Photo By Derika Upshaw | Left, Army spouses Agnieszka Moritz, Mia Thormann and Gilsett Rivera attend the...... read more read more
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FORT HOOD, TEXAS — One of the major hurdles that military spouses face within military life is the lack of meaningful career opportunities and advancement. Many studies show that frequent moves, lack of childcare and companies not being open to military spouse employees are leading causes.
One resource that has helped alleviate some of those challenges is the Military OneSource Spouse Education and Career Opportunities (SECO) program. The Department of War created the initiative to form “programs, policies and partnerships that empower military spouses to grow skills, get career advice and find jobs,” according to the Military OneSource website.
MSEP is a key component of the SECO program providing military spouses access to careers with corporate, federal and nonprofit organizations. It focuses on the recruitment, hiring, promotion and retention of military spouses. “It’s corporate America saying ‘Hey, I’m going to hire our military spouses,’” said Marie Decinido, employment and volunteer services program manager with Army Community Services, People Directorate. “They make a commitment that they will hire our spouses if they qualify, if there’s available positions; and they will offer them the equal position, if not another position within the company (if they move to a new location).”
The program includes over 950 employer partnerships from Fortune 500 companies, nonprofit organizations and federal agencies, according to the SECO website. The program has also helped over 360,000 military spouses across all branches find or maintain employment since its inception in 2011. Decindio said the program consists of jobs in 14 career fields such as medical, technology, engineering, customer service and construction. These careers are not just in the big cities but all over the nation, even right here near Fort Hood.
“We get information from our SECO partners, who say these are the people that are hiring,” Decindio said. “That SECO (agent) … sends everything down across the states, and we send that out with our weekly digital list for our clients to review.” Sonja Sonorro, an Army military spouse stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, recently accepted a position as an adjunct professor with a college by using the MSEP program. When she initially started the job search, she had issues dealing with location, being overqualified, resume gaps and even the age-old military spouse tattletale on the resume — location bouncing.
“I literally just had an interview … and they’re like, ‘The only thing is the bouncing around,’” Sonorro said. “All I had to say was ‘Oh, I’m a military spouse.’ They’re like, ‘Yeah, we figured.’ So, it causes these weird gaps in your (resume) or it looks like you’re not reliable because of these things on your resume.”
Once Sonorro started with the MSEP program, she could feel those companies were more accepting of military spouses, so much so that though her original position was supposed to be part-time, now they are trying to find a more permanent way for her to stay.
“They are doing it prior to their hiring freeze, to me that shows they really care about me,” Sonorro said. “They are thinking of my best interest.”
Sonorro said it felt nice, like there was not a dark cloud hanging over her and she did not have to hide the fact that she was a spouse. She appreciated the employer for their flexibility since she would be working across the country. Before Sonorro was fully immersed in the MSEP program, she utilized the virtual career resources SECO offered such as a career coach, resume review and interview prep.
“You can get interview prep and LinkedIn prep for free … once you speak with your coach,” Sonorro said. “You can have a professional go in and give you advice on how to make it better. And they do interview prep in the sense that a professional coach can schedule separate time and go through that stuff with you.”
And if virtual career counseling is not suitable, Decindio said spouses can come into the local office. They can help them with the whole job search process from career assessment and educational decisions to developing their resume and interview skills. Decindio said MSEP is important for the military community because it is corporate America showing support for the community. She said spouses should take advantage of the program because the employers have been vetted, and it is a valuable resource.
Any spouse looking for a career at Fort Hood who needs help can attend the Newcomers Employment Training Workshop (The Network) 9:30-11:30 a.m. every Tuesday at the Shoemaker Center suite 2502 room 2548.
| Date Taken: | 05.21.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 05.28.2026 14:05 |
| Story ID: | 566038 |
| Location: | FORT HOOD, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 29 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Lifeskills: MSEP connects military spouses with employers, by Derika Upshaw, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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