Originally Published by Comcast NBCUniversal.
Military spouses serve by enriching the area they temporarily call home, holding together the household, and enduring deployments or extended training exercises. Yet due to the military lifestyle, many have to press pause on their career or settle for jobs that do not align with their experience.
Despite many spouses having degrees and licenses, extensive experience, and a desirable skillset, underemployment and unemployment are far too common. In fact, nearly 70% of military spouses are in positions where their education, experience, and knowledge is not fully applied.
Over half of civilian families are able to enjoy dual income households. Yet when military spouses are unable to find work, many families are forced to rely solely on the service member’s income.
The frequent moves also limits the efficacy and availability of one’s network.
To help combat these issues, Hiring Our Heroes established the Hiring 100,000 Military Spouse Campaign alongside our founding coalition partners, including Comcast NBCUniversal. The three year call-to-action campaign aims to not only find employment opportunities for 100,000 military spouses, but to find sustainable solutions for military spouse employment.
By supporting the Hiring 100,000 campaign, organizations like Comcast NBCUniversal are directly contributing to the retention and readiness of our military.
In 2015, Comcast NBCUniversal partnered with Hiring Our Heroes to hire 10,000 veterans, reservists, and their spouses by 2017. Before this announcement, over 4,200 veterans had already joined the Comcast NBCUniversal family, and benefits were created that specifically addressed the needs of the military community.
After surpassing their initial goal to hire 10,000 members of the military community between 2015 and 2017, Comcast NBCUniversal has extended their commitment. We are grateful not only for their new goal to hire an additional 21,000 veterans and military spouses by 2021, but also their dedication to raise awareness and encourage other organizations to follow their lead.
This effort is in direct alignment with their core-business mindset that the military community has a unique, strong skillet that enriches their workforce. It is evident their devotion to the military community is felt throughout the organization.
Comcast NBCUniversal’s aptitude to lead by example through innovative hiring strategies will have a profound impact on the military community in the years to come and we hope other organizations will be inspired to join their ranks.
