The European Central Bank has launched: Traineeships in Human Resources - Employee Services Division

Your team

You will be part of the Employee Services (ESE) Division in the Directorate General Human Resources. Our Directorate has 100 staff providing a wide range of services from integration, health and well-being through to salaries, rewards, allowances and pensions. We assist more than 3,300 employees from arrival at the ECB through all stages of their career and even beyond. We support the development and implementation of HR systems and deliver state-of-the-art HR analytics.

The Division’s processes are continuously reviewed and streamlined to make them more customer-centric. 

We are currently looking for several trainees to support the work of the teams listed below.

The ECB is an inclusive employer and we strive to reflect the diversity of the population we serve. We encourage you to apply irrespective of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or other characteristics.

Your role

As a trainee you will join one of the teams in the ESE Division. You will work with the members of the team to which you have been assigned on ongoing initiatives, gaining an insight into the work of HR and the functioning of the ECB. The tasks you will be given may include the following:

HR Health Services

• keeping sick leave absences up to date in the HR information system (SAP);
• contacting and advising staff on all questions related to health absences, use of the self-service portal, etc.;
• weekly reporting to identify pending absences not covered by appropriate documentation and the necessary actions;
• preparing statistics when needed (e.g. for presentations);
• contributing to policy research where required (e.g. benchmarking);
• supporting automation of processes and implementing developments in the information system when needed (e.g. testing). 

HR Pension and Insurance Services

• processing and reconciling members’ investment transactions;
• preparing data and graphics for reports to the Pension Fund Investment Committee;
• interacting with internal accounting and the external custodian on operational matters;
• assisting with the preparation of the monthly financial statements and the membership report;
• assisting with the preparation of the monthly data transfer to the health insurance provider;
• assisting with the testing of improvements to self-service apps;
• communicating with members on pension and insurance issues.

HR Operations 

• supporting end-users and colleagues dealing with the payment of salaries and benefits;
• assisting with the design, testing and implementation phases of SAP projects related to payroll, compensation and allowances workflows as rules and procedures are streamlined;
• helping to streamline, digitalise and automate processes, including maintaining documentation;
• supporting policy work in the team by preparing associated documentation, including presentations;
• contributing to research and benchmarking exercises, preparing statistics and supporting policy implementation reviews.

HR Systems

• supporting end-users in their day-to-day activities;
• preparing test data for several HR modules in SAP (personnel administration, time management) and Avature (recruitment);
• performing tests and regressions for HR processes;
• documenting test results;
• preparing/updating training material;
• carrying out training sessions with end-users on specific tasks.

The position offers you excellent opportunities to gain hands-on experience of the day-to-day work in an HR team. You will be part of a multicultural team that strives for continuous innovation to make a positive impact on the lives of European citizens.

Qualifications, experience and skills

Essential:

• a bachelor’s degree or higher in one of the following fields: human resources management, business administration, employment/industrial relations, social and organisational psychology, accounting, law (preferably EU employment and social security law), business information systems, computer science, data science, statistics, mathematics, business analytics, or another relevant discipline;
• excellent analytical and conceptual skills and an interest in complex technical content;
• a very good knowledge of the MS Office package;
• an advanced (C1) command of English and an intermediate (B1) command of at least one other official language of the EU, according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Desired:

• a qualification or experience in human resources;
• a good understanding of data and data processing skills;
• experience of practical use of HR IT solutions;
• knowledge of one or more SAP HCM modules. 

You are curious and eager to learn and want to further develop your ability to analyse complex information. You are keen to collaborate with others, pursue team goals and learn from other people’s diverse perspectives. You strive to know and anticipate stakeholder needs and will signal any need for change and propose alternative solutions.

You are motivated to contribute to the ECB’s mission, to serve the citizens of the EU as a member of a public institution and to work with colleagues from all over Europe. You are keen to be part of our team and to use your skills and competencies to achieve the objectives of this position.

Who can apply:

EU nationals eligible for our traineeship programme.

All candidates should:

• be a national of a Member State of the EU or of an acceding country.
• be at least 18 years old.
• have completed at least a first cycle qualification (minimum bachelor’s degree).
• be fluent in English and in another official language of the EU.

Following their most recent qualification candidates should:

• have a maximum of 12 months’ professional experience.
• have been a trainee for no more than six months.
• not have been an ECB trainee or have worked for the ECB previously.

Closing date: 23.02.2022

Further information

Traineeship of six months, with the possibility of an extension to up to 12 months in total in the same or other business areas.

Application and selection process

Further information on how to join us is available on the website.

The recruitment process for this position will include an online interview. 

If you are not selected for this position but are still considered suitable, you will be placed on a reserve list for 12 months from the closing date for applications, from which you might be considered for similar positions within the ECB.