A traineeship or graduate program can be a great way to start your career in The Netherlands. You get to know the company, develop yourself and often traineeships offer a good salary as well. Which traineeships are there in The Netherlands for English speakers?
Traineeships in The Netherlands
These companies all provide graduate jobs and international traineeships in The Netherlands. For a traineeship you often need to meet the following requirements:
- Recently graduated with a Bachelor or Masters degree
- Not more than 1-3 years of work experience
- Fluency in English
1. ASML Early Career Program
ASML is one the largest chip manufacturers in the world. It employs more than 39,000 people. The graduate programs allow you to get to know the company and the industry through an intensive onboarding program while specializing in a specific field. The office of ASML is in Eindhoven, which is in the South of the Netherlands.
Have a look at the careers site for the latest openings.
2. Rabobank Traineeship
Rabobank is one of the biggest banks in The Netherlands, but it’s active in 40 countries. The have a lot of different traineeships available. The office of Rabobank is centrally located in Utrecht and they have a hybrid work policy. They offer traineeships in the fields of:
- IT
- Engineering
- Advanced Analytics
- Procesmanagement
- Finance
- Data
- Risk Management
- Corporate Banking
- Coöperatief Traineeship
Have a look at the careers site for the latest openings.
3. ING International Talent Programme
ING is another bank in The Netherlands that offers traineeships for internationals. During the first year of your traineeship you’ll do two projects (rotations) of six months each. For your second project you can choose to go abroad in one of their 20 countries. You will also join a global learning event every year. They offer the following tracks:
- Analytics
- Risk
- Finance
- Operations & Change
- Wholesale Banking
- Business Banking
- Human Resources
- Retail Banking
- Tech
Have a look at the careers site for the latest openings.
4. Unilever Future Leaders Programme
You might know Unilever for their well known brands Ben & Jerry’s or Dove. They also have a traineeship programme: The Unilever Future Leaders Programme. The programme is 3 years long and generally consists of three job rotations of 1 year. The traineeships has the following tracks:
- Digital & Analytics
- Commercial
- Supply Chain
- HR
- R&D
- Finance
Have a look at the careers site for the latest openings.
5. Vattenfall International Trainee Programme
Vattenfall is one of the European market leaders in renewable energy. In the Trainee Programme you will take part in international workshops and site visits during the seminar weeks. You will also have the opportunity to work abroad and get a good overview of our entire organization. Each of the trainee positions is unique and linked to a department within a specific business area and a working location:
- Digital Innovation & A.I.
- Microsoft Dynamics Consultant
- Project Manager Area Transitions
- Data Engineer Customer Analytics
- Strategic Analyst
- Data Scientist
- Customers and Solutions Strategy
- Project Manager Associate
- Wind Resource
- Cloud Engineer
- Risk Management
- Sustainability Analayst
- Finance Business Support
Have a look at the careers site for the latest openings.
6. Optiver Graduate Program
Optiver is a tranding company that was founded in Amsterdam. The teams trade a wide range of products, from listed derivatives to cash equities, ETFs, bonds and foreign exchange. There’s more than 40 nationalities that work at the company. They have different postions for graduates where only the English language is required:
- Graduate quantitive Researcher
- Graduate Data Scientist
Have a look at the careers site for the latest openings.
7. Booking Graduate Program
Booking offers different apprenticeships, internships, and graduate opportunities. The current programs are 15 months and take place in Amsterdam or Manchester. In the programs you’ll develop technical principals and work with mentors. You’ll be offered a permanent role after your traineeship:
- Graduate Data Science & Analytics Programme
- Graduate Software Engineering Programme
Have a look at the careers site for the latest openings.
8. Shell Graduate Programme
Shell must be one of the most known Dutch employers. They provide energy and are transitioning to become a net-zero emissions business. The Shell graduate programs offer support in crafting a development journey tailored to your strengths and needs with the opportunity to work on a variety of projects at the forefront of technologies, trends and practices. You can work from there locations in Pernis, Moerdijk, Amsterdam and The Hague. They have the following programs:
- Graduate Programme Technical
- Graduate Programme Commercial
Have a look at the careers site for the latest openings.
9. Kraft Heinz International Management Trainee Program
Kraft Heinz is a food and beverage company in The Netherlands, most known for Heinz ketchup. The 12-month trainee program will challenge you to develop yourself as a future leader of the company. The traineeship will take place in the Amsterdam office, but there are also other trainee locations.
- International Management Trainee Program
Have a look at the careers site for the latest openings.
10. KLM Management Traineeship
KLM is the national airline of The Netherlands. They offer traineeships in The Netherlands as well. The KLM Management Traineeship consists of four assignments in two years. It’s an intensive development programme focused on personal leadership. The following tracks are available:
- Business & Tech
- Engineering & Maintenance
- Corporate
- Finance
Have a look at the careers site for the latest openings.
11. Friesland Campina Traineeship
FrieslandCampina is one of the biggest dairy companies in the world. Their traineeship is a two-year program, starting in March and September. The program has two assignments, both one year. It’s a fast track program for future leaders that accelerates personal and professional development. The following tracks are available:
- Finance
- Commercial
- Supply Chain & Operations – Dutch required
- Technology & Operations – Dutch required
- IT
Have a look at the careers site for the latest openings.
12. Bol IT Young Professional
Bol is the largest e-commerce store in The Netherlands. Their IT Young Professional programme will last 2 years. You will join 2 scrum teams, so after one year you will switch teams. You will be a full member of one of the 100+ scrum teams at bol.
Have a look at the careers site for the latest openings.
Traineeship Salary
What do you earn as a trainee in The Netherlands? As a trainee you can expect to make between € 30,000 – € 50,000 per year.
This range is based on salary information available on sites such as Glassdoor and Payscale. Here, current trainees share their salary information.
Unilever is the only one who specifies the salary on the careers page. The Unilever traineeships offers a starting salary of € 46,000.
The estimation of the traineeship salary at Rabobank is € 33,000 and at Kraft Heinz it’s € 45,000. Shell is known to offer competitive salaries and here you can expect to receive a higher amount.
Are you an international student in The Netherlands?
And you want to find a job in The Netherlands after your graduation?
Book a free 15 minute introduction session with me below to learn more about my 1:1 coaching:
350+ International Companies Hiring in The Netherlands
Discover more than 350 international companies in The Netherlands that are hiring now. Kickstart your job search in The Netherlands and get your next interview faster!
€24.99
Looking for more ways on how to find a job as a non-Dutch speaker? Have a look at:
– Career events
– Job sites for internationals
– Employment agencies
I’m Richard from Ghana, residing in Netherlands. I hold bachelor of science in agriculture and Diploma in Poultry management and animal feed. In addition I have certificate in food Safety. Can you please help me get apprenticeship job base on my background.
Hi Richard, the fastest way to apply for the traineeships is to go directly to the careers page. Good luck!
I am an English teacher from Spain (graduated with a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s), and I am very interested in all of the IT traineeship job opportunities, but I would not know where to start.
What are my prospects?
Thank you.
Hi Marc, thank you for your message. This list should give you a good place to start. You can simply go to the careers pages of the IT traineeships you’re interested in. Good luck!
Hi guys,
I am a 2nd year Bachelors AI student in the Netherlands. Are there any traineeships that are solely focused on AI-related developmental sector? Or data?
Hi Prakhar, Bol has a Young Professional IT traineeship. Here you can read the story from a Masters AI student who followed this: https://careers.bol.com/en/stories/from-young-professional-to-ai-expert/
I expect more and more companies to have specialized programs for AI. Now I see it more under the name of IT traineeship or Data Traineeship.
If I am residing in India, can I apply for the program in the Netherlands?
You can check the requirements of each program. It can be the case that a degree from a Dutch University is a requirement.