Military Spouse Employment Initiative: Explore a career that moves with you

August 25, 2025 - Defence Stories

Estimated read time – 2:45

Frequent relocations and employment disruptions impact the employment continuity of the spouses and common-law partners of Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members. The Department of National Defence (DND)’s Military Spouse Employment Initiative (MSEI) helps your spouse/partner explore job opportunities—wherever your service takes you.

The MSEI aims to support military spouses/partners and military families by providing meaningful employment opportunities within the federal public service, as well as connect them with valuable employment tools and resources. By empowering spouses and partners in their career journeys, the MSEI strengthens military families and contributes to the overall resilience of the CAF community.

How Does the MSEI Work

The MSEI is a DND-led inventory of readily available military spouses/common-law partners interested in working in the federal public service. Candidate applications are matched to a range of job opportunities, and hiring managers request referrals from the inventory when vacant jobs become available. Spouses can be hired for casual, term or indeterminate (permanent) positions, depending on the hiring needs of the manager.

DND is Recruiting for the Following Fields (Among Others):

• Office Administration
• Health and Social Services
• Information Technology Specialists
• Engineering and Engineering Technologists
• General Labour and Trades
• Communications and Public Relations

Learn more about the eligibility to apply to the inventory.

Apply Online Today! Military Spouse Employment Initiative.

Spouses/Partners are an Important Part of the Defence Team!

To further support military spousal employment, DND has established an organizational need to prioritize the hiring of military spouses/partners of serving CAF members. This means that during a staffing (hiring) process, spouses or partners of serving CAF members may be considered for selection before other applicants.

Additionally, DND has endorsed an exception (accessible only on the National Defence network) to the Treasury Board’s Direction on prescribed presence in the workplace, which permits DND employees who are spouses/partners of deployed CAF members to telework, when operationally feasible.

Questions?

Please contact MilitarySpouseEmployment-Emploidesconjointsdemilitaires@forces.gc.ca.

Testimonials

"This opportunity has provided me and my family with a sense of stability that allows us to plan for the future. This initiative helps spouses and partners to get their foot in the door and hopefully find long term employment, stability, decreased stress on relocation. It also helped me feel connected to the organization that is such a huge part of our lives."

"For the first time in 17 years I have not had to resign from my job! Not only has the MSEI provided the opportunity to find employment, but it has allowed me to retain employment which is something I never had before."

Other Military Spousal Employment Resources

The Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services (CFMWS) offers spouses and common-law partners valuable support and resources to navigate career transitions, while also connecting them with employment opportunities via a variety of programming, including:

• The Military Spousal Employment Network (MSEN) is an online hub to connect military spouses/partners with an expanding network of corporate employers.
  • Participate in virtual career fairs and networking events
  • Explore the job board with over 7,000 private sector employment opportunities
• CareerCOACH+ provides military spouses and partners one-on-one virtual support with a career professional for personalized assistance.
• Skills-building workshops are group training sessions exclusive for military spouses/partners to gain essential skills and resources to increase confidence in career essentials, job searching, and small business exploration.
• Second Language Training for English or French is accessible as a self-directed learning program, available online. The modules are aligned with the Government of Canada linguistic levels.

Please contact employment@cfmws.com for more information on these resources.