Cornerstone Staffing Solutions joins hundreds of recruitment companies as well as corporations and small businesses who are committing to assisting military spouses with direct employment or contracting opportunities across the company’s branch network.
Cornerstone Staffing Solutions, among the largest staffing firms in the United States, announced it has joined the Department of Defense (DoD) Military Spouse Employment Program (MSEP). Cornerstone joins hundreds of recruitment companies as well as corporations and small businesses who are committing to assisting military spouses with direct employment or contracting opportunities across the company’s branch network. According to the DoD website, this key initiative is part of the government’s Spouse Education and Career Opportunities Program, which seeks to reduce the significant unemployment rate and wage gap currently experienced by military spouses. Cornerstone branch personnel will post job openings on the Military Spouse Employment Partnership Career Portal, mentor military spouses and other employers, attend job fairs (virtual and in-person) and provide the DoD with employment data on military spouses hired.
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As an MSEP company, Cornerstone will advocate for the gainful employment of military spouses in positions that are commensurate with these candidate’s strong skill sets including problem solving, flexibility and resiliency. The company will also assist or guide spouses with employment assistance when they relocate.
Eddy Mentzer, associate director in DoD’s office of family readiness policy, said “the talent of military spouses can strengthen the economy, military families, the Defense Department and the nation. “Partnership companies and organizations have hired more than 100,000 military spouses.”
The Military Spouse Employment Partnership works to “strengthen the education and career opportunities of military spouses by providing:
- Career exploration opportunities to help them understand their skills, interests, and goals
- Education and training to help them identify academic, licensing, or credentialing requirements that can help them reach their career goals
- Employment readiness assistance to optimize their self-marketing skills
- Employment connections that help them find and maintain a rewarding career”
LaShaunda Smith, a Cornerstone staffing consultant based in Maryland understands the benefits of the program. “As a military spouse, I’ve worn the shoes and walked the same miles as all military spouses. Moving your family, settling in a new city, and finding a job are very stressful. The MSEP is fantastic asset to help with the transitions military families face all the time. I’m so eager to help them find employment with the great companies Cornerstone works with.”
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A July 2015, 2020 article by Karen Jowers for MilitaryTimes states that it is challenging to track military spouse unemployment data. “The DoD’s scientific survey, with random sampling, put active duty spouse unemployment at 26 percent in 2010, 23 percent in 2015, and 24 percent in 2017. A smaller survey by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes in 2017 put the number at 16 percent; the online Blue Star Families’ 2019 lifestyle survey indicated 24 percent. An unpublished Bureau of Labor Statistics table with data from the March 2018 Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey showed the unemployment rate of military wives overall to be 9.9 percent, compared to a rate of 2.5 percent for wives in the civilian community whose husbands are not in the military. This particular table looked only at women and is based on a survey of 63,685 married women, 719 of whom were married to military men.”
“Cornerstone is proud to support the MSEP initiative to counsel and place military spouses in satisfying career opportunities. Several of our staff employees are former military who understand the career and consumer issues a military family faces,” commented Steven Drexel, president and CEO of the Cornerstone Staffing Solutions family of companies. “We are grateful to military families for their service to our nation and the sacrifices they make. We are eager to work with them and provide satisfying employment opportunities with the great companies we work with.”
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