Military Spouse Employment Initiative

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply to this employment inventory, you must meet the following conditions:

• You must be a military spouse or common-law partner of a serving Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) member or you are a surviving spouse/common law partner of a CAF member whose death is attributable to service.
• Your serving CAF member spouse/partner must be a member of the Regular Force or the Reserve Force on Class C service or Class B reserve service of more than 180 consecutive days.
• You must not already be employed as a permanent (indeterminate) employee in the federal public service.

After you apply

When a hiring manager identifies a job opportunity, DND conducts a search in the inventory by the following criteria:

• Relevant experience
• Education
• Work location
• Linguistic requirement of the job

DND will gather resumes of applicants who match the criteria for the hiring manager to consider. DND’s military spouse employment initiative team is committed to providing support throughout the entire staffing process, from application to second language assessments, and throughout the hiring process.

Public service hiring managers: Hire a military spouse

The inventory is open and available to all federal organizations.  To access the inventory, follow these steps:

1. Submit a referral form to DND’s military spouse employment team
2. Based on your requirements, DND’s military spouse employment team will identify candidates that match the identified criteria
3. Assess the referred candidates and select a candidate
4. Provide your referral feedback and the name of selected candidate for appointment

DND hiring managers must use the internal request form on DND’s military spouse employment initiative intranet site (accessible only on the National Defence network).

Testimonials

Military spouse testimonials

“When we get posted again, I’ll have options for transferring my job, finding a new job, or putting my job on hold while on a temporary posting. My employer is across Canada, and there are many opportunities to grow within the DND community.”
Justine Walker

“The biggest impact of the MSEI for me is that I can work outside the home. I’m in a wheelchair and since I started working at DND, the accommodations they’ve made for my disability have been phenomenal and very inclusive. It gives hiring managers an idea of who you are. It doesn’t matter if you’re able or disabled, the MSEI is unbiased.”
Sara Schnabel

CAF member spouses testimonials

“The MSEI was a great opportunity for my spouse and our family.  I was relieved to know that there was job support for my spouse after we relocated and I was very happy when she was hired to work at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.”
Sgt. Palmater

“For much of my career, I have been witness to the military taking great pains to accommodate service couples with respect to posting movements (i.e. trying to ensure that they are posted to the same geographical location). While I think that this is great, as someone who isn’t married to a CAF member, I always felt uneasy because there was nothing in place to accommodate someone with a civilian spouse. The MSEI is exactly this.”
BGen F. William Radiff

Hiring manager testimonials

“Overall, I found the experience very easy and efficient and the support from the staffing team was excellent. I found an exceptionally qualified person for the position I needed to fill in a very short period of time and I was able to get her on the job relatively quickly.”
Captain William (Bill) Quinn, Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) Attaché and Assistant Defence Attaché

“My experience using the inventory as a hiring manager was great. The information asked for is the information that’s received. I was happy with the amount of time it took, with the service, and the support I received.”
Ashley Green A/Service Manager, Benefits Delivery Services Branch at Service Canada

Other testimonial links

• Leanne Denison
• Sara Schnabel
• Stephanie Wright 
• Keri Roy and Sgt. Palmater