As a caregiver of a post 9/11 disabled veteran, I appreciate greatly that every single job application I have filled out for a career in higher education has a questionnaire to indicate if an applicant has prior military service. While this is helpful to veterans, it ignores other possibilities within military families such as in mine, where my spouse is unable to work full time due to his disabilities. It also ignores the employment needs of active-duty military spouses who often sacrifice their careers to support their spouse's service.

Once I realized the full impact my husband's injuries were having on our family, after 12 years in the classroom, I left a K-12 teaching career to return to graduate school to try to find other job opportunities. I knew that more education would be the only way to find a better solution to balance my caregiver duties for my disabled veteran spouse with the need to help support our family financially. However, a master's degree, a doctoral degree, and 10 years later, I am like many military caregivers and spouses, underemployed.

On federal job applications I am given the ability to indicate if I am a military spouse or the spouse of a disabled or deceased veteran and my response determines hiring preference that can help open the doors to career opportunities to support my family. On the hundreds of job applications in higher education I have filled out over the past decade not a single one gave the option for me to indicate if I was an active-duty military spouse or the spouse or caregiver of a disabled/wounded/ill veteran. Applications generally only provide the option to indicate if my spouse died while on active duty and not many even ask that. Military families which include spouses of active-duty members and the spouses and caregivers of disabled veterans need the support of higher education administrators to eliminate unnecessary barriers to careers in higher education. This would be such a simple fix that could easily be done to all job applications to help ensure that military families--not just veterans were better supported in higher education.

Not only would this change to job applications benefit military families but, it would benefit higher education by providing millions more eligible, interested, and uniquely qualified applicants through giving military spouses more incentive to join your ranks. As of 2019 there were 5.5 million military caregivers in the US according to Military.com and over 700,000 active military spouses in the U.S. Military spouses are often unemployed and underemployed at much higher rates than the national average for civilians despite being more educated than the general population. Families like mine with a disabled/wounded/ill veteran face challenges in not only securing employment but in locating employment that gives the flexibility needed as a caregiver. Military caregivers are also now faced with financial uncertainty due to the VA's intent to cut nearly 90% of veteran caregivers from the VA caregiver program that provides a small monthly stipend to care for the veteran.

Like many who enter careers in education I grew up playing 'school teacher' to my younger siblings. I subjected them to my early attempts at lesson planning and teaching every summer and holiday break. This eventually led to my first real teaching assignment over twenty years ago. I enjoyed K-12 teaching but dreamed of entering higher education to help impact teacher education on broader scale than with just the 20-25 in my classroom. My spouse's combat injuries while challenging for our family, both forced me and gifted me the opportunity to pursue those goals. I began my journey into graduate school hoping for a remote teaching opportunity so that the countless hours I have spent in VA waiting rooms could also be spent earning a living. After completing my master's degree, I found myself stuck and despite filling out countless applications, I received far too many emails thanking me for applying and only one interview. I then decided to pursue a doctorate hoping a terminal degree would open more doors. While I am thankful and greatly enjoy the two teaching opportunities I have found as an adjunct professor for both a community college and a HBCU, I am still underemployed and the process of even getting those part time positions has been disheartening. It shouldn't have to be for military families like mine.

Higher education has a real opportunity to fully open the doors to military families with a few simple changes to hiring practices. I urge campus administrators to consider implementing some changes to your campus hiring practices to make them more inclusive to the military family which includes more than just the veteran. Include active-duty military spouses and military veteran caregivers as well in your preference systems for interviews and job selection. Opening the doors for underemployed and unemployed military spouses and veteran caregivers helps support numerous military families across the country and sends a clear message to prospective students that you truly are a military friendly institution.

Article Topics

Job Search Advice Military Friendly Institutions Serving Military in HigherEd Workplace Inclusion

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