By: Heatherlynn Akins
Mona Dexter believes passionately in helping military members, veterans, and military family members realize their career employment dreams. As a longtime military spouse herself, she’s experienced firsthand the challenges and struggles this segment of the workforce faces. Their skills and abilities don’t always translate easily to the civilian sector, but they are valuable assets for civilian employers. That’s why she joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes (HOH) program in January 2018 as a special projects manager with the military spouse team. Today, Dexter serves as HOH Chief of Staff and Vice President of Operations and Communications.
Dexter’s journey to HOH was roundabout, typical of many military spouses. Her initial career was in higher education student affairs administration, primarily in career services and adult learning and development, and with programs focused on underserved populations. As she moved around, however, she began to find her passion for assisting those in military life with finding their career fits. She transferred her attentions first to the Army Soldier for Life-Transition Assistance Program, a program designed to help those transitioning from active-duty service to life after the Army. As a result, Dexter found her perfect fit with HOH, where she can help the organization provide 360-degree career development training and education through internships and hiring events. HOH’s unique mission to “educate civilian employers on the value of military-connected talent in diversifying and thus strengthening their workforces” is critical to Dexter’s way of thinking. That’s the missing link she couldn’t find with her previous position. Having lived the military life but working in the civilian sector, Dexter is singularly qualified to be a part of the bridge that effects understanding between those in the military and civilian worlds.
HOH is also authorized to operate on military installations, allowing its programs and services to be brought directly to its targeted clientele. HOH’s holistic approach to establishing hiring events along with internship opportunities and digital communities designed for networking and support purposes has been effective and successful. In 2012, HOH identified a possibly more alarming statistic: the drastically high rate of military spouse unemployment. When Dexter started with HOH in 2018, the unemployment rate for military-connected personnel was down considerably and the focus on military spouses was well underway.
Just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, HOH had debuted a three-year initiative designed to hire 100,000 military spouses within that timeframe. Even though the pandemic began in the middle of the Hire 100,000 initiative, the HOH team managed to meet—and exceed—their goal three months early. Dexter says, “It’s been an honor to be part of the HOH effort.” She’s most proud of how the entire HOH team “persevered and not only sustained but increased our programming and impact throughout the global pandemic.” It wasn’t an easy feat. Very little of HOH’s programming was digital when COVID-19 hit, but due to their focus on workforce development, HOH team members quickly forecasted that their clients would need that program support more than ever. They pivoted their “entire suite of programs and services to virtual delivery models to ensure job seekers were still preparing for employment and employers could connect to top talent.”
Dexter says the experience allowed HOH to “reach a more diverse audience, both demographically and geographically.” In fact, their swift ability to shift toward a virtual platform is something the HOH team has decided they’ll maintain moving forward. “We will sustain a hybrid model for the long-term,” Dexter explains, “as our virtual events will remain focused on highest-demand industries and continue to reach a broader audience.” Being part of a team that not only survived but thrived and grew during uncertain times is something Dexter is very proud of: “We grew exponentially both externally and internally. Our team shined through an austere time and demonstrated extraordinary adaptability, innovation, and collaboration.”
It’s an attitude that Dexter associates with nonprofits in general. “The nonprofit sector is very entrepreneurial,” she says. “The key is to remain mission-focused but understand that you will wear a lot of hats. You can’t grow if you stray from you mission.” She maintains that the key to nonprofit growth is “investing in your people. When there’s a high turnover rate, you’re constantly starting over, so consider how you can provide growth opportunities for your people.” That growth might not mean vertical promotions, but rather cross-training or professional development. As long as you surround yourself with people who are willing to remain mission-focused but flexible on how they can help with that mission, you can’t go wrong.
Mona Dexter’s passion for helping military members and their families find civilian employment naturally extends into her other real passion: helping women into or back into the workforce. To that end, she’s working on a coaching certification to build more effective teams and support other women in discovering and pursuing their career goals. She’s cognizant that her own abilities to help are dependent on her remaining balanced and healthy in her own life, so she runs, practices yoga, and enjoys other outdoor activities that refresh and revitalize her in addition to feeding her mind with good historical fiction and nonfiction. She’s constantly improving her mind and body, but she also knows that professionally you can’t take it all on your shoulders, which is why she was excited to work with Powerhouse Planning recently.
“We first worked with Powerhouse a few years ago on an annual report. It was such a pleasure working with the team, and it supports our mission of employing veterans and military spouses. When we decided to work with a vendor again this year on a few projects, we went directly to Powerhouse,” Dexter says. That partnership thrives because both organizations are committed to furthering HOH’s mission and are willing to collaborate, utilizing each other’s strengths toward a common goal.
Still, Dexter does have one wish for HOH, though she knows it falls into that “impossible dreams” category: She’d love to see the entire HOH team working from one location. “We’re an 80% remote workforce, so we have never had 100% of our team in the same place at the same time,” she says. While that remains a pipe dream, what doesn’t is HOH’s mission to support and successfully help countless veterans and military spouses find effective employment while also bringing the roughly 38% unemployment rate military spouses face down into the single digits. With people like Dexter leading the charge, that dream is sure to become a reality.
