Army applications skyrocket after Ukraine invasion

In the week following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense was flooded with 54 percent more job applications than usual, despite the ministry’s lack of recruitment campaigns in recent weeks, AD reports. Registration for information meetings also increased by 34 percent, compared to a normal week.

A total of 736 people applied to different army positions last week, including the commandos, military police, air mobile brigade, infantry and reserves. “We really need people,” Minister Kajsa Ollongren told AD, since the ministry has been experiencing a staff shortage for a long time and thousands of vacancies are unfilled.

People between 25 and 34 showed the most interest in joining the army and most applications came from cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht, according to AD. A spokesperson pointed out the significant difference between the amount of people seeking more information, and the amount of people who wanted to sign up immediately. 

“This says something about the intention to start working for Defense 'now,’” the spokesperson said. The only region which did not show an increase in applications was Noord-Brabant, which the spokesperson attributes to Carnival celebrations.

The Ministry of Defense must still go through the inspection and selection process, according to AD. Ollongren praised the development: “Now that Defense is becoming more visible and this war is going on in Europe, I can well imagine that people will start thinking about how they can contribute,” she said.