Washington Business Winter 2019 | Washington Business | Page 25

what’s working
filling today’s open jobs
Call it the great mismatch in today’s economy. On one side, there are factories and companies with open jobs to fill — but they
can’t find the right people. There were 7.1 million job openings across the country at the end of August, according to the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics.
On the other side, there’s an untapped resource of nearly 700,000 military spouses that are often jobless, underemployed or
simply not challenged with jobs that don’t match their impressive skill sets. These folks often have advanced degrees, speak
multiple languages and are seen as good problem-solvers.
“Most every base will tell you that it’s really hard for the spouses of military personnel to get jobs,” said Rich Hadley, co-chair
of the Washington Military Alliance.
tackling the problem
The good news is this unrealized potential among
military spouses is getting a lot of attention at the state
and federal levels. Leaders in the public and private
sector have created new programs and awareness to
address the issue. Some programs focus on the transition
process as service members, and their families, get ready
— Beth Conlin, formerly with the military spouse placement
to leave the military.
firm ServingTalent
“We’ve got amazing stories of folks that have found
re a l l y g re a t c a re e r s i n t h e i r
b a c k y a r d s ,” s a i d K r i s t i n e
Reeves, director of the Military
and Defense Sector for the
Wa s h i n g t o n D e p a r t m e n t o f
Commerce.
Reeves, who is also a state
r e p r e s e n t a t i v e f r o m Fe d e r a l
Way, highlighted a recent effort
by Microsoft to train military
spouses to work in server and
cloud administration. Nineteen
spouses from Joint Base Lewis-
McChord have signed up for a
22-week training program.
“ We ’ v e b u i l t a r o c k- s o l i d
program to create a successful
environment so that a military
spouse who wants to work in
the IT industry, who wants to
get a no-kidding good job, can go
through a program like this and
do just that,” Chris Cortez, vice
president of Microsoft Military Affairs, told the Military Times.
Cloud administrators earn an average of $88,000 per year, according to the employment website Glassdoor.com. And notably,
many information technology jobs can be performed remotely.
Reeves also highlighted the work of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation on this issue. Washington became the
nation’s first statewide Military Spouse Economic Empowerment Zone earlier this year. Starbucks has joined the chamber’s
Hiring Our Heroes campaign, an effort that aims to raise awareness and result in landing jobs for 100,000 military spouses by
the end of 2021. And Boeing has made a $5 million commitment to help expand USO Pathfinder, which helps servicewomen
and military spouses transition to civilian life.
“Washington was the first state to say `Forget
making a zone, our whole state is going to
participate.’ Washington is a huge champion
for us.”
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