Military spouses are among the most underemployed workers in the United States, despite being one of the most educated and resilient groups in the labor market. Nearly three times as likely to be underemployed as civilians, they often face career resets every time their partner receives Permanent Change of Station (PCS) orders. For Katherine Torres-Pummill, Head of Recurrent Military at Recurrent Ventures, this is an overlooked opportunity for employers to strengthen their workforce and bottom line.
Recurrent Military, a network of media brands and events — including Task & Purpose, and We Are The Mighty, reaches more than 18 million people in the military community every month. Torres-Pummill uses that platform to do more than tell stories. She connects military spouses with employers who need their skills and advocates for structures that make career continuity possible.
“I over-index on hiring military spouses,” she said. “They are absolutely exceptional. I call them my little Olivia Pope team because they figure things out; they’ve had to their entire careers.”
The challenges military spouses face are real: constant relocation, long deployments, and limited access to childcare that disrupt career progression. But those same circumstances cultivate resourcefulness and problem-solving skills that most companies say they want. Torres-Pummill points out that hiring managers often misinterpret the realities of military life, assuming spouses will be unreliable or unavailable.
“If you’re married and you have kids, that’s a double ding. Add in PCS orders or deployment, and employers assume you’re unreliable,” she said. “But these are the people who can parachute into a new city and within hours have schools lined up, housing set, and their lives in order. That’s the kind of operational skill you want on your team.”
The COVID-19 pandemic offered a breakthrough moment. Remote work, once seen as a perk, became a norm and a lifeline for military spouses who could finally take jobs with them from duty station to duty station. Advocates like Torres-Pummill and Tessa Robinson, a former military spouse and longtime editor in the military media space, say this shift should not be temporary.
“The best thing that happened for military spouse employment was COVID, because it showed that you can have a remote workforce and spouses can take their jobs with them,” Robinson said. For millennials — a generation that already prizes flexibility and work-life alignment — this portability is crucial.
Torres-Pummill stresses that recruiting military spouses is only the first step. Employers must design work environments that allow them to succeed. At Recurrent, that means creating processes that allow employees to remain on staff through relocations and ensuring support is available during deployments.
“If their spouse deploys, I’ll be the first one to ask if they need time off to get their house in order,” she said. “You have to create a structure that allows these spouses to thrive. You’ll get the talent, but you have to meet them halfway.”
Recurrent’s commitment extends beyond internal hires. Its events serve as pipelines for opportunities: at the annual Military Influencer Conference, roughly 80 percent of contractors are military spouses. The company even hosts hiring fairs during its events to give employers a chance to connect directly with job seekers who are ready to work.
The business case is clear. Hiring military spouses is not charity — it’s a sound economic decision. Households with two incomes are more likely to stay in the military, which helps preserve the all-volunteer force that is essential to national security. It also boosts retention and engagement for employers who are otherwise struggling to find loyal, high-performing workers.
“When you hire a military spouse, you are supporting a military family, which is good for our economy and good for national security,” Robinson said.
Military families are often assumed to have a cushy benefits package, but the reality is more complicated. While health care coverage and housing stipends exist, they rarely make up for the loss of a second income. One in five military families experiences food insecurity. Frequent moves come with hidden expenses—purchasing a second vehicle overseas, covering childcare solo during deployments, replacing furniture delayed by shipping—that add up quickly.
For millennial readers and workplace leaders, the message is simple: recognizing military spouses as an underutilized talent pool is both a moral imperative and a competitive advantage. Instead of writing off candidates who might move every few years, companies can build remote-first roles, pre-plan for deployment-related schedule changes, and measure retention rates among spouse hires to demonstrate ROI.
Torres-Pummill sees advocacy as part of her mandate.
“Everybody that has a voice, every leader that has the power to do the right thing needs to step up,” she said. “They need to advocate for the people that are not able to advocate for themselves.”