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The new policy also advised the department's hiring managers to prioritize military spouses for noncompetitive appointments before considering prospects without employing choice when working with for functions in the competitive and the excepted service. Department of Defense Education Activity schools will now be permitted to employ military spouses as soon as they receive main modification of station orders rather of waiting till 30 days before their relocation.

"The evidence is in the pudding, it's constantly how they select to execute. They can make all the ideas they desire, however unless they follow through, unless they track it, it doesn't really have any teeth. It's going to have to be among those wait and see example," Hoppin told Federal News Network.
So anything that's going to help facilitate faster hiring and less wait time is an excellent thing. It's going to all go back to how effectively they carry out things," she included. And the policy's focus on authorizing alternative worksites might be limited in practice, depending upon the types of functions available to military partners.
I believe it all depends upon what type of jobs they're going to push military spouses toward, because if they are classroom jobs or jobs that need you to be on site, then I don't know how that's going to assist with the versatility part," Hoppin said. The memo, nevertheless, presents a brand-new reporting requirement that could, for the very first time, shed light on how typically military partners are thought about and chosen for tasks and why they are passed over.
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Hoppin said the department must not miss out on the chance to gather more granular information, such as the number of positions use alternative work versatilities, warning that otherwise the collected information may not inform the full story. "The feedback we receive from military partners is we would like to see more remote work opportunities or hybrid opportunities.
"I don't understand of a time when we have actually actually had this stringent reporting requirement so I think that's heartening I hope we do not stay leading line questioning. I hope that they delve a bit deeper and ask to report more in depth about why military partners weren't hired and what the obstacles were.
As part of this push to hire more military spouses, the department also desires hiring supervisors to make greater usage of an existing database of military spouse candidates through the Military Partner Education and Profession Opportunities site. Agency skill management groups will provide working with supervisors with access to and training on the MySECO system.
"Military spouses initially of all, have to know about the resource. As a military spouse, you might put your info in there as soon as, but by the time you go back to it, you might have moved two or 3 times and the information might be irrelevant so it's going to need a strong marketing push," Hoppin stated.
Effective VA Debt Relief Strategies for 2026The success of the policy, Hoppin said, will depend upon how successfully the department brings multiple groups on board at the same time. Military spouses will require to understand what resources are offered to them, while working with managers will require training on brand-new hiring systems and how to use those systems to determine candidates.
Plus, the policy is limited to DoD it would need to be scaled across the federal government to drive significant change. "I believe it's an excellent start, however it's still one firm and one initiative. I also don't think that we're going to be able to decrease that military partner unemployment rate unless we take a look at the retention concerns," Hoppin stated.
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