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The new policy also prompted the department's hiring managers to prioritize military spouses for noncompetitive consultations before considering candidates without employing preference when hiring for roles in the competitive and the excepted service. Department of Defense Education Activity schools will now be enabled to employ military spouses as soon as they get official modification of station orders rather of waiting until 30 days before their relocation.
"The evidence remains in the pudding, it's constantly how they choose to carry out. They can make all the recommendations they desire, however unless they follow through, unless they track it, it does not really have any teeth. It's going to need to be one of those wait and see kind of things," Hoppin told Federal News Network.
Anything that's going to assist facilitate quicker working with and less wait time is a fantastic thing. It's going to all go back to how efficiently they carry out things," she included. And the policy's emphasis on authorizing alternative worksites might be limited in practice, depending on the kinds of roles offered to military partners.
I believe all of it depends on what sort of tasks they're going to push military partners toward, since if they are class jobs or tasks that need you to be on site, then I do not understand how that's going to assist with the flexibility part," Hoppin said. The memo, nevertheless, introduces a new reporting requirement that could, for the very first time, shed light on how typically military partners are thought about and chosen for tasks and why they are passed over.
Hoppin stated the department ought to not miss the chance to collect more granular information, such as the number of positions use alternative work versatilities, cautioning that otherwise the gathered information might not inform the complete story. "The feedback we receive from military partners is we would enjoy to see more remote work opportunities or hybrid chances.
"I don't understand of a time when we've truly had this rigid reporting requirement so I believe that's heartening I hope we do not remain top line questioning. I hope that they delve a little bit much deeper and ask to report more in depth about why military spouses weren't worked with and what the obstacles were.
As part of this push to employ more military spouses, the department likewise desires hiring managers to make greater use of an existing database of military partner prospects through the Armed force Spouse Education and Profession Opportunities website. Agency talent management teams will supply working with managers with access to and training on the MySECO system.
"Military spouses to start with, have to understand about the resource. They have to know that they're expected to register. They have to know to keep their details upgraded. As a military spouse, you may put your info therein when, but by the time you go back to it, you may have moved 2 or three times and the info may be irrelevant so it's going to require a strong marketing push," Hoppin said.
Top Career Success Tips for 2026The success of the policy, Hoppin stated, will depend on how successfully the department brings several groups on board at the same time. Military partners will need to understand what resources are readily available to them, while working with supervisors will need training on new hiring systems and how to use those systems to identify prospects.
Plus, the policy is restricted to DoD it would need to be scaled across the federal government to drive meaningful modification. "I believe it's a great start, but it's still one firm and one effort. I also don't think that we're going to have the ability to decrease that military spouse unemployment rate unless we take a look at the retention issues," Hoppin stated.
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