SECO and MSEP 101: Made for Military Spouse Employment

If you’re a military spouse looking for employment, meet the Spouse Education and Career Opportunities program and the Military Spouse Employment Partnership. Made exclusively for the military spouse, these initiatives can help get you career-ready and find a great job.

The Department of Defense Spouse Education and Career Opportunities program, or SECO, was created specifically for military spouses—to connect you with tools and resources, including education and training help, career coaching and exploration, career connections and much more.

If you’re looking for a job, check out the Military Spouse Employment Partnership, or MSEP. It’s a part of the SECO program, and connects employers with educated, trained and qualified military spouses like you. Access job listings and featured hot jobs, MSEP partners and more.

The SECO program: What’s in it for you?

Make connections. Stay informed. Get hired. That’s what the SECO program is all about. On the MySECO website, you’ll find resources and tools related to:

• Exploring careers and your own skills
• Education, training and licensing options
• Getting yourself workplace ready
• Networking and finding jobs
• Scholarship opportunities
• Entrepreneurship Guidance

What’s waiting for you on MySECO? Highlights include:

• Comprehensive career coaching services: SECO career coaches offer specialty consultations six days a week at no cost to military spouses. You can also take advantage of the many career coaching packages to help you meet your unique needs. To schedule an appointment with a SECO career coach, call 800-342-9647.
• Online career coach discussions: Career coaches will answer your employment questions on Facebook during Career Coach Live events. Network with other military spouses and learn tips from the experts to help you succeed. Topics cover everything from scholarships and finding the right school to professional etiquette and turning perceived obstacles into strengths.
• Explore the labor market: Check out the Occupational Outlook Handbook to learn about job descriptions, work environments, educational and licensing requirements and salaries.
• Build your resume: What do employers want to see? MySECO gives you samples and an easy-to-use template from the information in your profile. Be sure to use the Resume Builder for a simple method of developing the perfect resume based on information in your MySECO Account Profile.
• Military Spouse eMentor program: Link up with an online community and receive personalized career guidance, advice, support from more experienced military spouses, career mentors and military spouse-friendly employers.
• SECO Scholarship Finder: Find scholarships on a site you can trust. You can also use the database to search for opportunities for your college-bound kids.
• Self-assessments: Access your values and skills with powerful tools that will help you explore the career or education path that best suits your personal journey.
• LinkedIn Premium upgrade: Military spouses can upgrade to LinkedIn Premium at no cost during a PCS or separation from the military. This year-long offer allows spouses to begin their job hunt and build networks as soon as they receive orders.

Some features on MySECO are available only to authenticated users. So take time to register today and begin your journey to learn, advance and succeed.

The Military Spouse Employment Partnership

The Military Spouse Employment Partnership has more than 390 partner companies and organizations that have hired over 125,000 military spouses. The MSEP Job Search on MySECO has hundreds of thousands of active jobs listed around the world. Highlights include:

• Active jobs: The Job Search feature connects you with open jobs by job title, location, industry, partner and more. You can even search for telework jobs and work-from-home opportunities.
• Hot jobs: View jobs that immediately need to be filled and read a quick summary of the position on the homepage.
• MSEP Candidate Search: Allow MSEP partners looking for employees to directly search for you by opting into the MSEP Candidate Search from your account settings.

Here for you: SECO career coaches

As a military spouse, you’re serving our country too. It’s important that you have access to the resources you need for successful job-hunting. We hope you’ll take advantage of them, especially connecting with our career coaches.

Spouses of active-duty service members in the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and members of the Reserve Component, regardless of activation status, are eligible for career coaching services.

A coach can help you at any stage of your career—from looking for the right school to connecting with potential employers. Contact a SECO career coach at 800-342-9647 or you can use the Live Chat feature in the header of the MySECO website for additional guidance.