Portable careers for military spouses

Military spouses face unique career challenges resulting from a lifestyle that often involves frequent relocations — sometimes to remote, isolated posts, high-cost areas and areas where the prospects for employment are less than ideal. These moves, although necessary, impact employment prospects and family income and a spouse’s career progression.

Thanks to the growth of the Internet and the emergence of the virtual assistance industry, military spouses with expertise in administrative support and related areas are finding it easier to spread their entrepreneurial wings and develop viable, portable careers.

Virtual Assistants are self-employed individuals who provide off-site business support services to their clients. These services vary from one VA to the next, based on experience and expertise, and can include day-to-day administrative tasks,  competitive research, Web design, resume writing, accounting, bookkeeping services, marketing support, translation and graphic design. Work assignments are communicated through e-mail, phone, fax, mail, diskette transfer and real-time online messaging. The virtual nature of these relationships lends itself easily to the transient or “nomadic” lifestyle that is so much a part of military family life.

Tim Vohar and Stacy Nichols have been certified by Staffcentrix, LLC, a company that specializes in training military spouses to become virtual assistants, to deliver their exclusive Portable Career and Virtual Assistant Training Program. The program is designed to teach military spouses how to launch and grow their own virtual assistant businesses.

The program is delivered in a series of workshops and is scheduled for Feb. 19 to 21.
Deadline to apply is Feb. 6. Participation is limited to 20 participants who will be selected based on the information they provide in their application for acceptance into the training program.

Candidates for the program should have a minimum of two years of administrative support experience, Internet access, a good working knowledge of basic software, a computer with a Windows 95 or newer operating system, and a strong desire for employment or employment change.

If you are an active-duty military spouse who would like to participate in this free training program, complete and submit the online application at www.msvas.com/
application_ramstein.htm or contact Airman & Family Readiness Center at 480-5100 or 06371-47-5100 for more information.