Help for military spouses looking for training
Finding meaningful employment is a challenge for military spouses, who often move too frequently to enroll in a traditional college or receive job training. Here is where the Military Spouse eMentor Program can help. The program is affiliated with Hiring Our Heroes, an initiative launched in March 2011 by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation in partnership with AcademyWomen—a global leadership and professional development organization.
The Military Spouse eMentor Program is an online community where protégés receive personalized career guidance, advice, support, and inspiration from more-experienced military spouses, career mentors, and military-spouse-friendly employers. When you first sign up, you will fill out a profile to reveal your background information and interests. With the help of the site’s matching software, you can then choose a mentor who shares a similar background and has like-minded interests. Your mentor will help you establish career goals and ways in which to meet them. The site has clear guidelines governing expectations of those who participate. All contact between mentors and protégés is virtual, unless both people agree to a different arrangement. Also available are forums where protégés can post questions or concerns.
AcademyWomen received a 2014 Leadership 500 Excellence Award in the Nonprofit Organization category by Leadership Excellence and HR.com based on the profound effect of the eMentor programs on military women, veterans, and military spouses. (In addition to the Military Spouse eMentor Program, Hiring Our Heroes also offers e-mentoring programs dedicated to military personnel and veterans). The eMentor boasts of its protégé satisfaction statistics. You can read some impressive success stories on its website.
There is no reason to “reinvent the wheel.” Let someone who has walked this path lead the way for you.
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Julia Liu is the daughter of a Solo Mom and has a degree in professional communication. She is the mom to two sons. She has worked in early-childhood education and was the director of a nonprofit private preschool for many years. You can follow her on Twitter at @notaDNB1.
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