Be our NextGen

The ECCO NextGen Programme is a development programme for passionate and ambitious talents, who are keen to start their career in a global company. If you are curious, passionate and ready to make an impact – you’ll fit right in! Joining our NextGen Programme means we will develop you into ECCO’s next generation of leaders and specialists.

The programme is either 2 or 3 years long, depending on your educational background.

ECCO offers an exclusive development programme for talented, adventurous people who are ready for exciting challenges and keen on seizing the world.

We kick off the ECCO NextGen Programme in September each year. The duration of the programme is 2 or 3 years, depending on your educational background (please refer to the 2 year ECCO NextGen Programme and 3 year ECCO NextGen Programme). The programme comprises fixed and flexible elements across the global business, depending on the career track in which you were recruited.

The career tracks for which we recruit NextGens will vary each year, depending on business needs. The job advertisements will clearly illustrate career track and the required skills/experience.

The HQ introduction, tannery, retail and shoe production rotations are fixed elements. Each of your job rotations following the fixed elements can vary depending on the needs of the organisation and your individual development plan, based on your career track.

During the programme, you will experience different cultures and countries, as well as get the opportunity to combine practical experience with theoretical knowledge.

All these different elements of the programme will allow you to gain a tremendous amount of knowledge and greatly increase your performance and career opportunities within ECCO.

Throughout the NextGen Programme you will experience different aspects of the company, in order to gain an in-depth understanding of ECCO, our value chain and to build your international network. All NextGens are recruited for a fixed career track throughout the programme. Job rotations are tailored to each individual NextGen, fully aligned with your career track, education background, work experience, aspirations and business needs. On average, our NextGens go through 3-4 job rotations, in addition to the fixed elements. The programme is tailored to ensure that you get an in-depth knowledge into the specific field in which you will work, and to develop your skills to possibly join ECCO in a permanent position upon graduation.

Throughout the programme, you will receive a monthly salary which is regulated every year. Each NextGen’s salary is based on their educational background and work experience, and will be adjusted on each job placement according to globally benchmarked local conditions. Your contract will be based in the country of your career track department.

Whilst on the programme you will have full medical and travel insurance cover.

Whilst on the ECCO NextGen Programme, accommodation will be paid for and arranged by ECCO when you are expatriated abroad. During the periods where you are based in the country of your contract (and career track department), you will have to pay for accommodation yourself. However, ECCO will always support you in securing suitable accommodation throughout the course of the programme.

To be an ECCO NextGen, you must be determined, motivated, hardworking and responsible. You thrive on challenges, you are proactive and able to work independently. You possess a global mindset and you are open to work with colleagues from different cultural backgrounds. You must have a willingness to travel not only as part of the programme, but be globally mobile beyond the programme, as further career opportunities within ECCO may require being based internationally.

The ECCO NextGen Programme is not an accredited further education, however we may offer you additional studies, depending on your level of formal education, and if required and relevant to your career track.

The programme commences on 1st September each year.

We advertise the individual NextGen positions on our website, under Job Opportunities.

The application process normally runs from mid-December, and the deadline is the beginning of March. Please check the job advertisements for the specific deadline date. All applications must be made through the online application process (link is provided in each job advertisement).

Interviews will take place from mid-March onwards.

In order to ensure that you are the right fit for the programme, we work on a 3-step recruitment process. Once receiving your application, we will ask selected candidates to submit a 30 second video explaining your interest in the programme. If we feel you are the right fit for ECCO, the next step will be a Skype interview and finally a recruitment day.

The career tracks we recruit for vary each year depending on the business needs.

In the past we have recruited for (but not limited to) Shoe and Leather Production Management, Product Development, Marketing, Commercial Sales, Retail, Research & Development, Human Resources, IT and Digital. For the 2 year Master’s programme, we have also recruited for Finance and Supply Chain.

Our available job openings for the NextGen Programme go live mid-December, so keep an eye on our Job Opportunities.

We recommend that you carefully consider where your interests lie, and which of the advertised positions you are absolutely most passionate about. In case you are in doubt what to apply for, please check the requirements on the job advertisements.

We receive a great amount of applications for the specific career tracks during the admissions period, and these are the only ones we will consider for our NextGen Programme. Therefore, please apply via Job Opportunities for a specific career track during the application period from mid-December to early March.

Your CV (resume) and motivation letter must be in English, as this is ECCO’s corporate language and the international recruitment team operates entirely in English.

When you submit your application via Job Opportunities, you are only able to upload up to 1.5MB at a time. If your file is bigger than this, please divide your file and upload one by one.

To ensure quality and fair screening for all candidates, the recruitment process is started right after the application period is closed. Our experienced recruitment team works hard to recruit the right candidates for the NextGen positions and therefore we kindly ask you to be patient, as the process can take up to 8 weeks. Once we are ready with our decision, you will hear from us.

In order to ensure that you are the right fit for ECCO and that ECCO is the right fit for you, we run a 3-step interview process.

If we decide to bring you forward in the recruitment process after receiving your application, we will ask you to submit a 30 second video explaining why you want to join ECCO. The second step is a Skype interview, which includes a two way discussion about your past experience, education and expectations. It will also give you a great opportunity to find out how it is to work at ECCO as a NextGen first-hand. Before the Skype interview, you will be requested to take an online personality analysis as well as a cognitive ability test.

Selected candidates will be invited to participate in the last step – a 1 day recruitment day, which will consist of an interview with relevant stakeholders, individual and group work.

ECCO is a global family of shoemakers and our people have a passion for what they do. We welcome NextGens with different backgrounds and personalities; therefore it is important for us that you share your experience and show who you truly are. We also expect you to do your research about the company and what we stand for. We would encourage you to prepare some relevant questions about the NextGen programme and the company.