Chelsea Bridges, a Hiring Our Heroes Fellow, is spotlighted as a successful graduate of the program. Hiring Our Heroes works with veterans and military spouses to achieve industry credentials, certifications, and licenses and provides on-the-job training and paid work experience, which enables veterans and military spouses to get the hands-on experience employers are looking for.
Columbia, Maryland — 5/21/2018. Chelsea Bridges is a military spouse living with her Army MSG husband and two young daughters in Maryland. When Chelsea was ready to jump into the Capital area job market, she was dismayed to find that, despite her Bachelor’s degree and almost 10 years of administrative experience, this wasn’t going to be easy! She felt that a spotty employment history due to the frequent moves of military life and her lack of a strong professional network locally made it very hard for her to get her foot in the door of a prospective employer.
Enter the Hiring Our Heroes Corporate Fellowship Program. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation sponsors the fellowship program, which matches the skills and experience of recently separated veterans and military spouses with available positions at host companies for a period of 6 weeks. Funded by a Department of Labor grant awarded to Anne Arundel County Workforce Development Corporation, the CFP is part of Maryland’s Military Corp, Career, Connect (C3) program. All fellows are paid a stipend and are insured during their 6 weeks with a host company.
Chelsea learned about the program through her social media outlets and, having met all the eligibility requirements, applied for a fellowship. COMSO was presented with Chelsea’s resume and immediately requested an interview–we had a match! That was back in December 2017, and Chelsea was such a motivated and highly versatile candidate that COO Lisa Goodman, always quick to recognize a good prospect, hired her as a full-time Talent Acquisition Specialist.
Chelsea’s success story as a Hiring Our Heroes Corporate Fellow was spotlighted in Maryland Fellowship Program Puts Military Spouse Careers Back on Track, an article in News@HOH. HOH interviewed Chelsea and CEO Jacqui Magnes in two videos that will be presented at the Hiring Our Heroes Military Spouse Employment Summit in Washington, D.C., on June 28, 2018. Snippets of the interviews will be shown between speakers at the summit, as well as on the HOH website.
