Blue Star Families 2012 Military
Family Lifestyle Survey found that twenty-seven percent of spouse
respondents said they had faced difficulties with transferring their
professional certificates or licenses across state lines. Interstate
licensing requirements are also a huge obstacle for military spouses, but
efforts to capture compelling individual stories are disparate and have thus
far revolved around the legislative sessions of various states.
Military spouses need a way to congregate within their own career
fields and develop comprehensive, coordinated strategies to meet the challenges
within their own professional fields, and a place where they can connect with
others in their field and network amongst themselves.
Military spouses nationwide now have a platform called “Blue Star Spouse Networks,” for
their unique professional challenges. Blue Star Families (BSF), in
conjunction with Hiring
Our Heroes, is launching a spouse
network initiative, creating the nation’s premier series of networks for
professional military spouses.
Initially focusing on three primary career areas: educators, health
care professionals, and entrepreneurs, spouse run "virtual networks,"
will leverage the internet, the convening power of Facebook, and the combined
resources and vast networks and expertise of BSF and the Hiring our Heroes
program, to empower members to connect online.
Blue Star Spouse Networks will provide a much-needed forum for spouses to
meet their peers, regardless of geography, and work together toward changes
needed in their professions.
These new Blue Star Spouse Networks will utilize the Facebook platform to
enable (and encourage!) spouses to organize themselves and be their own
advocates. This platform will also allow for peer-to-peer mentoring from within
the spouse community, promoting connectivity that is currently absent and much
needed! Military spouses will finally have an avenue for addressing
unique professional challenges, regardless of geography, career field, or
employment status.
Blue Star Spouse Networks focuses on three career fields because of the
requirement for state-level licensing for each of them and the need to have
organized, networked spouse-led advocacy at both the state and national
level. Additionally, teaching and nursing are two
of the top three occupations for military spouses in the labor force.
Stop by and “like” the Facebook pages to become involved now.
Leave a comment to introduce yourself or just look around for helpful
information and happenings. If you’d like to take an even more active
role, share your personal story, or sign up for extra information and alerts,
you can sign up on our website.
Blue Star
Educators
Blue Star
Health Care Professionals (including Social Workers)
Blue Star
Entrepreneurs
What are some of the benefits to joining a network (or two)? We’re
glad you asked!
- You can have a founding role in an unprecedented
military spouse-exclusive network within the most populated industries for
military spouses.
- Each network will have formal partnership with the
largest business federation in the world – the United States Chamber of
Commerce, with over 3 million business members.
- You will be able to provide insight and input to
government officials working on military spouse licensing and
certification issues.
- You can help in the creation of state level policy on
spousal licensing and certification that helps military spouses.
- You can be involved in Hiring our Heroes’ Military
Spouse Business Alliance, the first ever coalition of the top nonprofits
in the country working on military spouse employment.
- You will have access to top tier and innovative
professional development opportunities, such as national and regional peer
and mentoring networks, comprehensive resume assistance geared
specifically toward military spouses, networking events to connect high
level business and civic executives with military spouses, and
professional advice on networking, career planning and career image
improvement.
- You will have access to platforms like eMentor and
Odesk, where spouses can connect with other spouses for mentoring and
contract and short-term work opportunities.
With these organic groups, we look forward to taking suggestions and ideas
for how to make these as beneficial and effective as possible. So keep
the ideas coming! Email spousecareers@bluestarfam.org
with your thoughts.
Jenny
Tracy
Indiana
Army National Guard
2-150
FA
Battalion
Family Readiness Group Chairperson
812-339-5618
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