HR Business Partner Trainee

HR Business Partner Trainee

Full-time, 38 hours a week

Action is active in 15 markets, and we continue to grow. This growth also brings new opportunities within HR. As an HRBP Trainee, you join an 18‑month programme that helps you build the skills and confidence to become a confident HR professional. From our headquarters in Zwaagdijk, you learn how HR supports our fast‑growing organisation and how we work with leaders across the business. You take on real tasks from day one, help improve how we support our colleagues, and finish the traineeship with a clear next step in your career.

Your daily tasks

You will take part in an exciting HRBP traineeship with three rotations within the team, each designed to give you broad exposure to the HRBP role and the business. Your traineeship is structured in three phases of six months each:

Phase 1 – Foundation (Months 1–6)

You will work with HR data and reporting to understand how HR supports business decisions. You will also have brief shadowing opportunities with cross-functional teams such as Finance, Operations, or commercial teams to build your business understanding from the ground up.

• Work with HR data and master data to support decision making and improve HR processes.
• Create simple reports and presentations to support HRBPs and business leaders.
• Shadow cross-functional teams to understand business drivers.
• Turn HR metrics into clear and useful insights that managers can use for decisions.

Phase 2 – Skilling up (Months 7–12)

You will assist HRBPs with employee relations, talent management, and stakeholder management, deepening your understanding of how HR operates as a business partner.

• Support and shadow HR Business Partners in meetings, discussions with managers, and daily HR activities.
• Assist with employee relations cases and learn how labour law is applied in practice.
• Help with performance management, development plans, and succession planning activities.

Phase 3 – Creating impact (Months 13–18)

You will support HR projects, workforce planning, and change initiatives. You will take ownership of small end-to-end deliverables and be prepared to step into an HR Business Partner role at the end of the traineeship.

• Support workforce planning and understand organisation structures at a high level.
• Participate in change projects such as new HR processes, restructuring, and change management actions.
• Take ownership of small end-to-end deliverables: lead workshops, manage dashboards, drive part of the performance cycle.

Your team

You will become part of the HR Business Partner team, working within the HR department at our International Headquarters. You will work closely with experienced HR Business Partners and gain exposure to cross-functional stakeholders such as Finance, Operations, and commercial teams, to better understand business drivers. During the traineeship, you will learn how HRBPs act as trusted partners for business leaders and how HR supports business decisions. As each assignment brings new challenges, no day will be the same!

From day one, you will have a dedicated manager and mentor to guide you. Your colleagues are eager to share their knowledge and help you grow into a confident professional. Curious about your new team? Your manager, mentor, and teammates can’t wait to support you during your traineeship.

What you offer

You have a genuine interest in HR and a strong passion for learning. You bring an analytical and data-driven mindset, which allows you to understand and interpret HR data and turn it into clear business insights. You are comfortable working in complex and changing environments, where you can create structure and priorities. You are curious about the business, communicate well with different stakeholders, and show a proactive, hands-on attitude with high learning agility, coaching interest, and emotional intelligence.

Your background:

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office.
• Excellent oral and written knowledge of English.
• Bachelor’s degree
• A background in human resources, business, administration, or similar fields is preferred
• Interest in business, strategy, and people management.

Necessary competencies:

• Learning agility: quickly learn from your interactions and projects during the Traineeship to develop HR expertise and business understanding.
• Business-oriented thinking: understand the business context and contribute to decisions that support commercial goals.
• Analytical mindset: assess situations, work with HR data, and make data-driven recommendations and decisions.
• Communication and stakeholder management: build strong relationships, work confidently with managers, and ask questions to understand needs.
• Influence and political awareness: challenge ideas respectfully and positively influence decisions and outcomes.
• Coaching and advisory skills: support managers through feedback, coaching conversations, and guidance in complex situations.
• Emotional intelligence: coach, support colleagues, and handle difficult conversations with tact.
• Accuracy: ensure a high-quality contribution to the HRBP team.

What we offer

From our headquarters in the Netherlands, you will have an impact across the whole of Europe. Action's growth means you can always take steps to develop as a professional, whether that means a certain position, an interesting innovation project, or new skills. And you can do all that in a culture where we truly embrace our shared values: customer focus, teamwork, simplicity, discipline, cost-consciousness and respect. 

• A competitive salary (based on a 38-hour working week)
• 24 days holiday with the option to buy five additional days (based on 38 hours per week) 

• 15% staff discount on your purchases at Action

Collective health insurance and travel allowance (Zwaagdijk is reachable from Amsterdam by car in just 30 minutes on uncongested roads) 

Interested?

We warmly invite anyone who recognises themselves in this vacancy to apply. To get to know us better, we recommend exploring our website to learn more about Action. You can also read our latest Annual Update to see how we work every week to offer good‑quality products at the lowest prices to millions of customers, while making a positive impact on society and the environment.

What comes next:

• 1. Response to your application within 14 days
  2. First conversations with a recruitment colleague
  3. Online assessment to get to know you better
  4. Second interview with the manager and HRBP
  5. Matching day (2nd of June – Save the date)
  6. Welcome to Action

Throughout the process, your recruiter is your permanent point of contact and is available to answer any questions you may have. We believe integrity is of great importance. A pre-employment screening is therefore part of the process for this vacancy.