Food service. Makeup specialist. Day care provider. Fraud investigator.
Chryssy Johnson, whose husband retired from the Army in 2013, moved five times while their marriage overlapped with his service. Each move meant a new job for Johnson.
"I had three pages of a résumé, and nothing correlated with each other," she said.
When Johnson and her husband had a permanent change-of-station move to San Antonio, she was working as a fraud investigator for a credit-card company but was unable to transfer her job to Texas.
Johnson found a job with USAA as a customer service representative, and six years later, she's a military strategy and hiring adviser.
"USAA welcomed me with open arms," she said. "It was a perfect fit and just made sense, being a member for so many years."
Johnson uses her experience to help others who want to work at USAA.
"As a military spouse, it's extremely difficult to have a career," she said. "USAA is about the military family."
She said USAA is accommodating to a military spouse's needs, whether someone has to PCS or attend a military-related event. If an employee's spouse receives a military transfer, the spouse may be relocated to another location if possible.
USAA offers an internal social networking platform, VetNet — with VetNetSpouse specifically for military spouses. Within the VetNet community, spouses can share information, attend events together and network. There is also an external component that includes USAA teaming up with the Military Spouse Employment Partnership and Hiring Our Heroes.
"We go out and do networking events, and that is just so rewarding," Johnson said. "I didn't have that help when I was trying to find different employment."
Wendy Poling, member community manager for USAA, said she started blogging when her Navy husband was deployed as a way to connect with others.
USAA found Poling and asked her to continue blogging and serve as the deployment community manager.
When she and her husband PCS'd to Connecticut and lived on a boat for two years, she said USAA allowed her to work remotely.
"One of my pieces of advice to military spouses looking to transition to a new job or break into corporate America is just be open to different positions and don't get locked in on one job title or another," she said.
Chris Crace, veterans advocacy leader for PwC, said the company supports flexibility for all employees, so accommodating military spouses is a natural fit.
Crace, a Marine veteran, has firsthand experience, seeing the sacrifices his wife made and her ability to adapt to changing situations.
"The strength to be able to run the household and be able to focus on a career at the same time," he said, "I have utmost respect for anyone who can juggle that."
Erika Sartain, a manager at PwC who's married to a Marine, said the firm is supportive when she has family commitments.
"I'm able to flex time as needed to attend events at my son's day care, take him to medical appointments, etc.," she said. "With an active-duty husband, that flexibility has been a blessing on numerous occasions."
Sartain also took advantage of PwC's Veterans Affinity Network, which is made up of veterans, military spouses and veteran advocates.
Crace said one of the focuses of VAN is family readiness — "making sure if anybody does deploy or whatever the need is from a veteran's standpoint, that [the spouse] is plugged into a network similar to the wives club on base."
Sartain said when she moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, from New York City, the group members helped her get a sense of how PwC supported military families.
"Hearing their stories gave me the confidence and support to look into transferring offices instead of quitting," she said.
At the time of the move, Sartain said there was a need for someone with her background in Raleigh, and her team gave her the flexibility she needed to work remotely from Camp Lejeune for extended periods around deployment and homecoming.
"The same VAN network was a huge support again when my husband received orders that moved us to the D.C. area in 2013," she said. "I simply wouldn't be in my current position … if it weren't for the connections I've made in the VAN, too."
Charlsy is a Reporter and Engagement Manager for Military Times. Email her at cpanzino@militarytimes.com.
