A rather unusual agreement has been signed between Defense and the business world. The objective is to lower the unemployment rate by offering work to young people who lack diplomas or experience. They would be around 300,000 today in Belgium. The idea is therefore to train them and then to hire them within the army and in certain companies.
The Ministry of Defense and major sectoral organizations of the Belgian economy signed an unprecedented cooperation agreement on Thursday aimed at offering work to more young people and thus lowering the unemployment rate among young people.
Dubbed “Reboot4You”, this cooperation agreement is both “unpublished” et “historical”said Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder (PS), during the signing in her office in Brussels.
The army wants to recruit 10,000 people
Some 300,000 young people currently have neither work, nor education, nor experience, which places them in the category of NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) while Defense and companies are looking for personnel, she said. underline. His ministry alone wants to recruit 10,000 people (soldiers and civilians) during the current legislature. “So it’s a potentially huge pool of talent that is often overlooked,” said Ms. Dedonder.
A first professional experience and mutually recognized training
Defense and industry want, through this cooperation agreement, to give young people a first professional experience and allow them to follow mutually recognized training in order to facilitate their professional integration. The Department of Defense will seek out young people through local organizations, provide mentoring and introduce young people to military life. After that, they can either engage in a “classic career” at Defense, or within partner companies.
The aim is to provide young people “the basics and skills needed to start or continue their career”according to the minister. “At the same time, our traditional recruits will also be able to benefit from the training of our partners from the business world”, she explained.
Several partner sectors
Several sectors are concerned by the cooperation agreement, such as construction, catering, temporary work, catering and mobility. One of the partners is Constructiv, a construction industry organisation. “We are urgently looking for people. There are 20,000 vacancies”Constructiv chairman Gianni De Vlaminck said Thursday. “We want to offer young people the opportunity to receive training and receive them if they do not see a future in the Ministry of Defense”, he added.
King Philippe received this Thursday morning during a working meeting the Minister of Defense and the representatives of the sectors concerned in order to discuss the situation of young unemployed people and the Reboot4You project. “The king attaches great importance to this problem and is curious to see the results,” said Ms. Dedonder.