Defenture participates in new campaign on veterans in the workplace

Central to the campaign are ten videos created by journalist Gijs Wanders and his team. In them, Wanders interviews veterans who have found new jobs after their time in Defence. These are duo interviews: in this episode, the leading roles are for Pascal van Santen, production manager at Defenture, and Jessica van Oort, the veteran now working as an assembly mechanic at Defenture. In the video, Van Santen talks about the specific qualities the Afghanistan veteran brings. The underlying idea is that companies, especially in engineering, have a lot to gain from employing veterans because they have not only developed unique leadership qualities during their deployment, but have also grown enormously as a person. For instance, the interviews show that in the workplace, veterans excel at focus, decisiveness, keeping an overview and remaining calm in stressful situations. As team members, they also bring a different perspective, focusing mainly on team spirit, can-do mentality and coaching leadership.

Team players with a strong can do mentality
Van Santen adds: "Veterans are team players with a strong can do mentality. First do, then ask. They may have the stigma that they can be coercive, tough and unemotional, but I don't see that. Ten veterans work with us. They are people who are committed. They go all out, just like Jessica". Jessica herself cites as important qualities her discipline, perseverance but also the social attitude she developed in Defence. ‘I will always help others,’ van Oort said.

Not damage but enrichtment
In part, the new campaign should also help adjust the image that many Dutch people have about veterans. Indeed, research by the Dutch Veterans Institute (NLVi) shows that while the Dutch see veterans as brave, proud and dutiful, there are also, wrongly, strong associations with psychological problems such as PTTS. The image of the veteran with a problem is reinforced mainly by US series or films, in which veterans are often portrayed as troubled men or women with social adjustment problems. This while over 90 per cent of veterans have not suffered any lasting damage from their deployment and the vast majority of ex-military personnel see the deployment mainly as an enrichment.

Broad distribution
According to the Onbekende Helden Foundation, sectors looking to make their teams more effective and competitive can especially benefit from veterans' efforts. The interviews with the veterans and their managers are therefore distributed through various online and print channels in as many sectors as possible, including healthcare, engineering, ICT sector and logistics.

Unprecedented Forces was created without the contribution and interference of the Ministry of Defence, and is financed by contributions from the Vfonds, the Netherlands Veterans Institute, the OVA Foundation and various civil parties. The campaign runs until Veterans Day 2025.

Watch the video and read the article. Please note these are only available in Dutch.

More information:
De Bruijn PR
Anna Gerwe
anna@debruijnpr.nl
020-2440075

About the Onbekende Helden Foundation
The Onbekende Helden Foundation is committed to recognising and appreciating veterans. Primarily from the business community, and via that route also from society as a whole. To this end, the foundation brings veterans into contact with network partners and companies, in order to support them in their transition to the business world. It also offers guidance to veterans considering starting their own business.