Google Creates Tool For Military Spouses To Find Jobs Easier

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 18, 2019

Grow with Google, a program offered by Google’s philanthropic arm Google.org, announced it has partnered with the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) to provide 1,000 military spouses with training for learning tech support.

These new tools and resources were designed to help military spouses building flexible and meaningful careers despite the challenges of having to move frequently. Along with a new work-from-home jobs search filter, Google also released training materials for teaching digital skills and best practices needed for working remotely.

“Military spouses are the unsung heroes of our armed forces. With frequent moves and families to care for while their partners are deployed, military spouses face steep challenges when trying to land a meaningful job,” said Google.org president Jacquelline Fuller in a statement. “As the child of a military family myself, I know these challenges firsthand. We created these tools and resources to honor the many military spouses who have done so much to serve our country.”

Google.org is working with Blue Star Families on this project, which a nonprofit that supports military spouses and is going to provide in-demand digital skills training workshops throughout the next year. Plus Google.org will also support Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), an interdisciplinary academic training institute focused that is focused on advancing the post-service lives of military veterans and their families.

And the Google.org grant is going to provide 1,500 scholarships and support services for veterans, transitioning military personnel, and military spouses for completing the Google IT Professional Support Certificate through the IVMF’s Onward to Opportunity professional certification training curriculum offered at 18 military installations nationwide as well as virtually around the world. Military spouses will be eligible for the 1,000 scholarships that will be offered.

The White House Council of Economic Advisors reported that there are nearly 700,000 military spouses living in the U.S. And at 16%, military spouses have a much higher unemployment rate than the country at large.

Including part-time employment, the under-employment rate of military spouses is 55%. And IVMF’s research also reports that while the unemployment rate for military spouses decreased in the past few years, the proportion in fact increased to nearly four times more likely to be unemployed compared to their civilian counterparts in 2017. Military female spouses on average make 37% less than civilian spouses and earn an estimated 40% less than their civilian peers.

“Military spouses tell us what they want through our annual Military Family Lifestyle Survey,” added Blue Star Families CEO Kathy Roth-Douquet. “In 2018, their top recommendation (47%) for improving spouse under/unemployment was for advocates to work with large corporations to design military spouse-friendly work options. And that’s precisely what we’re doing with Grow with Google. This new program will empower thousands of military spouses with the digital skills they need to build flexible, meaningful careers no matter where they live.”

The new training materials created are accessible to anyone with a web connection now. Google’s free online digital skills training program — which is known as Applied Digital Skills — was designed for all ages. And there is a new lesson called “Connect and Collaborate from Anywhere with Digital Tools” for teaching remote workers tools for succeeding in the digital office. And Primer — which is Grow with Google’s app for small businesses and job seekers, will also offer new lessons called “Finding or transitioning to remote work,” “keys to working remotely,” and “Collaborating while working remotely.”

“Meaningful employment remains a pressing concern for those who have shouldered the burden of our nation’s defense, to include military spouses,” explained Dr. Mike Haynie — the Vice Chancellor of Syracuse University and IVMF Executive Director and Founder. “We are excited to partner with Google.org and grateful for its support of our efforts to empower our military spouses as they pursue meaningful careers.”

Google launched a new job search function last month that surfaced more quality and full-time remote jobs. And now users can search for jobs that meet their interests such as (customer service jobs) and then filter the location to “work from home” in order to see a list of relevant job listings that meets the criteria.

These jobs are usually listed as “remote,” “work from home,” or “telecommute.” Plus employers and job boards like Recruit Military can provide this feature on their career sites with Google Cloud’s Talent Solution.

“As the solution provider in connecting military spouses and veterans with organizations, partnering with Google has allowed RecruitMilitary to expand the ways we engage with military spouses,” noted RecruitMilitary/Bradley-Morris CEO Tim Best. “RecruitMilitary offers more than 140 veteran and military spouse job fairs throughout the country each year, and a job board exclusively for this important group. Google’s Cloud Talent Solution work from home feature gives military spouses ease of access to thousands of opportunities that can be done remotely. With this capability, military spouses have expanded bridges to career growth and more portable career options as they move to support their service member spouse.”