NORFOLK, Va. — Spend time with Navy wife Gabby Fisher like I did, and you’ll quickly understand she has a lot going on right now. Her husband is currently deployed on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, while she takes care of their home, their six pets, and works a full-time job. Though, the toughest part may have been actually landing that job.
"It can actually be very challenging," Fisher told me when I visited her office. "I had applied to roughly 200 jobs in two months."
Fisher is part of a growing number of military spouses who struggle to find full-time work.
"You will have employers that don't want to hire you, because you won't be there for a long time, or you don't have that much experience,” she added.
But it doesn't have to be that way. Sylvia Haines realizes the wide-ranging experience military spouses can bring to a workplace. Her team at the Hampton Roads Chamber has hired a number of Navy spouses over the years, including Fisher.
"They come from diverse backgrounds, from diverse areas, so they really enrich your organization because they bring a different perspective,” Haines tells me. “They're fabulous,” she added.
The tough part is connecting spouses with willing employers. There are resources available, including:
Military Spouse Employment Partnership
Lawmakers are also working on a fix. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) has co-sponsored the Military Spouse Hiring Act. It would enhance existing law by providing a tax benefit to employers who hire military spouses. There is also a federal law that allows the recognition of certain professional certifications military spouses have, like a real estate license, to be recognized when they move to another state.
Back at the Chamber, they're thrilled to have Gabby Fisher on board.
“She was able to come in, adapt and start working with very little instruction or training,” Haines boasts. “She's been fabulous.”
Fisher offers this advice for other Navy spouses in the same boat:
"It's hard to give yourself the courage to try especially when you have so many other things going on, but there are the resources out there. You just got to look and ask."
News 3 photojournalists Raymond Campos and Wade Francom contributed to this report.
