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Stay up-to-date with news and information about your military education. You can get the information you need to make informed decisions about your online and military correspondence programs. Learn what's going on with military education and how you can make a smooth military transition. Your civilian career awaits you!

Companies Take Part in Army Spouse Employment Partnership

Friday, January 16, 2009

In 2002, then Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, created a special program called the Army Spouse Employment Partnership to create career opportunities for military spouses. The program is a partnership between the public sector and private corporations; over the last six years more than 41,000 jobs have been created for military spouses.


One of the latest private corporations to join the program is Converges,
a global leader in relationship management, who announced its plans to help Army wives and husbands find employment.

Convergys human resources will work with the program to reach out to Army spouse at Convergys' 81 contact centers. The company also plans to aggressively use the Web to inform spouses about the job opportunities at the company.

"Hiring military spouses makes good business sense and fits very well into Convergys' commitment to global talent management, and that's why we didn't hesitate to join Army Spouse Employment Partnership," said Clark Handy, Convergys Senior Vice President, Human Resources. "Military spouses represent a talented and diverse workforce of people who are often concentrated on or near US military bases around the world and whose exceptional work ethic and low attrition rate speak volumes about the high quality of work they can provide."

Convergys joins 27 other companies, along with Black & Veatch Corporation, EMC Corporation, Lowe's Corporation and West Corporation who signed up to help this past October. This past year approximately 8,000 Army spouses were helped with jobs, which is a significant contribution as the nation struggles through a recession.

Military spouses, because of the unique circumstances of the military lifestyle, have a harder time in general achieving the kinds of educational and career goals that civilians can. Military spouses, who are enrolled at a school near the base, may have to disrupt or discontinue their schooling when their military spouse is transferred to another duty station of state.

Although congress and state legislators have begun to address the issue, many military spouses who move to a new state are not eligible to receive in-state tuition rates, making the cost of education unaffordable. One important solution already available for military spouses is online education.

The advantage of distance learning for military spouses is that they can enroll in a program, and continue studying no matter where the military family is transferred. Many online training programs are also self-paced, which means that students often have up to one year to complete a course or program.

This would allow, for example, a military spouse to take two months off while he or she moves with their family to a new duty station in another state. As soon as the family is settled in their new home, the spouse can get right back online and resume studies.

In addition to eliminating the whole issue of in-state tuition rates, online education also allows military spouses with children to study without leaving the home. Military spouses can study during nap times, at night or on the weekend; distance learning allows military spouse to be both parents and students. Get military education with military tuition assistance from Allied Schools.com.

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Posted by Allied Blogger Admin @ 2:36 PM • 0 comments

Government Job Opportunities for Military Spouses

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

In yet another positive development for the career prospects of military spouses, President Bush recently signed an executive order giving federal managers permission to hire a special set of qualified spouses without having to subject job vacancies to the normal competitive process.

Bush's order gives some preferential treatment to the qualified military spouses of services members who have either been killed in action, incapacitated by their service (100% disabled) or are moving as part of "permanent change-of-station orders."

Each year nearly 20,000 new people join the government's employment ranks, and this directive would allow federal mangers to hire a qualified military spouse before the open position is publicly advertised.

Military officials are hoping that more career opportunities for military spouses will lead to better retention numbers for military personnel. Military spouses generally have unemployment numbers higher than their civilian counterparts.

It's expected that this directive will not be implemented until early next year. The military spouses of Reservists and National Guardsmen on active duty qualify for the preference.

Military spouses who are not affected by the executive order can still give themselves a competitive edge by enrolling in career training programs that are 100% online and entirely self-paced.

Many schools and universities also offer military spouse discounts and military spouse scholarships and military spouse career advancement accounts to help military families afford tuition. And with uncertain economic times on the horizon, it's always a good thing to have as many qualifications as possible.

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Posted by Allied @ 2:30 PM • 0 comments

Military Spouses and Online Education

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Military spouses have recently been getting wider recognition for the sacrifices they make supporting America's men and women in uniform. The national spotlight on the repeated deployments of service members to Iraq and Afghanistan, and its effect on military families, has helped raise awareness of the unique pressures that spouses face each day.

More attention is now focused on the fact that military spouses have, in general, higher rates of unemployment than their civilian counterparts. Studies have also shown that one of the common obstacles to employment is access to military spouse education opportunities. This awareness has lead many universities and vocation schools - both online and traditional classroom schools - to offer military spouse scholarships. It is hoped that these efforts will lead to more jobs for military spouses.

Many military spouses have difficulty commuting to school because of childcare commitments, the high cost of gasoline or they are simply too far from the nearest campus. All of these factors make distance (online) education a real aid for military spouses. Many distance education schools offer scholarships for military spouses with career training programs with real military spouse benefits.

When investigating online schools, military spouses should look for few key items when evaluation schools:

Accreditation - Make sure the school is an accredited member of the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC)
Live Student Support - When you have a question about the course you want to talk to a person, not a machine; ask the school how many dedicated support staff they have
History - You want a school that has been enrolling student for years; ask how many students they have enrolled over the years
Job Assistance - No school can "place" you in a career, but good schools can coach you in how to create a quality resume or prepare you to succeed in a job interview
Discounts for Spouses - Many schools now have education benefits for active duty military spouses

Military spouses can qualify for a military spouse scholarship when their spouse enrolls at Allied Schools using Tuition Assistance (TA). Under Allied's Military Family Scholarship Program, a military spouse's tuition for one career training program is waived when their service member spouse uses TA to enroll at Allied.

Allied Schools is an accredited member of the DETC and offers distance education courses in medical transcription, dental office assistant, medical billing, medical coding and real estate sales, to name just a few. Online education allows military spouses to maintain their daily commitments while training for a new career.

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Posted by Allied @ 7:39 AM • 0 comments