Europe's Defence Firms Pulling Out All the Stops to Lure Young Recruits

Industry Faces Challenge to Rebrand Itself Even as It Sweetens Perks, Casts Net Wider

- 

BERLIN - Rheinmetall has come up with a cheeky way to introduce itself to young job seekers. At recruitment events, executives from the German defence contractor have been known to hand out condom packages stamped with the company's name and a message: "Safety counts. Always and everywhere."

It is a sign of changing times in Europe, where weapons makers are going to extreme lengths to court a new generation of workers, even resorting to racy gimmicks to appeal to a labour force that has been traditionally male.

Other defence employers are offering yoga classes and generous pay, and widening the recruiting net to convert restaurant cooks into welders building battleships.

The once buttoned-down industry is attempting to rebrand itself to attract people needed to assemble the tanks, missiles and submarines needed to protect the continent.

Arms manufacturers, suddenly flush with orders, are racing to refresh an ageing workforce with recent graduates and workers poached from other industries.

But coders, nuclear engineers and even plumbers have other options, and typically are not drawn to careers building instruments of destruction.

"This is an industry that previously was not so attractive and wasn't used to competing for the best talent," said international security professor Christian Kaunert from Dublin City University.

"Now they need to upskill their image and become more attractive to younger people."

A boost in defence spending to 3 per cent of gross domestic product — Nato members set a long-term target of 5 per cent in June — would require as many as 760,000 skilled workers in Europe by 2030, estimates consultancy Kearney. Employment stood at about one million in 2023, according to the Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD).

The money is on the way, if not yet pouring in.