Military Spouse Employment Initiative

Eligibility

To be eligible as a spouse or common-law partner for 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
• You must not already be employed as a permanent (indeterminate) employee in the federal public service
• You must reside with your CAF member spouse/partner at the member’s place of duty or if living separately, you are doing so for military reasons
• 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.

To apply to the inventory, go to DND’s Talent Inventory website.

After You Apply

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

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

The MSEI Team will then gather resumes of applicants who match the criteria for the hiring manager to consider.

For more information, contact DND’s Military Spouse Employment Team.

Public Service Hiring Managers: How to Use the Inventory

If you are a DND hiring manager, you must use our internal request form found on the MSEI intranet website (accessible only on the National Defence network).

1. Submit a referral form to DND’s Military Spouse Employment Team
2. You will receive applicants that match the identified criteria of your vacant job.
3. Assess the referred candidates and select a candidate
4. Provide the MSEI Team your referral feedback and the name of selected candidate for appointment

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, Naval 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
• BGen F. William Radiff (accessible only on the National Defence network)
• Stephanie Wright 
• Keri Roy and Sgt. Palmater

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