Name: Basten Cobelens
Track: General Management
Studied: International Management
Trainee year: 2019
During my time as a student I always had been interested in management traineeships. Being able to develop a strategy and to implement it with all the challenges it comes interested me. I came into contact with NN Group when a friend of mine joined the traineeship. I became attracted to the management traineeship of NN because of the focus on change management, the opportunity to choose my own assignments and the international orientation, so I decided to apply.
NN didn’t fit the stereotype of a financial services company. The warm and strong personal contact was really appealing to me during my application process. This process was challenging and well organized and before I knew it, I got my offer.
The traineeship of NN kicks off with an introduction week in which you get to know the company and your fellow trainees. Then your assignment starts. My assignment was to improve the business processes of a team which offers and pays out pensions. I was free to start my own research but I could get all the support I found I needed. This made the assignment very challenging and exciting for me.
I could speak to all of the team members, make an overview of the business, talk to all of the stakeholders I found relevant. Together with my team I made a big list of things we could improve and started working on them. With my colleagues I made smaller teams which all became partially responsible for a section of the list and kept on developing and improving. During this process I often went to trainings and frequently spoke with my manager about how I was solving the problems. With the given feedback I was able to develop and adapt swiftly, something with I experienced as challenging but also a lot of fun!
Working at NN as a trainee is an amazing experience which I recommend to everyone interested in a management traineeship. The traineeship consists out of a two year program in which you get three assignments. The first year you get two assignments of six months and the second year an assignment of twelve months. The first assignment will be given to you based on how HR got to know you during the application process. After the first assignment you can make your own choices and you have lots of opportunities varying from operational assignments in the Netherlands to strategic assignments in Japan or other European countries.
During the assignments you will get a lot of trainings internally and externally. You will follow an Top Class program at ‘De Baak’ but also training weeks in which you get for example artificial intelligence trainings or trainings in which you focus on who you are as a person and what drives you.
Interested in a traineeship at NN Group or do you have questions? Feel free to contact me. My email is basten.cobelens@nn-group.com and my number is +31625679288.
NN Group Traineeships
