When a Soldier receives orders to go to his or her next assignment, the transition is pretty easy. The Soldier has a job and knows that he or she will be able to meet new people and settle into a new routine at their new duty station.

The Soldier’s children will go to a new school and eventually find new friends. On the other hand, the spouse gets uprooted from his or her existing job and has to start the search all over again in the new area.

On Feb. 25, Fort Bragg hosted a job fair at the Officers’ Club to help military spouses find their next career.

The club’s main room was filled with potential employers representing a variety of career fields ranging from healthcare to retail to accounting to jobs with the city of Fayetteville. Spouses roamed through the aisles picking up informational brochures and filling out applications.

Angela Orta, a recent graduate from the University of Houston, was hoping to find her next job at the fair.

“My husband redeployed here in November and I’m really hoping to find employment,” said Orta, whose husband, Spc. Daniel Orta is in the 82nd Airborne Division. “I’m hoping to find clerical work somewhere. I eventually want to get my certification to teach.”

Army Community Service had a booth offering the use of the Employment Readiness Program’s Professional Boutique that provides professional attire free of charge to Army spouses and other ERP benefits.

The Army Spouse Employment Partnership was also on hand to help job seekers meet potential employers and offer assistance where needed.

According to Lillie S. Cannon, the ASEP program manager, ASEP has helped 72,000 Army spouses find employment.

“Our goal is to help facilitate the employment of Army spouses to the mutual benefit of the Army and corporate America,” said Cannon. “Eleven of our partners came to the job fair today. Many of the representatives they sent are the actual managers. You know that means they are serious about hiring our military spouses.”

One of the companies at the fair, Marshall’s and TJMaxx, actually conducted interviews with two potential candidates who visited their booth and hired them on the spot.

Another ASEP partner, H&R Block, met with fair-goers and offered career training free of charge to spouses of active duty and retired Soldiers. Like many of the organizations present at the fair, H&R Block offered spouses the ability to transfer the jobs they start while at Fort Bragg to their next duty location.

Many of the potential employers seemed happy with the candidates they met and had high hopes of adding new experience to their organization.

“We’ll definitely be back again for the next job fair on June 17,” said Ken Beeler, the operations manager for Marshall’s.