A 2020 study by America’s Department of Defense shows that up to 24% of military spouses are rejected by potential employers. That figure is almost 4 times higher than the average national unemployment rate of 6.7% in 2020, as per data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These stats expose the untold challenge of being a military spouse: Due to frequent location changes and other peculiar aspects of military work, the viability of traditional 9-5 jobs borders on impossibility. Of course, traditional careers are designed for people who are willing to be held down in the same location for years, a requirement that military spouses struggle to satisfy.
The most viable career path for military spouses is remote and flexible working. You can consider these among other work from home jobs for military spouses:
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Remote dental assistant
Tech advancement in the dental industry has given birth to teledentistry. Teledentistry combines IT and telecommunication technologies to make remote dental care possible- an arrangement that allows patients to consult their dentists from home. With the help of dental marketing, remote dentistry has definitely seen a huge rise in the last few years. Remote dentistry precipitates the need for remote dental assistants. These are people who do the same tasks that assistants in traditional dental offices do, except that they do everything from home and communicate with their bosses via online platforms.
To become a remote dental assistant, you will need clearance and certification from the Dental Assisting National Board (DANB). DANB requires applicants to have gone through a dental assistant training program from a community college, a technical school, or a recognizable online training program. It is advisable to choose an institution that offers MyCAA dental assistant programs. MyCAA programs give military spouses access to MyCAA funding, a stronger backing in the labor market, and a higher level of job stability.
Another route to becoming a certified remote dental assistant is to take the American Medical Technologists (AMT) exam, after which you are given a Registered Dental Assistant (RDA) certificate. American Career College offers military spouses a 10-month diploma training that fast-track their qualification for RDA certification.
The average pay for remote dental assistants is $42,371 a year.
Customer service representative
Companies of all sizes and industries rely on remote customer service agents to communicate with their customers. That is particularly the case with almost all service, retail, and e-commerce businesses. Amazon and Humana, for example, have tons of consumer interactions to do, and their customer base is diverse with respect to age, gender, nationalities, languages & dialects, and personal preferences. For instance, if you are really good with languages, you can consider joining translation services and help companies reach a wider audience. Such businesses cannot do with only an in-house customer service team. Besides, with the increased need for and viability of a contactless digital buying experience, you can bet that the demand for remote customer reps will continue to grow into the foreseeable future.
What does it take to be a customer service representative? There are four things here: The ability to calm down disgruntled and frustrated customers, the ability to help and guide confused customers, the ability to change one-time customers to regular paying customers, and the ability to influence positive online reviews from regular customers. You will fit perfectly into that job description if listening to people’s problems and helping them find solutions comes naturally to you. If you aren’t a natural, you can boost your marketability by taking a short online communication course.
The average pay for remote customer reps is $21,590 per year.
Remote accounting and finance jobs
This is a good career to pursue if you are detail-oriented, good in math, and are good at catching errors and irregularities in financial documents. What remote accounting and finance officers do, basically, is to analyze and organize volumes of financial data for different companies. New entrants can take on basic roles such as bookkeeping. You will, however, need a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) certification to qualify for specialized accounting jobs such as reconciling accounts, filing tax returns, collecting medical bills, monitoring cash flow, and developing budgets.
The median salary for remote accountants is $71,550
Digital marketing
Digital marketing is very broad. You can be an online sales manager, a public relations officer, an advertising specialist, a social media influencer, a writer, or an affiliate marketer. The chances are endless! The key here is to identify your talents and pick the digital marketing gig that works best for your schedule and skill set. Writers, for example, are needed for writing press releases, email blasts, and social media ads. Influencers need to have huge followership and high engagement rates on social media. Sales managers and PR officers need to have great people skills. And so on!
Digital marketing’s average annual pay is $59,665.
Recruitment experts
Similar to customer service this is another critical job for any organization to the development of their workforce. It needs you to have strong people skills together with a willingness for developing relationships with hundreds of candidates that might get hired in the future. This is also another kind of work that several organizations are transitioning over to the digital space. Job expectations for this line of work can vary from interviewing probable candidates to some proactive ways of seeking the probable hires. Some other recruitment positions may need you to do both. However, if you are looking to help retired military members, veterans, or spouses of military personnel find lucrative jobs this may be a great opportunity to do so and you can do it from home as well. The skills you are required to possess for recruitment work include communication skills, people skills, understanding the way a particular industry works, and analytical skills. The average pay is around $60,000 per year.
Web designer
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many organizations to convert their businesses from conventionally based advertising and marketing to a digital one. Due to this change, you are observing a hungry rise in demand for web designers to try and bring their products and services to the notice of this new wave of online customers. Big organizations such as Amazon, Etsy, and eBay are always on the lookout for web designers. When you have a creative streak in you together with an eye for color, design, technology, and graphics this is a great opportunity to begin a good-paying career as a web designer. Many organizations especially the higher paying and higher-end ones need you to possess a bachelor’s degree for getting a web designer’s job. However, other smaller companies may hire you despite not possessing a degree. In case you have a certificate from some recognized training institute or if you have an impressive designer’s portfolio that was created by yourself, you may be in luck. The skills you are required to possess as a web designer are, proficiency in one or more programming languages, good analytical skills, proficiency with the intended design software, and good visualization skills. You can expect an average pay of $60,000 per year as web designers.
Registered nurses
The requirement for healthcare workers and registered nurses is expected to rise. According to HR organizations, there are many opportunities in healthcare that are related to the business side of things. As there is a rising base of elderly people in the country, having trained for elderly care makes you a sought-after entity in the job market. Jobs as registered nurses and home health aides are in great demand. However, most of these jobs require you to undergo certain training. For instance, remote nursing work needs you to pass the NCLEX RN test even if you are a military spouse. However, several home care companies offer at work training and an enjoyable workday if you genuinely like being with elderly people. The compensation offered for elderly care work begins in the low 20s and can go as high as mid-40s per hour. You can normally find military retirees close to military bases and no one will be better suited to understand their needs and lives than a helpful and eager military spouse.
Conclusion
Finding a remote job as a military spouse will help you bridge employment gaps and overcome location constraints in your pursuit of career advancement. They help you avoid the pay cuts that companies impose on workers who request to work flexibly for personal reasons. You, therefore, should choose a job that on top of earning you a salary helps you grow professionally and become a better partner to your military husband or wife. These are the strong alternatives available for military spouses in the modern market. Considering the demands of military life these are viable fields for your career. They not only offer competitive salaries, but they are also exciting career opportunities and will open you to a profession that can travel with you.
