This Web page is designed for your use. Please use the interactive aspects of the page. The bulletin board provides you the opportunity to network with your fellow Employment Readiness professionals and to let them know about upcoming training opportunities. And finally, please let us know how we can improve it to serve you and our relocating soldiers and family members better.

Program Philosophy

The Employment Readiness supports the Army philosophy of creating self-reliant and self sufficient families by providing employment and career-related services to Army families. It does so by empowering clients to manage their work lives in a way that is personally satisfying and consistent with their financial needs despite the obstacles pose by mobility. The Employment Readiness aims to enable clients to pursue a range of options under different circumstances over the course of their lives. The Employment Readiness perspective is thus long-term and career-oriented. Characteristics that differentiate it from traditional placement or job search services. It is not, and was never intended to be simply a job placement service. Employment assistance includes the provision of employment resource information, career counseling, and job skills training, in addition to job search assistance.

Employment Readiness Goals

The program goal for the Employment Readiness is to assists clients in overcoming the significant difficulties associated with finding employment, especially during relocation.

• Assist spouses in finding employment throughout the relocation process.
• Provide information, employment, and education and training opportunities.
• Assist spouses to develop successful job search strategies.
• Connect spouse with employer, business and professional support networks.
• Encourage portable careers.
• Improve access to and use of information

Public Law 101-189 directs the Secretary of Defense to establish programs designed to assist military family members relocating to new duty stations obtain employment. The Department of Defense Instruction (DODI) 1342.22, Subject: Family Centers, prescribes employment assistance as an essential service in Family Centers and establishes the requirement for an Employment Assistance program conducted by specially trained counselors. Army Regulation 608-1, Army Community Service Program, states the primary purpose of Employment Readiness is to assist eligible personnel (active duty, retired military, DOD civilians, their spouses, and other authorized family members, to include youth) find public and private sector employment. The major focus of Employment Readiness is teaching effective job hunting skills and providing employment skills-building training. The Employment Readiness also provides self assessment tools that are needed by junior enlisted spouses, spouses new to the military, and spouses who lack employment experience.

Relation to Army Mission

The ER supports the mission of the Army by providing a wide range of career and employment assistance services to army families designated to affect positively:

• Readiness
• Recruiting and retention
• Well-being

Readiness: An effective ER supports readiness by:

• Alleviating concerns about family financial stability during periods of deployment so that the service member can focus his or her full attention on mission duties.
• Lessening concerns about family financial stability during relocation so that the service member can accomplish the transition to Army duties more rapidly following a PCS.

Recruiting and Retention:

Spouse satisfaction, to which ER contributes, is directly linked to recruitment and retention in the Army.

• The Army has to maintain a competitive edge over the private sector to attract high-level recruits and retain technically skilled personnel.
• The Army is drawing on a labor market that is shrinking and increasingly competitive
• Two incomes are a necessity for many Army families
• Army pay scales generally cannot compete with the private sector, but other benefits, including assistance with spouse employment may compensate for the pay differential
• Spouses satisfaction can influence the military member's decision to stay in or get out of the Army.

 An effective ER can have a substantial impact on the satisfaction of Army spouses:

• Choosing between relocating with the spouse or having a desirable job no longer needs to be an either/or proposition
• Spouses perceive the Army as being concerned about their short and long term career and employment difficulties as they move frequently with the military spouse
• Spouses who are career oriented perceive that they have a degree of control over achievement of their personal goals.

For more information on this program please contact

(870)540-3217

DSN: 966-3217

pine.acs@conus.army.mil

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