Career Development: “I love thinking about what drives people”

Cardano gives employees ample opportunity to discover how they want to develop. Not by following a laid out career path, but in a way that best suits their personality. Noortje de Beijer leads the client team as Head of Client Servicing & Advice. As of January 2022, she heads up Sales & Marketing and is a Cardano board member. Here, she talks about her remarkable career and how she manages and coaches her teams.

Cardano employees tend to be very loyal to the company and vice versa, Noortje de Beijer begins. “It’s a lovely company with friendly and smart people, and that draws in others. In client surveys, our clients always tell us how impressed they are with how we’ve managed to build the teams we have. We require employees to actively search for new ways to develop and explore what energises them. Other companies often have a fixed plan, but Cardano can be less predictable, which can lead to quirky career moves at times. What makes Cardano special is that it strives to facilitate these moves. People appreciate that and value the input they get from us, but you do have to enjoy that entrepreneurial spirit.”

Thinking about what drives people

Noortje de Beijer knows what she is talking about. After studying biomedical engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology and econometrics at Tilburg University, she joined Cardano in 2011, in what was then called the Risk Control & Operations team. “That’s where all the juniors started, to discover how the pension fund products and strategies work and to develop your client relationship skills. I then took a job at a more strategic level in the Client Servicing & Advice team. In 2019, the team leader left and I became her successor. I was eager to grow in this field, so I was delighted to have been given the opportunity. I love thinking about what drives people and what makes them happy. Matching people with jobs is like solving a puzzle.”

Thinking about what drives people

Noortje de Beijer knows what she is talking about. After studying biomedical engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology and econometrics at Tilburg University, she joined Cardano in 2011, in what was then called the Risk Control & Operations team. “That’s where all the juniors started, to discover how the pension fund products and strategies work and to develop your client relationship skills. I then took a job at a more strategic level in the Client Servicing & Advice team. In 2019, the team leader left and I became her successor. I was eager to grow in this field, so I was delighted to have been given the opportunity. I love thinking about what drives people and what makes them happy. Matching people with jobs is like solving a puzzle.”

Assessments are always subjective

Finance has traditionally been a male-dominated world, and Noortje applauds the fact that diversity is finally getting the attention it deserves. “It can be complicated at times, because occasionally I’ll still get stuck in a discussion with a man arguing that people should be judged on their merits. It’s true, but assessing who’s the best fit for a particular position will always be subjective. The person performing the assessment actually matters, as research has shown that people tend to look for a part of themselves in other people. With a more balanced workforce, it’s easier to strike that balance.”

Less work, more stress

She combines her full-time job with her family and children, but is still capable of striking a good work-life balance. “It can be demanding at times, but because I love what I do, I can cope with the stress quite well. I always kept working full-time, even after having children . Working four days would only stress me out more -I wouldn’t be able to avoid my laptop on my days off! I’ve also been lucky in that combining work and family was never all that difficult: the kids went to day care four days a week and I have very sweet parents who babysit one day a week and are always willing to help. While I was away on maternity leave, everyone asked me whether I would start working part-time. They never asked my husband the same question.”  

Transition is a great challenge

She’s perfectly comfortable where she is now and has not yet started to ponder where her own career will take her. “These are very exciting times in the Dutch pension world, both for clients and for us. We’re thinking about what propositions to add to new contracts, what our clients need and how we will continue to meet these needs. At the same time, we’re exploring what we’ll need to do and which people and skills we’ll have to bring in. This transition is one of the most profound events to ever hit the pension industry and it’s guaranteed to shake everything up. As I see it, it’s a great challenge.”