Military Spouse Preference: Is there a loop hole? My spouse has orders for an oversees tour. I have a career and hoped to find a goverment job where he is going to be assigned. I searched CPOL listings for jobs in the commuting area of his assignments, found a job for which I qualified, and applied. Prior ro this I contacted my local ARMY employment assistance officer for advice. As far as he could tell I was eligible for military spouse preference. After applying for the CPOL listed job I was denied because I was deemed ineligible. Why was I ineligible? I was told it was because I was not in country. I could not apply until I was physically in country. The suggestion was that I resign my well paying job and arrive in country and start the process. In reading the CPOL guidelines for military spouse preference, it doesn't mention this. I feel like I'm being given the run around.
So much for supporting military spouses with employment opportunities. Leave a well paying job for the possibility of employment overseas. I don't think so.
Yes it does seem to suck because it can be difficult getting a job. But they didn't hire you because there is no guarantees that you will be there. You could get hired and then the orders change at the last minute so you don't go there or if you haven't been granted command sponsorship yet it is denied. There is other reasons as well behind this. You can apply for it again when you get there and if you are suppose to get the job you will.
Unfortunately your scenarios don't fit. My husband is already overseas and I have command sponsorship. Again I have a good paying job now. I think its unreasonable to expect the spouse to resign their position on the chance that once in country something may open up. Again the career office here was surprised that consideration was only given once you were in country.
but you aren't THERE yet.. so why should they offer you a job when you aren't already there?! Plenty of people get CS and choose not to go overseas with their sponsor. why should they run the risk of turning away someone already there and qualfied on the off chance you MIGHT get over there in the next three weeks?
the regsstate you must be in country to be qualified to apply for a job . part of the SOFA agreement with that country.
so either go over there and take a chance, or don't.
Did you go to the CPAC/CPOC office at the military base/post you are at? I think for normal CONUS to CONUS moves you can register for military spouse preference 30 days prior to your husband's report date. But it is something you have go in and do paperwork on.
As far as CONUS to OCONUS moves, you have to make sure that you read the job description carefully. Normally if the announcement is a "World Wide" announcement, that means it doesn't matter where you are when you apply for the job, you can apply for the position and be considered eligible on your merits. If the announcement is area wide, let's say for example "Korea wide," then that means that the announcement is only open for the folks in that country. Then there are the local hires. You have to be sure to read the announcement. Some of the announcements are very specific sometimes, as in the applicant must be within 50 commuting miles to be considered eligible.
This is just from my personal experience, but you married a military man. The choice you face is: 1) your well-paying job or 2) being with your husband. Military spouses make these choices every day. My personal choice has always been to follow my husband wherever the Army takes him, and so far (knock on wood) I have been lucky to be picked up in the civil service system for a job at every duty station.
PS Don't dally too long on joining your husband overseas, or the Command Sponsorship can be revoked. At least that is how it works in Korea. If the dependents don't join the sponsor by a certain timeline (I think it's 120 days), then Command Sponsorship gets revoked. If the service member wants to be Command Sponsored, the application process starts all over again.
