The Tampa Bay Area is home to thousands of active duty military and their families. In particular, the troops posted to Special Operations Command Headquarters and Central Command Headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base include some of the military’s most senior and most highly-educated troops. And with them they bring equally talented and highly-educated spouses, who have often left careers behind when they received permanent change of station orders.
So what is a military spouse to do when she leaves her law firm, or a teaching post at her university, or a banking position, and finds herself in Tampa without a professional network?
And what can Tampa do support these families and lead to better military retention rates and a stronger Tampa community?
In Gear Career, a nonprofit organization supporting career-minded military spouses, along with the Tampa Chamber of Commerce, Tampa Electric, and the US Chamber of Commerce, is hosting a networking event on April 23 from 6:00–8:00 p.m. to match up military spouse professionals and representatives from Tampa Bay’s professional industries. The event will provide military spouses the opportunity to network with senior-level executives and business leaders from the greater Tampa community. The program provides a network for military spouses that move into the Tampa Bay area with professional experiences and credentials, in industries where jobs are found through networking—not hiring fairs.
“Building a professional network is one of the biggest challenges career-focused military spouses face. Each time they relocate to a new city, they have to build a new network from scratch. The lack of a network is detrimental to their long-term career success, as most professional jobs, especially at the more senior levels, are filled through networking—not job postings,” said Haley Uthlaut, In Gear Career’s Executive Director.
The program will help In Gear Career members build their professional networks through the organization’s alliances with local chambers of commerce, trade groups, business partnerships, and other non-profit groups.
The vision for the networking program, which will be rolled out to additional IGC chapters in other cities, is to serve as “built-in” professional networks that military spouses can tap into before they arrive at a new duty station. “This program will provide entry points into a local network of professionals that military spouses would otherwise not have access to without significant up-front work and time on-ground,” Uthlaut explained.
The event is free and open to spouses from all military branches, and will take place at Tampa Electric headquarters, 702 N. Franklin Street, Tampa, FL.
Business representatives and military spouses interested in participating should contact In Gear Career’s Tampa Chapter Leader at . Military spouses need not RSVP, but an RSVP is appreciated.
About In Gear Career
In Gear Career is dedicated to providing past and present career-focused Military Spouses with free professional networking and career development opportunities. Our vision is to improve the quality of life, morale, and stability of military families by enabling Military Spouses to seek and obtain professional employment alongside their service members. The organization was founded by Haley Uthlaut, a graduate of West Point and a Gold Star Spouse, and by Lauren Weiner and Donna Huneycutt, whose government consulting firm was formed when they could not find meaningful employment as spouses on military orders, and which now employs over 40 military spouses and veterans. In Gear Career promotes and advances the employment, career development, and networking opportunities for Military Spouses across the full range of professional occupations through the exchange of accurate, timely, and topical information through online and on-ground community building efforts and advocacy programs. Visit our website, Like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.
MEDIA CONTACT
Allison Treloar
757.255.8310
SOURCE: In Gear Career
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