Molengeek is this talent incubator in the Digital field based in Molenbeek. Among other things, he provides training to young people who have no diploma, with the hope of offering them a springboard for employment. Molengeek works in particular with Microsoft Belgium, which certifies training.
The Cyber Command, integrated into the Defense Intelligence, needs to recruit many cybersecurity experts to meet its objectives, but it struggles to find them. He hoped to surf the MoLengeek training to convince participants, once their certification in his pocket, to engage in the army as civilians. To put it simply: it was a question of promoting the cyber command with an audience with potential.
Defense and Molengeek join forces to form future cyberspions
Young people in dropout
The star of Molengeek has pale lately. The ASBL Molenbeek has been criticized, notably relayed in the penultimate issue of Paris Match, for the quality deemed defaulting of certain training courses. At the start of the year, its partnership with Brussels Training, the Brussels public training organization, was also broken due to differences in views.
Of “serious dissensions” between Molengeek and Brussels Formation: “We cannot let them parasitize an entire group”
However, the end of the collaboration between La Défense and Molengeek is not linked to the quality of the training. “”The problems are three orders “explains the Cyber Command (which was not engaged financially with Molengeek). First: the abandonment rate. Molengeek primarily addresses an “neet” audience (not in education, employment or training), that is to say young people who are neither in employment, nor in studies, nor in training. And “Many of these young people win during the journey.”
Second difficulty: safety authorizations. Each individual in the recruitment phase is the subject of a security screen because he will potentially be in contact with sensitive information for national security. “Problematic history” can be identified. In addition, “We sometimes realize that these young people are in cohabitation “which will require to screen everyone’s entourage, and “It takes months”.
The Belgian army has a cyber command: “We will develop our ability to neutralize a cyber attack and identify the authors”
Unattractive conditions
Finally, third and probably main difficulty: the conditions of engagement. The young people concerned are recruited via a “Rosetta” contract, a first employment agreement for those under 26 years of age for a year. The young person must not only fulfill the conditions of engagement but also accept unattractive remuneration (category D in the public service; around 28,000 euros gross per year) since he has no official diploma. At the end of his Rosetta contract, he must then start the recruitment procedure via Workpour.be (the ex-selor), the recruitment body in the public service. A fairly heavy procedure.
The Cyber Command, however, did not abandon the hope of detecting talents among the Neet. He always has an in progress collaboration with the BECODE ASBL, comparable to what was done with MOLENGEEK. This collaboration made it possible to hire a person under Rosetta status.
