Supporting Military Spouses: Two Year Update

This month marks two years since IST became part of the Military Spouse Employment Partnership (MSEP) program through the Department of Defense (DOD)! We call it our GEMS program, which stands for “Gainful Employment for Military Spouses.” This is a noble cause. While the unemployment rate is currently 4.6%, the unemployment rate for military spouses is around 26%. Part of the challenge is that military spouses tend to relocate often, and some companies are reluctant to hire them. The good news is that this is a non-issue for IST. If we hire them and they have to relocate, there is a good chance we can retain them in another IST location because we have operations throughout the U.S.

Finding good people today is a challenge for most employers. The ratio of job openings to hires is at an all-time high. The GEMS program is an excellent recruiting program because it represents a vast talent pool and helps out our service members who may be married.

Sydney Ayers, Vice President of Talent Acquisition, is also helping manage our GEMS program along with Vice President of Operations & Implementations, Tim Richardson, and Vice President of Human Resources Administration, Lori Mitchum. Sydney said, “Historically, we’ve had 21 total participants in GEMS, and we had 6 new GEMS enrollments this year!” This is significant progress.