Military spouses are a vast pool of available talent in today’s employee starved marketplace. There are steps that you can take to help them.

1) Hire that spouse. It sounds like no-brainer, but so many small firms and other companies have positions available that may be ideal for spouses. Hire them or recommend to HR or friends that are hiring that they could hire a spouse. They are ideal for remote positions, some temporary positions and temp to hire position.

2) Resist the urge to avoid. The resume of a spouse may be in your in box already. Review it and reach out to that spouse. If you do not have a position, give them suggestions for other routes to follow The Military Spouse Employment Manual is a great resource.

3) Connect the spouse to other available resources like Military.com, MSCCN, CASY, or The Military Spouse Employment Network. These organizations focus on the employment of spouses and can be a tremendous help.

4) Be straight forward. Providing resources to a spouse is all well and good, but perhaps you can help with resume assistance or interview preparation or similar helpful HR needs that they may not have in place.

5) Good luck on your future endeavors. If you do not have a position available in your firm, be honest and let the applicant know that. Go to the next step and help them with networking, and any other assistance that you may be able to provide. You may be surprised when you begin thinking about how you help the spouses.

Spouses are three times less likely to get a job than others. That is a shame as many of them have skill sets and education that is vital to many organizations.

Go to the article at Military.com for more resources.