At a career fair on base this week, I had an opportunity in my ongoing pursuit to convince people that not all military spouses are stay-at-home moms (to reiterate: I’m not opposed to that, just not ready yet!) Granted, the fair was geared mostly to Marines looking to get out and enter the civilian world, but I still found myself almost instantly overlooked as a wife.

I approached one contractor’s bench and asked him if he had any positions available in the area. He smiled at me as if I was a high-school student asking the question, asked if I was active duty (“No, I’m a spouse”) and said, “Well ma’am, all our positions are for experienced professionals with security clearances at this time.”

I HAVE A SECURITY CLEARANCE, SUCKA!! Spouse does not automatically mean under-qualified! We all know what happens when you assume. I wish I had been ballsy enough to yell that  and smack my resume down right on top of his perfectly stacked business cards. But of course, the nice girl took over instead, opting to politely tell him I do have a clearance while I calmly walked away…

… But I didn’t turn away too late to notice the surprised and embarrassed expression on his face. Ha 🙂