Jobs Academy opens doors for women veterans

A message from Future Women (FW) Jobs Academy

An innovative jobs platform supported by DVA is helping veterans and their partners find meaningful, flexible and secure careers. Here’s how it works. 

For the first time in over a decade, Army veteran Anita Price wasn’t sure what she would do next. During time away from home, she finally had the space and time to reflect on her career of 11 years. 

Anita had signed up to join the Australian Army when she was still a teenager and quickly became a commissioned officer. During her time in the ADF, she achieved more than she could have imagined, describing her time serving as ‘a very big, fast career.’ 

‘I had a lot of goals and dreams, and I ended up achieving them early,’ she says. ‘[For a decade] it was a mix of deployment, sea time, field time … I was never really in one geographical location.’ 

Some of Anita’s career highlights included being trusted to lead a company of 150 soldiers when she was only 25 years old and serving as a general’s aide in the Golan Heights. But after a decade, Anita was ready for a new chapter. She needed change – she just didn’t know what that change would look like. 

‘I’ve been working really hard to come to terms with who I am outside of the military,’ Anita says. 

At this point, while sitting in her new home unsure where to go next, Anita found an advertisement for the FW (Future Women) Jobs Academy. 

Jobs Academy is a nation-wide program designed to support women to find meaningful, secure and flexible jobs. Participants gain access to a suite of resources, workshops and development opportunities throughout a year-long program that is completely free, virtual and self-paced. Since launching in 2021, Jobs Academy has helped thousands of women return to work or study – and thrive. 

At the start of this year, Jobs Academy launched a new intake supported by DVA, that targets women and gender diverse people who had served in the ADF, as well as their partners. 

Anita, who has only been in the program for a matter of months, describes it as a ‘fantastic initiative … I’m so glad to be part of it’. She’s found the Jobs Academy community particularly supportive while she is overseas and far from home: ‘[Talking] and hearing other people’s stories is definitely the part that does it for me.’ 

Not dissimilar to Anita, Isabel*, who joined the ADF in the late 1990s, struggled to make the transition back to civilian life after being medically discharged in 2005. 

‘I just don’t have any civilian qualifications … I found it really hard to get into the job market,’ Isabel recalls. ‘I just thought, well … I’m going to be [out of paid work] for the rest of my life.’ 

For many years, Isabel chose to volunteer. She describes this work as having ‘kept me going … because it’s given me a purpose’. But she also wanted more of a change and was ready to find paid work – she just did not know how to make that change happen. 

At this point, while considering what to do next, Isabel came across Jobs Academy much like Anita had. She was accepted into Jobs Academy and was struck by the depth and breadth of its offering. 

Three months after starting Jobs Academy, Isabel received a scholarship to study a Diploma of Mental Health at TAFE. She would not have applied for this scholarship if she hadn’t joined Jobs Academy: ‘And now I’m quite excited thinking [that] by the time I’m just short of 50, I’m going to be graduating with a diploma, which I never thought I’d do. I didn’t even finish high school!’ 

Jobs Academy is an FW initiative supported by DVA. It’s a free, fully virtual program designed to boost women’s workforce participation and economic security. Find out more about jobsacademy.futurewomen.com.

(*Name has been changed to protect privacy.)