Photo By Sgt. Mary Carmona | The 2014 Military Spouse Symposium, Keeping a Career on the Move kicks off at Marston...... read more read more
Subscribe
MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - Military spouses, service members and veterans attended the 2014 Military Spouse Symposium, Keeping a Career on the Move, held at Marston Pavilion aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Sept. 17.
The symposium, hosted by Military Officers Association of America, addressed the challenges many individuals, particularly military spouses, face trying to keep a career while constantly moving to accommodate a military lifestyle.
"The military spouse population faces unique challenges," said Anthony Odierno, vice president of Military and Veterans Affairs for JP Morgan Chase, the executive sponsor for the symposium. "A military family can move, typically, every one to three years. The focus of today is to really help them cross those barriers and be prepared to overcome those challenges."
Throughout the day, sessions were offered on topics such as resume writing strategies, how to analyze your professional skill set, using social media in the business world and entrepreneurship.
"We want to focus on our professional development as we move from duty station to duty station," said Christine Gallagher, deputy director of Spouse and Currently Serving programs at MOAA. "Today, we are focusing on every aspect of getting you out of the door and to that first interview."
Jessica Montagna, a military spouse and guest speaker at the event, has experienced changing duty stations three times in the past seven years.
She said, however, she views her experience as a positive and she hoped to help military spouses at the symposium see they can still contribute something valuable and grow professionally.
"Everyone is extremely interested in keeping military spouses," she said. "All of the skills, all of the talents, all of the knowledge that you gather as you move shapes who you are and makes you a more adaptable, versatile employee. I think employers recognize that it is actually an amazing attribute."
At the end of the day, symposium attendees left not only with the advice and professional contacts they needed to succeed, but also with encouragement from those who had gone before them and experienced the same struggles.
"One thing that I want every spouse to take away is that life is not about making a perfect path to a perfect career," Montagna said. "You can take those dead ends, you can take the opportunities that may have not panned out the way you wanted them to and you can make something exciting and valuable and still contribute."
| Date Taken: | 09.17.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 09.26.2014 14:02 |
| Story ID: | 143400 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 128 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Symposium offers military spouses career advice, by Sgt Mary Carmona, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT