By Blair Dupre                                                                                                         Fort Cavazos Public Affairs

FORT CAVAZOS, Texas — The Civilian Human Resources Agency provided military spouses a great opportunity to learn more about the application and hiring process for federal jobs May 23 at the Civilian Personnel Advisory Center here.

Sarah Mitchell, supervisory human resources specialist with CHRA, taught a group of spouses about federal resumes, their benefits and the timeline of the hiring process for federal jobs.

“Not only do I hope they gain a better understanding of applying for federal jobs, but I want them to leave with that feeling of empowerment also,” she said. “That they can support their active-duty sponsor. They can be that supportive spouse, but they can also pursue a career of their own and support the military in that way. Supporting my husband as a veteran and supporting the military in this way — it’s a great feeling and I want (others) to be able to do that also.”

Mitchell originally wanted a career in accounting, but her unexpected career in human resources that began in Germany has allowed her to help many other spouses.

“It shaped my whole federal career,” she said. “It’s helping not just military spouses, but veterans. I’m very passionate about the veteran community. I’m very passionate about Fort Cavazos. I’m very passionate about our managers helping (service members and their families) to achieve what they need to achieve in order to help the military community.”

Spouse Lina Gonzales attended the seminar and said it was a very insightful lesson.

“I think it was super helpful,” Gonzales expressed. “I think it was super useful to have a clear understanding, especially about the

military spouse preference and how that works, because I was confused about that. So, I think I did learn a lot.”

Gonzales said she thinks the class gives attendees a good idea on how the applying and hiring process works.

“As Miss Sarah mentioned, it takes a long time so we need to know that,” she said. “It is good to receive these classes to kind of understand the process. I’m super thankful that CPAC is doing this for us and taking the time to put this class together.”

Mitchell wants everyone in the military community to know that there are resources available to them to help with the federal application process.

“The federal application process is very complex, and it’s very time consuming,” she said. “One of the goals here is to let them know what the expectation is — it will be time consuming. We recognize too that it is a frustrating process. But there is support out there to help guide them through if they have questions. We’re there to answer those questions. This (class) is just another way we can help do that.”