Should You Tell an Employer You’re a Military Spouse? - Caitlin Weaver

Caitlin Weaver is a multimedia consultant with Stars and Stripes and an Army spouse based in Germany. She brings a background in broadcast news and public relations agency work to a news organization built around the military community. Caitlin and her husband grew up in the same small town. She earned a dual degree in environmental sciences and broadcast journalism at the University of Illinois, and when he received orders back to Alaska ahead of a deployment, she got married, graduated, and moved to Alaska on three Saturdays in a row. Her first interview there led to a job at a local TV news station, where she covered the military, embedded with units, and worked closely with public affairs officers, which turned her toward communications. She then joined a public relations agency she had worked with as a reporter and stayed six years, keeping her role remotely through a permanent change of station before remote work was common. During that time the agency grew from a team in the teens to one in the 20s, landed on a Forbes list of the country's best PR agencies, and won PR News Digital Team of the Year with a digital buying arm she helped found. When orders to Germany meant leaving the agency, her team helped with references, and her role at Stars and Stripes opened as the family was heading overseas. In this conversation, Caitlin explains why a military spouse job interview should run both ways, how to ask for mentorship without worrying that it feels transactional, and how a former boss helped her push past imposter syndrome by opening and closing every monthly meeting with the same reminder that she was good at her job. She describes the standard questions she brings to every interview, including what career progression looks like and whether the role can move with her, and says she has had only one bad reaction to telling an employer she is a military spouse. She credits a day as a college intern, when her station sent her alone to cover a presidential campaign stop in Decatur, Illinois, and she told the CBS reporter beside her that she wanted to be her when she grew up. That reporter, Laura Podesta, spent the day helping her and checked in for years afterward. Caitlin now pays that forward by speaking to former professors' classes and incoming interns, building a group of youth volunteers who help staff Stars and Stripes events, and speaking at a local Americans Working Around the Globe (AWAG) conference. Caitlin treats every duty station as a once in a lifetime window, for her career and for her family, and her advice is to do it even when it is hard. Her story makes the case that a career can travel with a military spouse when she keeps asking for help and keeps turning around to offer it. This conversation is part of the National Military Spouse Network's (NMSN) Military Spouse Highlights series. 00:00 Meet Caitlin Weaver 01:29 Friends since high school 03:44 Orders and a first TV job 05:21 Covering the military in Alaska 06:05 Six years at a PR agency 07:31 Orders to Germany 08:43 Staying in one career field 11:31 Telling employers up front 13:23 Asking for help 14:50 Intern in a presidential press pool 18:54 Becoming a mentor 24:05 Beating imposter syndrome 25:34 Every duty station counts Special thanks to our friends at USAA for supporting this series. Click here to learn more about their work in our community https://www.usaa.com/inet/wc/advice-m... #MilitarySpouse #MilitarySpouseHighlights #NMSN #ArmySpouse #Mentorship