What jobs suit Army Officers wives????

[Wifey1]

A simple question here:

What jobs can Army Officers wives successfully hold down despite all the joyous compromises which come from marrying an officer???

I keep hearing that teaching is a popular choice, any advances on this

Any they want really! Depends on the compromises that they/their partners/families are willing to make concerning time together/mobility/education etc but that is no different to anyone whose partner is in a mobile job.

I know a Colonels wife who teaches primary; a Lt Cols wife who taught Pilates (and made a bomb)...however, you have to remember (as per some MN threads) that Army wives are dim, so should you be employed at all, or at home in twinset and pearls cooking for dinner parties?

Bottom line is always going to be mobility. If you can find a job where an employer is happy to employ you in the knowledge that you may move quickly at any time, then fine. It's different for RN wives I think. I was never mobile until posted abroad, so did 10 years with one employer and 5 with another until I got bored with six weeking from Brussels to the Westcountry. Dh either at sea or happy to weekend until then.

A cousin of dh is marrying an Army officer and she is does freelance work, so that may be an option as well.

A friend of mine does content writing from home and I have dabbled in web site writing from home. But if you find the magic answer to this question then please tell me, before marrying my wonderful DH I was an engineer in a very specialised field, I gave this up to follow him and look after my neglected kids. Now after 10 years on the sideline drinking pimms on my veranda and going to cocktail parties I am considering going back to work in Sept when DC4 finally starts school (yeah). Obviously I cannot work in the field I used to as I am hopelessly out of date now and since marrying my DH and being an army wife I have lost all my braincells and only speak in grunts!!!

DM was a nurse and normally managed to get steady agency work. When we were particularly broke and nursing work was scarce she looked into supermarket work only to be firmly informed by DF that officers' wives couldn't do that sort of thing

If you are a forces wife....and young & early on in your career....my only advice is get a job/skill that is transferable. Teaching and Nursing are obvious choices as when you move, you can get agency work.

I know a few army wives that are recruitment consultants/headhunters and they seem to find jobs ok. I also know a couple who are lawyers in London and commute 2/3 days a week. Another couple are gps that do locum work. Accountancy/bookkeping etc are transferable over the Uk.

mumof2girls I wonder if I am your friend .

I do content writing at home!

When I was just out of uni, I worked as a civil servant (aren't employing anyone new at the moment though during 2 year pay freeze and no more jobs) and then I was a stay at home mummy.

If I say what I then went on to do I would out myself but my business didn't work out (annoying as the county we were posted in would have been profitable but then we moved and it all went wrong).

Now though (DH Lt Col), I'm moving with him for his command and whilst in our 2nd year there, will be doing an Acess to Midiwfery course and then, on moving back to our home (where we are now), I will train to be a midwife.

It's such a long time dream to be a midwife and now, after DH's command, I will finally be bale to stop following him around with postings and settle down and make my own career.

This would have been impossible being mobile though as to train as a midwfie, you need to do a 3 year degree. So unless we were in our own house, I would have moved.

Teaching/nursing/civil service etc all good and mobile jobs.
I guess it's easier with much larger companies that have more opportunities nationwide. I suppose estate agents would also fall into a good category.

Over the next 2 yrs though, I'll be doing voluntary work towards my midwifery degree and baking cakes for the wives' coffee mornings

vintage hello friend

Vintage, what is content writing? I've never heard of it.

But then being a RAF wife I'm probably too dim to have noticed anyone talking about it before, only being fluent in 'grunt' .

Wifey1 Anthing portable is the best hope for an army service wife be that running a web business or dental, nursing, midwife as above.

I am also an out of date engineer. I think it's hard to get training once 'you're in' as childcare is unreliable/expensive, you need to be within striking distance of somewhere that does the training and you need to be able to be in one place to complete the course.

Good luck

I am a Civil Servant - been married for 15 years, moved 9 times and have always worked.

Other jobs to consider are:

Teaching
Nursing/Medicine/Dentistry
Recruitment Consultant

Other careers I have come across are:

Artists
Chefs
Interior Designers

PS The oldest profession is not a good idea!!

However if you want to be considered a real Officer's wife , don't even think of working

I haven't held down a "proper" job since I married - partly down to frequent moves to the back of beyond and partly down to poor health. I worked in the whisky industry before I married, and it was a tad difficult to grab a job in that sector in the South of England due to the dearth of distilleries!

I've done voluntary work (of varying types - from admin, to helping out with Riding for the Disabled, to embroidery) and I've also done a few whisky tasting evenings in the Mess.

For the past four and a half years I've been a stay at home parent to our three children.

If you want to work, then a mobile career is best but there are plenty of opportunities out there.

jcscot - cool job!!!

perardua Content writing is writing a whole range of briefs for a larger company who assist cweb companies in boosting traffic to their websites or who are just starting their websites.

Not well paid but okay pocket money depending on how many you do a month.

jcscot - cool job!!!

It was! I used to run turtored tastings for regular societies, as well as for one-off thinsg like corporate entertaining and individuals who just wanted a different thing for a party or special occasion. I lived in the north of Scotland at the time, so there was a lot of interest in whisky and I used to do regular evenings for hotels and restaurants.

There's less interest in it in the south but I always used to do tastings in the Mess which were usually fun nights.

I'm an accountant and it hasn't been too hard to find work in different locations, but you do miss out on continuity of employment; it's a particular issue if you want to work flexible hours or part-time as not a lot of employers will offer these to new staff.

I've had to go back full time, so it's a bit of a juggling act without any nearby family and DH here, there and everywhere (currently not here) and unable to offer any reliability in terms of nursery pickups etc.

I've kind of had to step off the career ladder somewhat as I can't put in the longer hours I used to do, but maybe that's partly a result of having children rather than DH's job.

I'm a civil servant and I am not working at the moment.

I took unpaid leave for my DH's overseas posting and we have moved to a different area to my previous place of work on our return. There are very few jobs at my grade in this area and the cut backs have made it worse. So I would say nowadays its not a guarantee of work whilst married to the forces.

I'm a RAF officers wife. I'm an office manager in a very unique business (only 1 in the country) so cant really move around! DH works away on base during the week and comes home at weekends - we agreed to do this so that I could keep my career going.

However, in case I decide I'm bored with my job or we want to move elsewhere in the country, I'm also training as a dance teacher (salsa, Latin American and modern Ballroom).
I keep trying to persuade DH to get on the Mess Committee so that I can help arrange for some dancers to come in and give a demo during a Dining In Night

Actually why does the title of this thread include 'Officer's' wife??!!

This topic could apply to anyone married into the Army etc.

cavemum my DH arranged for a dancer to come in do lessons and then a band for after dinner for us all to dance. Everyone thought it was great, he even got the instructor to agree to do it for a meal and time spent with handsome men in uniform :)

Good point hf

hf I guess the OP might mean because the officer postings are shorter and mostly every 2 yrs (sometimes less) rather than anyone else, as many soldiers are able to stay in one place for a longer period, therefore creating more job stability for wives.

I know someone who has been at their current posting for about 14/15 yrs due to the specific nature of her DHs job.

cavemum we had a ciroc night - really good fun. Don't think it was a specific dining in night - just a fun night organised by a captain.

Maybe it's siroc?

Thanks vintage - I forget there are other 'branches' of the Army!! Cavalry/Infantry etc all tend to be on the move.

I think it's Ceroc!

Certainly my husband moved a lot (trickle postings etc) and we had eight moves in first six years of marriage. Only one posting lasted the full two years.