Fort Bliss Monitor

Spouse Employment Partnership program welcomes new partners

Margaret Mckenzie
Army News Service

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The Army Spouse Employment Partnership program welcomed four new partners Monday and Tuesday in Family Forum II: “Supporting Families of a Transforming Army” at the Association of the United States Army annual conference in Washington, D.C.

The new partners are Concentra Inc., SunTrust Bank, United Services Automobile Association and Sabre Holdings/Travelocity. The four bring the number of program partners to 21.

“We will share good news about how the greatest Army in the world builds its strength,” said Teresita Rivera, Army employment readiness program manager for the U.S. Army Community and Family Support Center. “Partnerships are the way we do business in America and partnerships have become vital to the transformation of the U.S. Army.”

One of the results of the Army Spouse Employment Partnership is the Military Spouse Job Search database, said Rivera. It has become a virtual job center for both military spouses and the corporate partners.

“Through strong viable partnerships with corporate America we’ve created a vehicle to give Army spouses the opportunity for a true career,” she said. “Together with the Army, each of our partners signed a statement of support pledging their best efforts to increase employment opportunities and provide training for Army spouses.”

Companies today are taking every necessary step to attract skilled individuals, Rivera said. The diversity of employable military spouses is an important factor for the corporations involved in the program.

“In the past many spouses hid the fact that they were military spouses because they felt employers saw them as short-term employees, but not any more,” she said. “Now businesses are eager to hire Army spouses because they discovered they have a virtual gold-mine of very educated, highly motivated, well-trained employees who are very diverse and some of whom speak several languages.

“In the last year, there have been 2,500 spouse hires through the ASEP partnership,” Rivera added. Many spouses see this program as an answer to the job security issues they faced in the past.

Partners include Adecco USA, Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Army Career Alumni Program, Army Civilian Personnel, BellSouth, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Computer Systems Corporation, CVS/pharmacy, Defense Commissary Agency, Dell, Inc., EURPAC Service Inc., Hospital Corporation of America, Home Depot, Lockheed Martin, Manpower Inc., Sears Holdings Corporation, and Sprint.



www.bliss.army.mil	Published for the Fort Bliss/El Paso, Texas Community	October 6, 2005

<map name="boxmap-b4"> <area shape="rect" coords="0, 589, 120, 600" href="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm/privacy-policy.html?o=1" > <area coords="0,0,10000,10000" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=&creative=92501&camp=8117&link_code=dl1&path=subst/misc/amazon-cobrand-cc/v3/marketing-from-associates-step1.html/ref%3Db1_assoc_29" > </map>	Spouse Employment Partnership program welcomes new partners Margaret Mckenzie Army News Service ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The Army Spouse Employment Partnership program welcomed four new partners Monday and Tuesday in Family Forum II: “Supporting Families of a Transforming Army” at the Association of the United States Army annual conference in Washington, D.C. The new partners are Concentra Inc., SunTrust Bank, United Services Automobile Association and Sabre Holdings/Travelocity. The four bring the number of program partners to 21. “We will share good news about how the greatest Army in the world builds its strength,” said Teresita Rivera, Army employment readiness program manager for the U.S. Army Community and Family Support Center. “Partnerships are the way we do business in America and partnerships have become vital to the transformation of the U.S. Army.” One of the results of the Army Spouse Employment Partnership is the Military Spouse Job Search database, said Rivera. It has become a virtual job center for both military spouses and the corporate partners. “Through strong viable partnerships with corporate America we’ve created a vehicle to give Army spouses the opportunity for a true career,” she said. “Together with the Army, each of our partners signed a statement of support pledging their best efforts to increase employment opportunities and provide training for Army spouses.” Companies today are taking every necessary step to attract skilled individuals, Rivera said. The diversity of employable military spouses is an important factor for the corporations involved in the program. “In the past many spouses hid the fact that they were military spouses because they felt employers saw them as short-term employees, but not any more,” she said. “Now businesses are eager to hire Army spouses because they discovered they have a virtual gold-mine of very educated, highly motivated, well-trained employees who are very diverse and some of whom speak several languages. “In the last year, there have been 2,500 spouse hires through the ASEP partnership,” Rivera added. Many spouses see this program as an answer to the job security issues they faced in the past. Partners include Adecco USA, Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Army Career Alumni Program, Army Civilian Personnel, BellSouth, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Computer Systems Corporation, CVS/pharmacy, Defense Commissary Agency, Dell, Inc., EURPAC Service Inc., Hospital Corporation of America, Home Depot, Lockheed Martin, Manpower Inc., Sears Holdings Corporation, and Sprint.