Making it in the MilLife

This week, MOAA Spouse chatted with Pamela Hardy, the lead member of Booz Allen Hamilton’s diversity recruiting team. We wanted to know what’s driving this strategy and technology firm to grow its diversity pool with military spouses. Headquartered in McLean, VA, Booz reported more than $5.59 billion in revenue in 2011 and is consistently ranked in the Top 100 Best Companies lists for Working Mother and Fortune, as well as recognition among Military Friendly companies.

Pamela spoke at MOAA’s 2012 April spouse career event. We followed up to learn more.

What’s led Booz Allen Hamilton to focus on military spouses?
Hiring military spouses has really been a deliberate effort. We’ve repeatedly been cited for doing an exceptional job hiring veterans, and two years ago several of the firm’s leaders asked us to take a holistic look within this space to determine what we want to focus on and to ensure we are really maximizing what’s being done.

We spent some time with spouses who were already employed with us and held a focus group.

We heard them loud and clear – they wanted remote delivery, pathway to full time, and full time with options to go to school.

So we’ve tried to employ those three methods in addition to the other outreach we do – resume workshops, coaching, and leveraging our employee forum groups.

How has Booz changed in its approach to hiring spouses?
On the recruiting side, we identified opportunities for military spouses and caregivers to work remotely. In fact, we realized we could add people to a remote recruiting team.

We hired a military spouse in a new role called the Candidate Engagement Specialist. Her role is to interface with candidates as they come into our pipeline. She can work from home, we can leverage her military background and her experiences as someone who has moved around and has had a lot of other corporate experiences. She is a jewel. That’s an instance where we creatively came together and said we have this staffing need but how can we leverage spouses and caregivers to work with us.

What other efforts has Booz made to support military spouses?
We had several executives who participated in onsite mentoring with the US Chamber of Commerce Hiring our Heroes military spouse career fairs. Also, 40 military spouses from Booz signed up to be mentors on the eMentoring initiative with Academy Women.

How do you track hiring and career progression of military spouses at Booz?
Self identification makes tracking a challenge. We can only report what we know, and right now those are people who have come forward, and said “I am a military spouse.”  We do recognize that some don’t self identify. But we also don’t want to report just to report; we want to make it meaningful.

What advice can you offer to military spouses?
Be deliberate in their job search. Look for organizations that have demonstrated that they understand the military, are military friendly and have a robust talent program whether its flex time, apprenticeships or internship programs. Target organizations that “get it”.

Not everyone is going to have access to those organizations.

Be sure you’re leveraging the right network and right resources and don’t be afraid to educate individuals who don’t get it.

You as a military spouse have to have the confidence to know you bring so much to the table. Multitasking, handling change and adapting quickly – these are all essential skills that top organizations value.
Also, leverage your advocates. There are many organizations that have military recruiting staff who are dedicated to understanding the military spouse population.

Lastly, follow up, either with an email or a phone call.

Offering to discuss your background, rather than a specific position is key. That will allow job-seekers to broaden the conversation.

What are the qualities organizations are looking for today?
Adaptability, flexibility, strong communications skills, the ability to pick up new skills quickly. For a military spouse or non-military spouse those are the foundations for a great employee.

I do think there is value to spouses who have had a number of different work experiences. They bring that diversity of experiences that really will allow them to enter different situations and apply those experiences. I know some military spouses are fearful of that, they see it as a bad thing. But I see it as a strength.

What is a mistake you see military spouse making in their job search?
Not having confidence. Go into that interview with a real sense of confidence and learn how to articulate what you bring to the table. Own it!

About Pamela

Based in Virginia, Pamela is a member of Booz Allen Hamilton’s People Services Team. Pamela leads the firm’s diversity recruiting team, which is responsible for attracting top talent from diverse sources and strengthening the Firm’s brand as an employer of choice. Prior to joining Booz Allen Hamilton, Pamela worked in recruiting and consulting roles within the consulting industry. As a consultant, Pamela has partnered with organizations to develop leadership programs, succession planning workshops and diversity recruiting strategies and techniques. Pamela is a member of the NextGen Network, an affiliate of the Executive Leadership Council, the nation’s premier leadership network of the most senior African American corporate executives in Fortune 500 companies. Pamela holds a Masters in Human Resources from Marymount University and a Bachelors degree in English from Virginia Union University. Pamela enjoys cooking, reading and enjoying time with family and friends.

By Chris Pape

My attitude towards my wife’s military career was probably very similar to other male military spouses who have been in my situation; even though I was extremely proud of her, I never bought into it as a lifestyle both of us must live.

I am a fiercely independent person who had his own career, his own money, his own identity. She has her career, I have mine. It’s amazing how long I tried to hold on to this philosophy even thought it torpedoed itself every few years. I mean it only took three PCS’s, two deployments, six job changes, one change of career experiment, high blood pressure, high anxiety and several months of unemployment for me to understand that, like it or not, I am a military spouse. And a male military spouse at that.

But you know, nobody ever bothered to explained this to me, I had to learn it myself the hard way.

My utter lack of understanding and situational awareness, coupled with the non-existent support for male military spouses is why I decided to start Macho Spouse.

Macho Spouse is an educational video series and online resource for male military spouses. I have collected interviews and life-lessons from other male military spouses, advice from PhD level military family counselors, and career tips from military spouse career experts. When finished, these resources will be edited into a series of DVDs and online videos that will deliver invaluable life-lessons and advice for not only us men, but our wives and partners as well. I can only imagine how beneficial something like this would have been for both my wife and I when we decided marry; my last 10 years didn’t have to be so hard.

Macho Spouse is continuing to gather interviews, male-specific information, and support. We need your help. If you would like to learn more or contribute in any way, please visit us online or on Facebook.

Chris Pape is the spouse of an active duty Air Force officer.  They have been married for 8 years.  They currently reside in Columbia, SC with their happy dog Brutus.