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Hiring Our Heroes Military Spouse Program The Hiring Our Heroes Military Spouse Program, launched by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation in January 2012, focuses on professional development, resume improvement, mentoring, and networking to ameliorate the challenges that military spouses face in starting and building careers. To achieve this mission, we launched the Military Spouse Employment Advisory Council (MSEAC), a coalition of the nation’s leading private sector companies that are committed to mentoring the business community in best practices for hiring and retaining military spouses. The MSEAC plays an advisory role to all Hiring Our Heroes spouse programs, and provides leadership to the national business community about the value proposition in hiring military spouses. We have developed several key tools to help military spouses plan their career. This year, in partnership with Toyota, we launched the first-ever online resume engine exclusively for military spouses. This interactive tool will change the way employers view military spouses’ strengths and skill sets. And the way military spouses see their own skills. We are the only organization that hosts hiring fairs and networking receptions across the country exclusively for military spouses. Our fairs are held on military installations and include value-added content to help spouses plan a career. Presentations focus on resume building, interview skills, networking, and professionalism. Our networking program, sponsored by USAA, creates professional networks for spouses on a regional and national scale to level the playing field for spouses, many of whom lead highly mobile lifestyles that make it hard to get established. Our receptions bring together businesses, military spouses, local chambers of commerce, installation staff, civic leaders, and senior military from the area. After the fairs end, we maintain LinkedIn groups of all who attend our events and promote further career development events, local connections, and job postings. We are working closely with the Department of Defense, the White House and the business community to achieve our goals. Hiring Our Heroes’ role is simple – to leverage our relationship with the U.S. Chamber’s vast network of companies to communicate the needs of military spouses and build programs that show spouses how to keep their jobs and plan careers.