Successful ING Business Course 2013
The annual ING Business Course was held from 4 to 6 December, with thirty master’s students in eager attendance.
Group photo of 2013 ING Business Course Participants,
with ING Lions
During these three days they had a first-hand opportunity to learn what ING is all about.
The ING Business Course is organised by Campus Recruitment. Every year this department organises several events aimed at positioning ING as a top employer among young potentials looking to start their career. They also recruit talented students for the management traineeship of ING: the ING International Talent Programme (IITP).
Young talent is vital
“Recruiting and developing new young talent remains a matter of vital importance to us,” says Charis Pattikawa, responsible for the IITP in The Netherlands. “That’s why we organise the ING Business Course. In the future we will continue to need talent, not least because of the ageing labour force and the resulting continuity issues for the company.”
Thirty high potentials
Adverts on social media and promotional actions at study associations ultimately resulted in a lot of applications for the Business Course. Based on an CV selection, candidates were invited to take an online capability test. Those who passed the test were invited for an interview. After a total of 90 interviews, 30 participants were selected.
Kick-off by Wilfred Nagel
The opening of this Business Course took place in the Amsterdamse Poort building – the home base of ING Bank – with ING’s chief risk officer, Wilfred Nagel, performing the kick-off.
Nagel himself started out as a trainee, briefed the group extensively about his impressive career within ING and went deeper into this. When he was asked for his current position as CRO of ING Group, he had one condition: he wanted to become the sponsor of the IITP. His underlying motivation and ambition is to make the future leaders of this company, the IITP trainees, good bankers with the right soft skills, and thus be able to lead a large bank.
2013 ING Business Course Participants with CRO Wilfred Nagel
(middle) and Charis Pattikawa (4th from right).
Nagel also paid attention to the career opportunities for young talent in an international company that is constantly in motion and has great potential. "If you do what you like and what you are good at, chances are high that you will excel in this."
Nagel also posted a strategic dilemma: are we a IT company or a financial services company? He stressed that we are a financial services company, where IT remains a very significant factor. Big data, and the role of companies like Google and Apple are forcing us to take a new position. This was a real trigger for this inquisitive high potentials.
In the afternoon, Hans van der Noordaa gave a presentation on Reinventing Banking. Afterwards, there was room for a Q&A session during which the participants could ask everything about the One Bank Strategy.
Customer Focus
During the three-day programme, the participants worked in teams on a retail banking Challenge with Customer Focus as the central theme. This case was developed in cooperation with the Marketing Department Payments Daily Banking.
Some participants at work
On the third day the candidates pitched their ideas at the jury consisting of Nick Jue, CEO of ING Netherlands and general manager Hans Hagenaars and Herman Tange. The jury members were deeply impressed, both by the participants’ presentation skills as well as their creative ideas.
The work on the retail banking case was interspersed with workshops about specific subjects, such as a presentation about IT & Customer Centricity, a session about Basel III where DNB and ING talked about this subject. Also a Global Risk Case facilitated by the Credit Restructuring Department and a Commercial Banking case were passed in review. In addition, team building activities and a fun workshop provided everyone with ample opportunity to get to know each other in a more informal atmosphere.
Looking back…and forward
The selection for the spring class in 2014 is already in full swing and lots of participants are expected to apply for a place in the trainee programme or a first-time job at ING.
Interested in the next ING Business Course?
ING Campus Recruitment organises various activities throughout the year. Take a look at www.ING.nl/graduates for more information.
More information
For answers to your questions about the programme or the Campus Recruitment Department, contact Charis Pattikawa (charis.pattikawa@ing.nl).