CAREER PURSUIT

R e c r u i t f o r S p o u s e s ( R F S ) i s a n i n d e p e n d e n t s o c i a l e n t e r p r i s e d e d i c a t e d t o s u p p o r t i n g , c h amp i o n i n g a n d f i n d i n g g a i n f u l emp l o yme n t f o r a n u n t a p p e d t a l e n t p o o l o f s p o u s e s a n d p a r t n e r s o f memb e r s o f o u r A r me d F o r c e s . We w o r k t o o v e r c ome o u t d a t e d p e r c e p t i o n s a b o u t mo b i l i t y a n d s u i t a b i l i t y a n d p r o v i d e t h e t o o l s f o r s p o u s e s t o r e t u r n t o t h e w o r k p l a c e a n d e x c e l i n t h e i r c h o s e n p a t h . changes, a military spouse’s CV can look busy at best and viewed as uncommitted and reckless at worst. A member of our Liquid Workforce, Kate Legg, explains: “I was fed up with having to start over and say goodbye to colleagues. It is hard enough leaving friends when posted but leaving a job I love, and work colleagues, was starting to wear thin.” In addition to this, there is a misconception that military spouses don’t want to work, preferring to stay at home. Although this suits some families, this ‘Stepford wife’ ideology is outdated and it brings with it biases and discrimination. It's also important to recognise that men are spouses too, so you can't pigeonhole spouses into one mould. Military spouses, as a group, suffer higher numbers of unemployment than their civilian counterparts. They are frequently overlooked RECRUIT FOR SPOUSES Within the RFS family, we have a Career Academy which aids you in the preparation for your journey back into work. We provide free-to-access training courses such as a ‘Digital Workshop’ with Mike-Alpha and Facebook, and insight days which provide a number of workshops designed to build confidence, provide advice and help with direction. In addition, together with our partners, we offer free mentoring and coaching programmes, toolkits for CVs and personal branding. These free-to-use resources help people to focus on what they want to achieve and increase their confidence in going out to get it. Why we are here Being part of military life is honourable, exciting and diverse. It is also highly challenging and, professionally, being married to the military can be detrimental to finding a job, let alone holding a career down. With regular job transitions, career gaps or 44 C A R E E R P U R S U I T 2 0 2 0