CAMP HENRY, Republic of Korea -- The U.S. Army Garrison Daegu conducted its first iteration of the newly redesigned Army Community Service's Spouse Newcomers Orientation and Employment Readiness Workshop at the ACS office in the Soldier Support Center on Camp Walker Aug 8.
Before the redesigned workshop, representatives from the Civilian Human Resources Agency would brief for 5-10 minutes during the Spouse Newcomers Orientation. Now, the more in-depth employment readiness training portion is conducted in the afternoon, and much more information is provided to spouses.
The number of briefers and Power Point slides were reduced, and it's now more interactive. Agencies introduce themselves, give a short pitch, and then meet with spouses one-on-one. It's more like an information fair, now.
"We received a lot of good feedback from this first workshop," said Samantha Chapman, an employment readiness instructor with Army Community Service at the training. "We were able to work with them one-on-one and answer all their questions."
During the employment readiness training, a team from the CHRA focused heavily on navigating USAJOBS, the website used by the federal government to advertise job openings.
"They explained the different preferences, the difference between spouse's preference and family member preference as well as veteran's preference because a lot of spouses are veterans too," said Chapman.
The team from CHRA also provided federal government resume writing and interview tips and explained how the hiring process works to help spouses be successful.
The redesigned workshop is scheduled for the 2nd Thursday of every month and starts at 9 a.m. The Spouse Newcomers Orientation is in the morning, a Korean meal is provided to attendees at lunch, and the employment readiness workshop portion begins at 1:30 p.m.
The spouses can attend the employment readiness briefing on the same day they attend the spouse orientation, or another session in the next month, or later. They can come back to the workshop several times as they see the need to help with their employment opportunities, said Mitzie Jewitt, the director of USAG Daegu Family and MWR.
"We are assessing how best to help spouses with not only their current duty station, but the next one, or a career path and progression with Department of Defense employment," said Jewitt.
Due to the Chuseok National Holiday, the next workshop is scheduled for Sept. 5. It will be held at ACS in the Soldier Support Center, building 330 on Camp Walker. To register, visit ACS or call 0503-363-4497 or DSN 763-4497.
Social Sharing