'When I tell my former university classmates that I started my career at NN Group, I am often greeted by a sheepish look followed by the simple question “why?”. After all, my friends tell me, NN Group is a) a company and b) which is even worse, a company within the financial sector. And on top of all that, NN Group is a gigantic company that is also old-fashioned. Right? Wrong; and I would like to tell you why.'

'I started together with 17 other fresh graduates as the ’18 NN Trainee cohort. After a great introduction week, the challenge began. From that day on, we were seen as the “Future Leaders” of the company. For me personally, it helped that I started with a group of young and ambitious people who were all more or less in the same situation as I was. Now, one year later, we have become a close group of friends both inside and outside the office.'

'Starting with this traineeship at NN Group is the best decision I could have made. It feels like being a kid in a huge playground again. I make new friends, which they call networking. I learn new things from my new friends by playing games, which is called personal development and stakeholder management. And every single day I go on an adventure, which I sell to my manager as working on my assignment.'

'I arrived in the office on my first day of work to find out that my team was in between managers. However, the team all knew their responsibilities, and one of them took the initiative to start teaching me and assigning work for me to do. My team, the corporate debt team of the alternative credit department, consists of 3 full time workers and 2 trainees, investing a portfolio of about 2 billion euros into private loans to large companies around Europe. You might not think this is enough people for such a task, which surprised me, but it goes to show the level of responsibility and challenging work environment here at NN.'

'In March 2019 I started working at NN Group as a sustainability advisor in the Corporate Citizenship department, temporarily replacing a colleague. This was a great opportunity for me as it was the perfect combination of sustainability and finance which I was looking for. During this role I noticed that I enjoy being part of a large organization since this offers numerous possibilities as well as the opportunity to work with interesting people.'

'Working at an insurance company was not necessarily the first thing that came to mind when looking for my first grown-up job in finance. This all changed when I had my first encounter with NN at a recruitment event. A group of enthusiastic trainees stood before me and told me about their traineeship experiences so far. This presentation really stood out to me from the several talks that I went to that week.'

'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.'

'The funny thing about our group is that we probably would have never ended up together if it wasn’t for the traineeship. We all have totally different personalities. It’s like a little family. We didn’t choose to be in a group together, but we are. Just like with normal families, you have the ones that are quite distant, and the ones that are really close and feel more like friends. Our trainee family belongs to the latter category.'

'This inhouse day triggered me to apply for the Investments traineeship for several reasons. I got a good impression of the organization, learned about the core values, discovered what I could be doing during the traineeship and, lastly, I met nice people I can now call my colleagues. To me, everything about the company felt right, which led to my application for the Investments track of the traineeship. As we speak, I am a few months on the job and I must say: I got a very truthful view back then and I can only recommend you to go to as many inhouse days as possible.'

'The best thing is that I’ve learnt a lot in a short period of time, which is very satisfying. I’m also given a lot of space for personal development. For example, last year I completed a SAS course. SAS is the software we use to build credit risk models and we use it a lot. I’m also going on a credit risk modelling course soon.'

'What I mostly appreciated was the focus on personality. Also, the people were highly competitive and result driven, but humble. I saw that they were ambitious, and at the same time always eager to help. Now that I work at NN I see there are great ambassadors for how people are valued here in the company. There is no better example than that.'

'The structure of the general management traineeship was elaborately explained during the Inhouseday. This structure became a big driver for my interest in NN. Three key features of this specific management traineeship made me enthusiastic. First, the rotations through the company provide one with a complete scope on the company. Second, the ‘out of your comfort zone’ philosophy ensures that you keep your eyes open to new experiences. Third, the focus on your personal development is outstanding. Altogether, the Inhouseday opened my eyes to NN as a possible future employer.'

NN cares about personal development and therefore provides you with 100 business e-books for free!
Download an e-book and steer your career.

Download e-book

We're sorry… the job you are trying to apply for has been filled.

Meet our trainees

NN e-Library

We're sorry… the job you are trying to apply for has been filled.

Meet our trainees

Ilse Groot - General Management Trainee

Daniël Obadia - Finance Trainee

Janneke Klip - General Management Trainee

Steven Galea Pace - Investments Trainee

Ralf Kooken - Investments Trainee

Ide Boumans - Finance & Risk Trainee

Basten Cobelens - General Management Trainee

Fenny Campman - General Management Trainee

Thomas Sandbergen - Investments Trainee

Maximilian Bergauer - General Management Trainee

Claudiu Ghiuzan - Investments Trainee

Siebe de Roest - General Management Trainee

NN e-Library