VF jobs - working at VF
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We are a $12 billion apparel, footwear and accessories powerhouse.
VF’s success starts with our family of powerful brands whose very names reflect the pride and foundation of our company. Our brands enrich consumers’ lives, help them express their individuality and push them to the boundaries of what’s possible.
We support these brands with powerful business platforms that help us maintain our competitive edge. Our more than 60,000 employees around the world leverage these platforms across the company to share best practices, enable our success and strengthen our brands.
This close relationship between powerful brands and powerful platforms plays out within a company culture that combines creativity, operational excellence and financial discipline.
It’s a collaborative culture that defines who we are and how we work. It’s a culture we call One VF.
Organized in 1899, VF Corporation is a global leader in the design, manufacture, marketing and distribution of branded lifestyle apparel, footwear and accessories. The company's highly diversified portfolio of iconic brands spans multiple geographies, product categories, consumer demographics and sales channels. VF relies on its Powerful Brands, Powerful Platforms, One VF approach to business to support its brands, maintain a competitive edge and drive a winning company culture.
Click here to find out more about VF Corporation.
VF GLOBAL
VFC:NYSE
VF EMEA
1,500+
owned retail stores
60K+
associates around the world
170 countries
where we operate
$20M
donated to community causes through the VF Foundation
$12B
2016 revenues
World’s largest
maker of denim
World's #1
producer of backpacks
6 distribution centers
around EMEA
300
owned retail stores
8K
associates around EMEA
200 cities
where we operate
VF Europe operates in two different locations, our offices in Bornem and Distribution Centres in Sint-Niklaas. With employees of 48 nationalities we are truly an international company!
Bornem is the home of our VF offices. This gives our employees the opportunity to enjoy a green and peaceful environment while still benefit from all services of a small town. There is also a flexibility in terms of working hours: everyone is present during core time, but you can choose when to start and end your day, according to your work requirements.
Catering services
The brasserie in our building offers a wide range of hot and cold meals of good quality but also at a subsidized convenient price. You may wish to bring your own food from home while joining your colleagues in the canteen.
Sports @ work
Among the facilities there is a gym at your disposal or join our colleagues and go for a run outside. Other possible sport activities sponsored by VF but organized by our own employees include: Badminton, Volleyball, Indoor football or cycling and free for everyone to participate.
As one of the largest apparel and footwear companies in the world, we have a responsibility and an opportunity to lead our industry towards a better future. VF encourages and empowers associates to get involved in community services that impact not just the space where we work but also the space where we live and play. We walk the talk by the wide range of Responsibility & Sustainability Initiatives sponsored in Belgium.
Each year more than 10 Social & Green projects are organized going from helping elderly, animal sheltering, cliniclowns or providing care to people with disabilities. But also at the office you can make a difference with warm sweater day or during mobility week.
With 585 volunteering hours in the last 6 month, we still have plenty of room to grow: join us in making a positive difference in the lives of others.
Find out more about our Sustainability progress in our Annual Report and catch a glimpse watching this video:
Both Brussels and Antwerp are located at approximately 30 km from our Bornem office which is easily accessible by car and takes roughly 30/45 minutes. You could also choose the train option but depending on where you would be located a convenient alternative is the bike. A 10 minutes bike ride brings you from the nearest train stations (Puurs or Bornem) to our offices.
Most of the expats working in Belgium choose to live in either Antwerp or Brussels, both are global cities with really international and multicultural vibes.
Brussels is a sizeable city with a metropolitan area of almost 2 million inhabitants. It’s a fascinating city that reveals its charms slowly and always offers something new to be discovered. It is the home of the Royal Palace, Manneken Pis, botanical garden and numerous parks to stroll through and explore.
Brussels is the capital of Belgium and headquarters of many European institutions and it has become the polyglot home of numerous international organizations. The international community is wide and active allowing to have plenty of opportunities to meet people from all over the world. Being located at the border between Dutch and French communities and with increasing number of expats, Brussels is a truly multi-lingual city.
Brussels is quickly gaining a reputation as one of Europe's must-see destinations, with its trendy bars and restaurants, greatn ightlife, fantastic shopping, numerous museums, and other attractions including the diverse and interesting exhibitions and festivals organized there every year.
Its centrally-based location is ideal for exploring the rest of Europe during weekends and holidays.
Antwerp is a pocket-sized global city: compact and easy to navigate, even on foot if you feel like it. Approximately 1/5th of the historic city center is a pedestrian zone. But if you want to feel like a local Antwerpian you need go for a bike ride through the city! The Antwerp metropolitan area is currently the second largest in Belgium after Brussels.
Today Antwerp has a cult status in the fashion world, due to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Antwerp is the birthplace of Flemish painters such as Rubens, Anthony Van Dijk, Jordaens and Brueghel who had a great influence in the History of Art. Since the 1980’s the city produced several internationally successful fashion designers such as the Antwerp Six.
Antwerp's world-famous diamond district was the area where, historically, much of the cutting and polishing was done in this very neighborhood, positioning it as the world most important diamond centre. Nowadays, the Diamond Museum, is unsurprisingly the largest of its kind.
If you're moving to Belgium with children, you'll find a wide choice of well-developed international schools and childcare.
Daycare
Some expats may be surprised at the young age Belgian parents enroll their children in crèches (public nursery schools) and playgroups. The crèches are open throughout the year, usually from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. (depending on local working hours), except on weekends and national holidays.
For more general information consult Kind & Gezin.
International schools
There is a wide range of international schooling systems offered in Belgium, particularly in Brussels, that allows families to choose from British, American or International curriculum (including bilingual with a native language).
For more general information on international schools in Belgium, you can consult the website of Expatica.
International Schools recommendations:
- International School of Brussels (ISB) - American curriculum school
- British School of Brussels (BSB) - British curriculum school
- Antwerp International School
For a complete overview, please check the List of all international schools in Belgium.
Information for the animal parks:
- Pairi Daiza: unique setting where zoo and botanical gardens are combined, located in Hainaut.Together with its sister park Planckendael, Antwerp Zoo houses over 7,000 animals of about 950 species. Nearly two million people visit the zoo and Planckendael each year.
- Plankendael, zoo located in Mechelen.
- Zoo of Antwerp, located in the city center of Antwerp.
Information for the Adventure parks:
Belgium has numerous options but the largest adventure park is hidden away in an 800-hectare wooded site, just outside the country's self-proclaimed smallest city, Durbuy. The Ardennes park offers more than 60 nature sport activities plus numerous accommodation options.
Information for the Theme Parks:
- Plopsaland: theme park with popular Belgian TV-figures, located in De Panne.
- Technopolis: “do center” for science and technology, where kids can experiment themselves, located in Mechelen.
- Bokrijk: open air museum that consists of authentic relocated buildings where historical Flanders comes to live through actors and re-enactment events, located in Genk.
- Mini Europe: Mini-Europe is a miniature park located at the foot of the Atomium in Brussels. Mini-Europe has reproductions of monuments in the European Union on show, at a scale of 1:25. Roughly 80 cities and 350 buildings are represented.
Belgium offers you an exciting atmosphere in a region full of history. You can enjoy its gastronomy, live music events, excellent shopping experience and much more in these trendy cities.
For a real Belgian city tip, you can reach in around 1 hour drive some of the most beautiful Belgian cities like Gent, Leuven, Bruges, Liege and Hasselt. Check out your next getaway destination for Flanders Wallonia.
Belgium is really famous for its food: from its chocolate and waffles to traditional “moules and frites” (mussels and fries) and croquettes. And of course everything is accompanied by a traditional Belgian beer! Find out more here!
With more than 280 events annually Belgium is one of the top festival destination. Tomorrowland is without doubt the biggest and most important dance music festival. Are you interested in music, cinema or art? Choose your next festival events.
Belgium is home to quite a number of spectacular UNESCO World Heritage Sites ranging from WWI Memorial to Brussels Grand Place or Brugge historical city center.
The town Spa in Belgium (from where the word Spa derives) is a good place to relax through a visit to its Roman baths and mineral springs.
The Belgian coast is another alternative: 65 kilometre of sandy coastline includes 15 resorts, each with its own character and unique atmosphere. The sandy beaches are ideal for children. Find out more here.
Or feeling like doing something different and you want to enjoy a weekend abroad? London, Amsterdam, Paris, Köln are just 2 hours away with the train.
Flanders is an enjoyable cycling destination for everyone, regardless your age or athletic condition but in particular it’s a paradise for cyclists. Belgians have a real cycling culture and events like The Tour of Flanders attract a lot of sports fans.
Visit this website to have some inspiration.
And for short distances in Brussels or Antwerp you can always use the public bike as the easiest way to take you anywhere you want to go in Antwerp or Brussels.
NEMO33 Brussels, 10 years of the deepest diving pool pit in the world.
Football is still the number one sport in Belgium. Three out of six children practice this sport during their spare time but much more people follow their favourite team in the Jupiler pro league (first division). Other very popular team sports are: volleyball – basketball and hockey.
Antwerp was the European Capital of Sport in 2013 and running is very popular. Every April since 1986 the city hosts the annual 10 miles and marathon or go trail running in the Ardennes – Wallonie or one of the many hosting cities around Flanders.
The Ardennes, situated in the south-east of Belgium, are one of nature's unspoilt areas, rich in fauna and flora, with vast forests of broadleaf and fast flowing rivers. Springtime in the Ardennes is the season for walking, cycling, fishing, canoeing and kayaking. Horse riding, climbing and mountain biking are other examples of popular sports in the Ardennes.
Find out more here.
VF's ability is to have an amazing impact on people, that comes from its belief in, respect for, and empowerment of our highly diverse employees all over the world. And you will feel it at any level, whether you’re looking an internship role or you are an experienced professional.
You would also notice that our retail business is growing steadily, therefore we have a lot of opportunities to join our store floors across Europe. Our expanding efforts to serve consumers directly are more than a key VF growth driver: through our owned stores and global e-commerce platforms, we reach consumers across multiple channels to create a seamless shopping experience.
Learn more about the main growth areas for our brands and find out where your career would best fit.
Digital / Marketing
We would like to share with you the joy of working for brands that are part of millions of customers’ daily life. Our marketing teams are the vision and strategy behind each of our brands. Moving from pure marketer roles of developing marketing plans and identifying specific marketing strategies, towards consumer insights, digitalization, you would be able to leave a mark on how our brands message reaches out to customers. In addition, E-commerce is our fastest growing direct-to-consumer channel. We actively harvest data across our e-commerce sites and transform the information into a “digital playbook” that evolves and guides us on what to do next.
Check more on VF Corporation Digital Development
Yoeki Smet - E-com online/merchandiser Belgium
“VF’s leaders give you the freedom to perform your tasks as you like — as long as you reach your goals.”
One of Yoeki’s delights is /working with product and the different collections during the season. “The most important part is seeing what our customers want,” she says. “We don’t only follow the trends because a big part of our thinking is centred on what the customers want to buy.”
VF is pretty informal and has a young atmosphere, Yoeki says. “We work closely together, across different levels and you can easily access leadership.”
But we all know that the old cliché that there is no such thing as a free lunch also holds. “You need to work hard,” she says. “Sometimes you have to work long days to reach your goals. Luckily the atmosphere is so nice that you want to work and succeed.”
An Goedgezelschap - Marketing Director
“VF are investing more and more in people and are very committed to training and developing people.”
She started off as a marketing assistant. “It was a very junior position,” she says. “I was doing things like putting fabric swatches on a ring. But that didn’t last long because I was quickly given greater responsibilities. In the 14 years I have been at VF, I changed roles on average every two years. I gained a very good understanding of the entire marketing range, such as roles like product and trade marketing, our first steps in digital, consumer marketing, trade marketing and product marketing.”
VF are investing more and more in people and are very committed to training and developing people. “They want experts and specialists and they want us to share our expertise and knowledge,” she says. “They want us to think out of the box and think differently from the way we have always done things. To achieve this, they are putting people from different departments together to find solutions and share case studies. We’re being encouraged to spot opportunities within an evolving society and community so that we can accelerate the growth of our brands.”
An says that VF is particularly attractive to young people who are ambitious and see the benefits of working in a large organisation that offers a variety of opportunities. “They want to grow themselves and move from brand to brand or department to department to gain experience and advance their careers. VF leaders encourage them to do that because they understand that attitudes have changed.”
Sales
Serving Consumers Directly is the area where we have set ambitious growth targets, for the direct-to-consumer platform through our retail, outlet and e-commerce stores as we aim to achieve $4.4 billion in revenue through this platform by 2017. Behind this goal we have aligned: sales roles, our retail operations network, streamlined supply chain and all the retail, partners and franchisees structures. We believe that building strong, direct-to-consumer connections is as much an art as a science. It requires focus, discipline and data-driven decision-making complemented with the kind of engaging brand storytelling that captures the essence of the inspirational lifestyles our brands represent.
Maud Louisse - Junior Visual Merchandiser & Trade Marketing Assistant
“Everyone is committed to being open and flexible, willing to cooperate and help wherever they can.”
Maud Louisse is one of the millennials at VF.
“VF’s vibe is really amazing,” she says. “The spirit of collaboration is so real and the environment is very positive. It’s nice to be in contact with other teams, countries and channels. We all have the same goals. I don’t know why it works so well, it just does. Perhaps it is because everyone is committed to being open and flexible, willing to cooperate and help wherever they can. I always feel comfortable to share ideas or give my opinion within the structure.”
“Everything moves so fast in my field and you have to keep up with new trends”.
We go to retail fairs and into the cities to see what other people are doing. I am constantly taking pictures of objects and brainstorming ideas.”
Distribution Centre
As a company, we’ve been making products and managing supply chain complexities for more than 115 years. Today, we draw upon that expertise to operate our globally balanced supply chain to efficiently produce and move products around the world to satisfy demand. Just to understand the scale, VF is moving 21 million packages daily from/ out of our distribution centers. Europe’s major DCs are located in 4 countries (Czech Republic, Belgium, Netherlands and UK) and there are 2 small ones (Turkey and Israel). Learn more about supply chain from the below European case study:
Natascha Steels - DC Supervisor at VF Europe,
Sint-Niklaas, Flanders, Belgium
“VF has given me so many opportunities.They are everything I need.”
In the 21 years she has been with the company, Natascha has taken on a variety of roles, each of which was part of a wonderful journey of discovery.
It is the growth opportunities that VF offers that most attracts Natascha. “The company believes in the people who work for it,” she says. “We are given the freedom to experiment and discuss strategies or changes we want to make because we work as a group not as individuals. Most importantly, for me, is that no two days are ever the same. I have had such a variety of roles and have learnt so much.”
Finance
The finance team is responsible for the financial planning and reporting for the VF portfolio of brands in Europe (Vans, North Face, Timberland, Wrangler and Lee, Napapjiri, Kipling and Eastpak and another 4 smaller brands). The main purpose is offering financial support to the general management of the brands, in order to take decisions on the fully allocated brand budgets and consolidated P&L. Producing monthly financial reporting highlighting Retail (at store level) and Wholesale profitability, financial risks and opportunities.
Development and implementation of financial models to monitor and manage the different types of retail businesses such as traditional brick & mortar, partnerships, department stores concessions/consignments and e-commerce are also part of the finance team portfolio.
Liesbeth Carette - Planning Manager and Forecasting Manager VF Europe
“I would not have had so many opportunities in another company.”
VF is a huge organisation with more than 30 great brands and those who are willing to work hard to reach the company targets, will achieve their own career goals. And those who are dynamic, open minded, flexible and energetic will be the most successful within VF. If you are able to adapt to change, learn new things and willing to think out of the proverbial box you will be happy within the company, no matter what your position.
1. Online Application
Submit your online application for consideration. Use this quick guide for step-by- step information on successfully submitting your application.
2. Initial interview:
a phone conversation with one of our HR team members in which we will investigate your general interest for the role, your educational/ professional background and we would also ask you situational questions around your past accomplishments or difficult situations that you needed to handle. By doing this we are looking to get to know you more, encourage you to learn more about VF & ultimately see how we fit together.
3. Final interview:
this will be a face to face meeting with the stakeholders involved in the hiring decision, typically the hiring manager and an HR person. This is a great opportunity for you to get a glimpse of how our working environment feels & looks like and for us to get a more in-depth understanding of your profile and application motives.
4.Offer
*Please note that the recruitment process can vary depending on the position you’re applying for.
