Heineken Traineeship Assessment

Who runs Heineken's trainee assessment

LTP, the Dutch assessment bureau, publishes a case study on optimising Heineken's trainee selection ("optimalisatie van de traineeselectie"). In it, Heineken's trainee coordinator explains that Heineken used to work with several parties and wanted one fixed partner for the whole trainee selection, from the first online test to the final assessment day. LTP says Heineken often has more than 500 applicants per round, spread across several trainee tracks.

The case study is not dated and does not name a single test, and Heineken's own vacancy texts do not name a provider. So treat LTP as the reported provider for the Dutch traineeships rather than a confirmed one, and check the platform your invitation links to.

The three stages LTP describes

1. Online assessments.LTP set up an online assessment matched to each trainee track ("voor elke trainee track een passend online assessment"). Heineken also used it to look more closely at what the case study calls risicoprofielen, risk profiles, to make the best match.
2. A psychological interview. The strongest candidates from the online stage were invited to the selection day, and before it each had an interview with an experienced LTP psychologist. Candidates received development tips in that conversation, and the insights went back to Heineken.
3. An interactive selection day.The interactieve selectiedag included a purpose pitch, a role play and an interactive group task, scored on a standard format by assessors from Heineken and LTP together. There was also a Q&A with current trainees and a pub quiz. The results were analysed straight after the day and the offers decided jointly.

What the 2025 Global Graduate Program listing said

Heineken's most recent Dutch graduate vacancies we could read were for the Global Graduate Program in the Netherlands, posted in March 2025 for Finance, Commerce and Supply Chain, based in Leiden. The programme lasts three years: three six-month rotations (in the Dutch operating company, then a cross-functional assignment, then an international one), followed by an 18-month landing role in the Netherlands. Heineken asked for a finished master's degree in any field, at most a year after graduating, comfortable Dutch and English, the right to work in the Netherlands, and full global mobility.

The selection ran on a tight calendar:

Two things stand out. The online assessment window was one week, so you cannot leave preparation until the invitation arrives. And Heineken wrote that the scenarios need no preparation, but that "a cognitive test is also part of the online assessment". We agree on the scenarios: answer them as yourself, and read situational judgement answer formats only so the response format does not surprise you. The cognitive test is different. Timed reasoning is where familiarity with the format makes a measurable difference.

The listing does not name a provider. Its shape, online assessments, then interviews, then an in-person day, matches the process LTP describes, but that is our reading, not something Heineken says. The vacancies have since closed, and the next round's dates are not published, so use 2025 as a guide to the rhythm rather than the calendar.

Practising for an LTP online assessment

LTP does not say which of its tests Heineken's tracks use, so practise the range. Three things hold for LTP's capacity tests and change how you should sit them. Only correct answers count, so a blank and a wrong guess score the same and you should answer everything. The tests are built not to be finished. And LTP reports results against the level the job needs (mbo, hbo or wo) rather than against your own diploma.

• Abstracte Matrix test (25 questions · 20 minutes · free) - LTP’s own abstract reasoning test, getting harder as you go. Free, and the best first look at how LTP builds a capacity test.
• G-test (50 questions · 20 minutes) - LTP’s general ability test, fifty mixed non-verbal items in one paper. Built not to be finished.
• Cijferreeksen test (28 questions · 15 minutes) - About thirty seconds a series with no calculator. It is also the number series part of the G-test.
• Numerieke Vaardigheden test (NIT) (40 questions · 25 minutes) - Tables and graphs with a calculator allowed, and some questions that the data cannot answer at all.
• Verbale Relaties test (40 questions · 26 minutes) - Double analogies where both words must be right for the item to count.

And the questionnaires:

• Big Five persoonlijkheidsvragenlijst (99 questions · 15 to 20 minutes · free) - LTP’s Big Five questionnaire, 99 statements on a seven-point scale. Free. On a real LTP sitting a psychologist reads the profile with you, which is worth knowing here because a psychological interview follows the online stage.
• WPQ Werkstijlen (34 questions · 5 to 10 minutes) - LTP’s short work styles questionnaire. Neither end of any scale is the better one.

More on LTP's tests is on the LTP practice hub and in how to prepare for the LTP G-test. If your report comes back with stanines or sten scores, read Dutch capaciteitentest scores explained. For the formats in general, see abstract reasoning, numerical reasoning and personality tests.

Preparing for the interviews and the selection day

The purpose pitch is the one part you can fully prepare: a short, spoken answer to why you want this and what drives you, in your own words. Time it and say it aloud. Role plays and group tasks usually judge how you work with others as much as what you conclude, so contribute early, build on other people's points and keep an eye on the time. For the interviews, prepare four or five real examples with the STAR method. The 2025 programme required Dutch and English, so be ready to use either.

Older stories from SHL and Harver

Two other assessment providers have published case studies about Heineken, both about its International Graduate Programme rather than the Dutch traineeships, and both older than anything above.

• SHL describes an inductive reasoning test used to shortlist, ability and personality tests, motivation questionnaires and simulation exercises at a final assessment centre, in a year with more than 22,000 applications in nine weeks. The story is undated.
• Harver, in a case study published in 2019, describes rebuilding the programme's selection for the 2018 cycle around video, gamified assessments, situational judgement tests, an English language test and a video interview section, taking 1 to 1.5 hours. Harver puts that cycle at more than 17,000 candidates from 161 countries for 22 places.

Neither tells you what Heineken uses today, and we do not treat either as current. If your invitation does come from SHL or Harver, our SHL and Harver hubs cover their formats.