Military Spouse Employment Initiative

Military families, including over 61,500 military spouses and common-law partners, relocate 3 times more than the average Canadian family. One of the main challenges with such frequent relocations, is military spouses or common-law partners finding or continuing employment when arriving at a new base or wing.

The Department of National Defence (DND) has launched the Military Spouse Employment Initiative, to enable military spouses to find or continue employment both within and outside the federal public service. The initiative will offer many employment opportunities for military spouses and common-law partners in the form of inventories, pools, and other staffing options. 

DND announced the first phase on October 1st, 2018 called the NEW Military Spouse Employment Initiative – Casual inventory. 

Casual inventory

The Military Spouse Employment Initiative casual inventory connects military spouses to temporary employment in the following fields:

• Administration services
  
• Clerical services 
• Language teacher
• Storesperson
• Food services 
• Labourer 
• Cleaner

Casual employees are hired for specified periods that may not exceed 90 working days in a department. This inventory enables hiring managers to meet short-term, unforeseen and urgent operational needs.

Eligibility 

To be eligible for this initiative, you must be the spouse or partner of a CAF member who is currently serving in the Regular Force or the Reserve Force on Class C service or Class B Reserve service of more than 180 consecutive days.

You must live with your spouse or partner at their place of duty. If you are living separately, you must be doing so for military reasons. 

Spouses of CAF members who are entitled to relocation benefits as per the Relocation Directive are also eligible for this initiative.

How to apply as a military spouse or partner

To apply to the casual inventory, you must have a GC Jobs account. Once you have created your account, you can apply to the process online.

After you apply

When a hiring manager has identified the need for a casual position, a search will be conducted. Applicant searches may be conducted by:

• random selection
• relevant experience
• work location
• linguistic requirement of the work to be performed. 

Application(s) that meet the hiring organization's needs will be provided to the hiring manager who will then contact the applicant(s) to discuss the opportunity.

How hiring managers use the casual inventory

If you are a manager at DND looking to hire casual staff for your organization, consult the casual inventory. You can search the inventory by location, language, or work experience to hire a candidate that meets the needs of your organization.

For more information, access the job posting or contact DND’s National Staffing Programs positional mailbox at: dnd.national-staffing-programs_programmes-nationaux-de-dotation.mdn@forces.gc.ca.