they execute things," she added. And the policy's emphasis on authorizing alternative worksites may be limited in practice, depending upon the kinds of functions offered to military spouses.

I think all of it depends on what kind of jobs they're going to press military partners toward, since if they are class jobs or tasks that require you to be on website, then I don't know how that's going to aid with the flexibility part," Hoppin said. The memo, however, presents a brand-new reporting requirement that could, for the very first time, clarified how often military spouses are considered and chosen for tasks and why they are passed over.

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Hoppin said the department must not miss the chance to gather more granular information, such as how many positions offer alternative work flexibilities, cautioning that otherwise the collected information may not inform the full story. "The feedback we get from military spouses is we would like to see more remote work opportunities or hybrid chances.

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"I do not understand of a time when we have actually actually had this stringent reporting requirement so I think that's heartening I hope we don't stay leading line questioning. I hope that they dive a bit deeper and ask to report more in depth about why military spouses weren't hired and what the difficulties were.

As part of this push to work with more military partners, the department likewise wants employing supervisors to make higher usage of an existing database of military spouse prospects through the Military Partner Education and Career Opportunities site. Agency talent management teams will supply employing supervisors with access to and training on the MySECO system.

"Military partners first of all, have to know about the resource. As a military partner, you may put your details in there when, but by the time you go back to it, you may have moved two or three times and the details may be irrelevant so it's going to need a strong marketing push," Hoppin said.

The success of the policy, Hoppin said, will depend upon how successfully the department brings multiple groups on board at the same time. Military spouses will require to know what resources are offered to them, while employing managers will need training on brand-new hiring mechanisms and how to use those systems to recognize prospects.

Expert Career Planning Insights for Veterans

Plus, the policy is restricted to DoD it would require to be scaled throughout the federal government to drive significant modification. "I believe it's a great start, however it's still one firm and one initiative. I also don't think that we're going to have the ability to decrease that military partner joblessness rate unless we take a look at the retention concerns," Hoppin said.

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