Nearly five years ago, at the height of the veteran unemployment crisis, Hiring Our Heroes was founded on the simple concept of connecting veterans with companies that valued their skills and military service. Over the years, the program has expanded its efforts from initially offering traditional hiring fairs to now including a wide array of resources for military families and employers at every stage of veteran hiring.\u00a0 In addition, we have also connected\u00a0more than half a million veterans and military spouses with new careers.<\/p>\n
And these efforts, along with those of our partners, have made a difference. We are happy to see that veteran unemployment has declined precipitously over the years to a current rate that is below the overall national average.<\/p>\n
But as we celebrate these successes, we also know that there is more work to be done to support military families. While the veteran unemployment rate has dropped,\u00a0the rate for military spouses has held steady at nearly three times that of their civilian counterparts, hovering at nearly 30% for some spouse groups.<\/p>\n
This situation is not something that we can ignore, and it presents us with an opportunity to help solve the problem.<\/p>\n
Starting this month, we are making this year the \u201cYear of the Military Spouse\u201d throughout our organization. Capitalizing on the great work that has been done thus far in our program, we will make 2016 a year of renewed focus and energy in the way of supporting our military spouses.\u00a0 Just as we have in the past, we will continue to work aggressively to address the unique challenges that military spouses face.<\/p>\n
Research shows that military spouse employment is a top concern of today\u2019s service members and their families, and it is viewed as\u00a0one of the top three obstacles to financial security for service members.\u00a0For many active duty service members serving today, their spouse finding employment is a factor in the decision to remain active. As a result, supporting military spouse careers goes beyond a moral and economic imperative – it is an issue of national security, allowing our military to retain top talent for longer commitments.<\/p>\n
With that at the top of our minds as we forge ahead in this renewed effort, we\u2019ll be working with our network of committed employers, our team of military spouses, and experts in the field of spouse employment to develop and improve programs, resources, and best practices for connecting military spouses with fulfilling career options \u2014 and connecting employers with the largely untapped talent pool that military spouses represent.\u00a0 A great example of this is the planned expansion of our presence in our\u00a0networking opportunities for military spouses across the country.<\/p>\n
Throughout the year, Hiring Our Heroes will be sharing updates on our military spouse-focused work in 2016 \u2014 we have exciting projects in the works already \u2014 but to start, we\u2019re excited to announce that we are merging a fantastic military spouse career non-profit organization,\u00a0In Gear Career, into the Hiring Our Heroes team. In Gear Career\u2019s network of professional development and networking chapters, located at a number of military installations around the world, will enable Hiring Our Heroes to provide additional career development and networking opportunities, with other spouses and with committed employers, at a grassroots level year-round.<\/p>\n
Stay tuned to see what other great developments are in store in 2016, Hiring Our Heroes\u2019 Year of the Military Spouse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nearly five years ago, at the height of the veteran unemployment crisis, Hiring Our Heroes was founded<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,61],"tags":[58,69,59],"service_role":[],"class_list":["post-532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-in-the-workplace","tag-events","tag-military-spouses","tag-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n