by Jessica Manfre
Cristina Bergjans has a successful career as vice president of Veteran Lending for Caliber Home Loans. She uniquely works alongside her husband, who is the senior vice president, national director of Military Lending and head of Retail Business Development. She’s also a military spouse, stepping in for him when he’s called by the U.S. Navy to serve.
Bergjans’ husband has been serving this country with the U.S. Navy for over 21 years. Currently, he is a Lieutenant in the Navy Reserves. Although the public may view Reserve duty as a one weekend a month deal, it couldn’t be further from that. He’s continually working, traveling to trainings, schools, and deploying; leaving her to step in.
In the United States, there are around 1.1 million Reservists, making up about 45 percent of the armed forces.
“For us, it works. Being able to help him with his civilian job when he needs it and at the same time working on my career path is something that most military spouses do not get the opportunity to accomplish. Being a reservist is not like it was, they are not weekend warriors anymore. It’s almost just as demanding as your full time job,” Bergjans shared. She continued, “On the reserve front, military spouses face unique struggles and challenges as we do not have access to the same tools and resources that the active military communities do.”
Since most reservists aren’t typically on active duty, they don’t receive the same benefits and support. Families of the reservists are also not usually living near the base where their service member drills and serves. This means that the community of support that active military families can count on is missing. When their service member deploys, they hope their civilian community will step in along with family. More often than not though, they are on their own.
Bergjans counts herself as blessed in that when her husband deployed, their employer at the time allowed her to take over his role while he was gone and then supported her through the deployment. “You have to have support from the top down,” she said.
Despite the challenges of having a deployed spouse, Bergjans did do it all. She managed her thriving career in the mortgage industry, her two young children, and other outside responsibilities. “My days were very long. I had to make lists of the things I needed to accomplish,” she shared. It wasn’t easy, she reports getting up at 4 a.m. every day to make sure she had time to get herself and the children ready and to school. She then had to pack up what she needed for afterschool activities, since more often than not, there was no time to go home after picking them up from school. She did all of this while constantly worrying about her husband’s safety as he served in a combat zone.
“When you are on the phone with them and you suddenly hear alarms going off and ask ‘what was that’ and then they hang up. You know where they are and the risks involved. Then your stomach is in twirls, but you have to keep a straight face, be unemotional and remain strong at all times. It’s a lot, but you get it done,” she explained.
When we reached out to Bergjans’ husband to ask him about what it was like when he was deployed to Afghanistan, he said “My wife could have been the Military Spouse of the Year or Navy Spouse of the Year when I was deployed, hands down.”
“Within the mortgage industry, I am working on exposing how valuable the military spouse is to our industry. I love that about my role! I am able to incorporate my passion about the benefits of hiring military spouses and share our success stories in our industry,” Bergjans shared.
Statistics have shown that military spouses tend to be more educated than their civilian peers but they are underemployed or unable to find employment at all.
“I want to help more military spouses. My goals would be to incorporate hiring more military spouses through education. Some companies are hesitant or do not know what attributes they can bring to the table. Military spouses are resilient employees. They are used to dealing with stress and a changing environment, unlikely to become overwhelmed, and committed to a higher purpose. With today’s technology employing a military spouse that has to permanent change of station (PCS) or move, should not mean they have to start over and look for a new job,” Bergjans explained.
Although anyone can be a military spouse, 92 percent of them are women. Being a woman statistically already finds you being underpaid and underemployed, but adding being a military spouse adds yet another barrier. With remote work growing at an incredible rate, Bergjans feels businesses are missing out. With the current coronavirus pandemic forcing many organizations to go remote, Bergjans feels it’s an even bigger opportunity to hire highly qualified military spouses.
She encourages companies to reach out to other businesses who have successfully piloted programs to hire military spouses and veterans. “Find out how they are doing it and why they are doing it. It all stems from education. Here’s the why, here’s the boat, and you are missing it,” Bergjans said.
Bergjans is passionate about her career for many reasons. “One of the things I love about where I work is that they do things for the right reasons, not just for business or for the recognition and that’s important,” Bergjans said.
When Bergjans was asked about companies who discount what women can accomplish or military spouses in particular, she was quick to answer. “You are going about it wrong. They are prepared and they can handle it, these women bring a very diverse set of skills and talents that companies waste millions of dollars on trying to find,” she said.
In the case of a future deployment, Bergjans is ready and prepared to weather the storm, especially with the full support of her employer. The lessons she learned from previous challenges and his past deployment made her realize how strong she is. “When he has to be away, I can hold down the fort for him and us. I believe we are a team, we do this together,” Bergjans said.
One of her favorite sayings is a quote by Vivian Greene: “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass but its’s about learning to dance in the rain.” Bergjans’ message to women and especially other military spouses is simple: you’ve got this.
