Dear Employers

Dearest Gentle Readers,

(Haha…yes, I am watching Bridgerton.)

I am in a phase of turmoil and change right now in my life. We are upside down in the midst of an overseas move, which includes 3 separate pack-outs, and we have the added piece of sorting items for our first little birdie to leave the nest and take her things off to college. She’ll be roughly 7,000 miles away from us. We aren’t any different from other families moving overseas. But I feel like my writing should reflect my life, and right now I am like a 6th grader with ADHD, I have about 47 tabs open in 4 different browsers about college dorm move-ins, job hunting, housing in our new location, travel hacks, and more. 

So I have decide to write different pieces that are reflective of things happening. Please bear with me. Some of you may love the different format, others may not….but I’m sure I’ll get back to my usual style in time.

I hope you all can reap something from this. 

I call it my “Dear So-And-So” series.

Photo by John-Mark Smith: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-holding-fountain-pen-211291/

Dear Employers,

Military spouses are a population of the most resilient, innovative, creative, and productive employees you could ever desire to have on your team. Sometimes employers worry about the terminal amount of time that a milspouse can offer to a job. Or that we have to call out more often to take care of kids when our bread-winning spouse is deployed, on temporary work travel, or unable to call in to work because the military simply doesn’t accept a call-in. Or that we have a spotty resume. Or that is lacks longevity. FEAR NOT.

Please allow me to share with you our vast array of unmatched skills. Sure, plenty of employees have some of these traits, but we are the whole kit-and-kaboodle, and having one of us on your team is the BEST HR move! 

Our exposure to short term schedule changes or sudden unexpected demands makes us flexible and resilient masters of problem solving and creating workable solutions.

We are efficient and productive, making so much happen in such a small amount of time. 

We are masters at creatively overcoming a project or programming challenge and finding unique ways to get’er done!

We have the ability to see various perspectives even from within our own point of view because we have shared the stage with such a variety of other people and their perspectives! 

We lovingly offer caretaking and nurturing on demand, as we have to so many who have recently given birth, had surgery, or lost a loved one and just need a home cooked meal. Or having watched a little person while their mama had a doctor’s appointment or a massage. Or being that understanding shoulder to cry on when a friend’s spouse’s deployment just got extended.

We capably meet deadlines and goals with gusto, because we are used to being on some sort of deadline for everything we do….signing a kid up for school or sports, getting in all our routine medical stuff before moving again, or completing some career requirement before the next change of state and licensing or education requirements.

Milspouses define social flexibility, able to adapt communications and interactions at a moment’s notice! We are constantly forced to recreate our social networks every time we move, forging new relationships in record time. We have no problem asking our 2-day-new-bestie to be the emergency contact on our kids’ school registrations at a new duty station, and this skill will apply to welcoming new coworkers to the team, networking with industry associates, and more!

Our emotional IQ is higher than you will ever know. We are regularly faced with separation from friends and family, help our children and peers cope with intense psychological stressors unique to our lifestyle, and overcome rapid-fire exposure to extreme ranges of life experiences. We. Bounce. Back.

Bottom line, is that we are an ASSET to any work team. We bring so may gifts to the table that you may not even have known you were missing. 

Please, hire milspouses. Pay us well, and commensurate with our lived experiences & educations. Be understanding of the different challenges we face that have created us to be employees that EXCEL in so many ways that will benefit your team! And don’t put timer on our viability in your organization…we have unusual lifespans in our careers, but your ability to tolerate and accommodate this will make you, and us, better in the long run!

Gratefully,

Milspouses Everywhere