CAREER PURSUIT

63 % of spouses/partners had changed career path because of the military lifestyle – with only 7 % saying they wanted to do so. 45 % of partners perceived employer discrimination in applying for jobs, with the main reasons being: the possibility of postings and deployments in the future ( 35 %) employment history such as changing jobs frequently ( 24 %) employer perceptions that spouses/ partners are not committed ( 20 %) 54 % of all spouses/partners were unaware of support to help them find work, and only 10 % of the remaining 46 % had accessed those initiatives. You may have to look at changing your career or applying for jobs that are not at the same level as the one you had previously. This project came about as a result of an AFF research report published by the University of Warwick titled Military spousal/partner employment: Identifying the barriers and support required , which states a key recommendation to be the introduction of an online-jobs platform. The survey found that: FORCES FAMILIES JOBS What is Forces Families Jobs? Forces Families Jobs (FFJ) is an employment and training platform specifically designed to support service families into meaningful employment and provide opportunities for training and development. It’s being delivered by a tri-service partnership between the Naval Families Federation, Army Families Federation (AFF), and Royal Air Force Families Federation. FFJ is a platform that bridges the gap between spouses, partners and family members of current serving personnel with organisations who have signed up to the Armed Forces Covenant (AFC) and those organisations offering training and development opportunities as well as providing access to career-related information. How did it come about? If you’re a partner of a serving person, you will probably be familiar with frequent moves and the subsequent need to hand in your notice with your current employer, update your CV, look for a new job whilst trying to move, sort out schools or organise childcare in an area within which you are not familiar. 38 C A R E E R P U R S U I T 2 0 2 0