Our Future Leaders Programme will ignite the leader in you. This unique programme is designed to develop Unilever’s Future Leaders (UFL) by providing challenging and purposeful opportunities that accelerate their readiness to take on business leadership roles.
Unilever Future Leaders Programme (UFLP) – Finance – Netherlands
The Unilever Future Leaders Programme, or as we call it “UFLP”, is a 3-year traineeship programme that gives you the opportunity to develop yourself into an experienced future-fit professional. Bring your enthusiasm, curiosity and innovative ideas to the table and start your learning journey at Unilever as a UFLP.
Please find more information about the application process, requirements and why you should apply on our UFLP Netherlands website: https://careers.unilever.com/NL-UFLPopens in a new window
About Unilever
Unilever is one of the world’s largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) businesses. We reach 2 billion consumers a day and we have 161.000 employees globally.
We make products that people love – and that make a difference. Nutritious foods. Household care essentials. Indulgent ice creams. Luxurious shampoos… and many more. Shoppers buy them in more than 190 countries. That means you’ll find at least one of our products in seven out of ten households on the planet. And we want every one of those products to make a positive impact on the lives of the people. That’s why our purpose is to make sustainable living commonplace, and why sustainable, long-term growth is at the heart of our business model.
Requirements for application
- Eligibility to work in the Netherlands at the start of the programme (employment) per 1st March 2024.*
- You have obtained your master’s degree at the start date of the UFLP (per March 1, 2024)
- Intermediate level of Dutch is preferred but not required.
- We recommend that you only apply with a maximum of 5 years of experience to get the best out of the traineeship.
- Our Discovery Center Days take place at our Rotterdam office and will be held between November 6 – 28. It is not possible to join this day online.
What will you be doing as a Finance UFLP?
By joining the Unilever Future Leaders Finance Programme, we want to show you how finance at Unilever is about so much more than just numbers – the lifeblood of our business – touching every area, informing multi-million-euro decisions, and directly influencing the development, growth, and health of our brands. You will have the opportunity to work across fantastic categories and on some of the world’s most loved brands. Do you have an analytical mindset? Business brain? Aspirations to become a CFO? A career in Financial Management could be right for you.
What do we look for?
It might come as a surprise, but you do not need a specific educational background. We are looking for strong analytical skills, ambition, a talent for influencing people and a real desire to understand how a business operates and succeeds. We are looking for people with a digital mindset and an affinity with business intelligence. Enthusiasm and commitment go a long way. We are looking for our future Financial Management leaders and the limitless opportunities at Unilever creates fully engaging innovative entrepreneurship.
What will the programme involve?
The programme is designed to give you the ability to grow into a manager. You will develop your individual leadership skills by working on projects which offer you the experience you need to be ready for your first management role. Over 3 years, you will take on a variety of roles across our businesses. You will gain experience both in financial and management accounting and you will be business facing, communicating with key contacts within the brand teams.
- We sell millions of products to consumers every day.That is why every UFLP will start their career joining our Field Force team. You will learn all about our consumers and customers, in retail (Supermarkets), in Food Solutions (Chefs in Restaurants) and in Out of Home (all other outlets like gas stations & theme parks). It is a great opportunity to really get to know the other “Future Leaders”.
- The programme gives you a broad array of rotations: you will get international experience (even though it might be in the Netherlands) because many of our global and European Finance teams are based in Rotterdam. We have Finance UFLP positions in R&D Finance, Global Marketing Finance, European Controlling, Finance Excellence, Local Finance teams, and many more. We make sure to differentiate between the spots, so that you will get a broad array of experiences.
- You will be trusted advisors right across the business and you will be in the thick of influencing strategy and investment decisions from day one. You will be making decisions that directly determine the future of our brands, the way we work with our customers and how we run our supply chain. Our people have the opportunity to make a big impact every day.
- Support and empowerment: We will support you every step of the way to senior management but much of your progress will be up to you. You will need to be focused and ambitious to get where you want, identifying opportunities and taking responsibility for your own development.
- During the 3 years of your programme, you will be learning and developing in the rotations you will be doing, having real responsibility and impact. This development is supported with a learning roadmap full of internal and external training focused on developing your individual leadership skills.
We have an established tradition of developing our own purpose driven leaders and encourageinnovative thinking. Future focused feedback and challenging goals drives innovation and ambition within a performance culture and an inclusive and informal environment. We will push you to achieve your potential and make a big business impact where you learn from the best. Firsthand experience – it is the fastest way to learn.
Application Process
Our online application process runs from Sunday, October 1st – Sunday, October 22nd end of day.
You need to have finished all the digital stages including the Digital Interview stage by the end of the online application period (October 22, end of day) to be eligible for the Unilever Future Leaders Programme. It will take a few days to finish all online stages, so please finish all online stages as soon as possible, as we work on a first comes, first served base. In case of many good candidates, we may decide to close earlier. In that case, we will communicate this.
The entire selection process consists of:
Stage 1: Online Application** (Online)
Stage 2: Digital assessment (Online)
(Personality/Profile assessment)
Stage 3: Digital Interview (Online)
Stage 4: Discovery Center Day*** (Physically at the Rotterdam office)
Stage 5: Job Offer
*For non-EU, a search year / orientation year visa is accepted, but Unilever cannot support in the request for the Search Year visa in any form.
Non-EU candidates applying for the UFLP must have obtained a Search Year / a Orientation Year Visa or possess proper working permit in the Netherlands by March 1st, 2024, which marks the start of the employment.
Please be aware that, on average, the process of obtaining a one-year job search visa or endorsement sticker (VA sticker in Dutch) can take minimum of 90 days, depending on the speed of the procedure by the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Department (IND).
**In the online application, there is a possibility to upload your CV to fill out your personal details. This is not part of the selection process.
**Our Discovery Center days take place at our Rotterdam office and will be held
between November 6th – November 28th, 2023. It is not possible to join this day online.
Please note sometimes, correspondence may end up in your spam folder. Please regularly check your spam folder during the entire recruitment process.
Do you need any special requirements to complete the application process or the online assessments?
The application process consists of an online assessment and a digital interview, we automatically provide accessibility options such as decrease/increase font size, change font & colour, screen ruler, screen mask for everyone who would require support through a tool bar on the platform called ‘Recite Me’. If you would need another reasonable adjustment to complete any part of the application process, please let us know in the application form (stage 1 in the process). We will contact you.
Unilever is an organisation committed to diversity and inclusion to drive our business results and create a better future every day for our diverse employees, global consumers, partners, and communities. We believe a diverse workforce allows us to match our growth ambitions and drive inclusion across the business. At Unilever we are interested in every individual and the talent they can bring. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment.