Working at CFP – A working day for office manager Claudia van Sintmaartensdijk
As more and more people join us at CFP, we wanted to take a look at how they are working together and finding ways to combine work and private life? In this interview series, we give you a look behind the scenes with our people, from developer to consultant to back office manager.
Claudia van Sintmaartensdijk has worked at CFP for almost five years. She started as a junior consultant, but has been working as an office manager for several years now. In this function, she takes care of a good deal of the business administration, but she is also involved in organising various events, as well as the intake and exit of employees. As you can imagine, there’s a lot of aspects to this job!
From junior consultant to office manager. That’s not a career move you see a lot.
No, it’s not. I ended up at CFP via an employment agency. The employment agency didn’t give many details about the position, but the opening for secretary appealed to me. Then it went fast, because I was invited for an interview the next day and within five days I was already working. But not as a secretary, because that position had already been filled. Because of my Facility Management studies, CFP also saw other possibilities, and I was able to start working as a consultant.
And, did you like it?
It was a nice challenge and I did it for six months. But it was not totally my thing. I prefer to work behind the scenes to keep everything running smoothly. Fortunately, this was something that CFP was very willing to discuss, and we really worked off each other’s ideas. When a position in Office Management became available, I jumped at the chance. I really fit in there, and my experience as a junior consultant also comes in handy a lot.
“What makes my job unique? The variety. I do a lot of the administration and organise events and staff outings. But I also do a lot of HRM work, such as the intake and exit of colleagues. Actually, I do everything that comes along unexpectedly and has to be done. That’s a nice challenge.”
– Claudia van Sintmaartensdijk, Office Manager at CFP Green Buildings
Can you tell us more about the cooperation at CFP?
We take a specific approach to cooperation at CFP. There are no managers and we work agile, in self-managing teams. It’s the same with office management. Everyone has his or her own responsibilities and knows what needs to be done. In this way, we can switch quickly and remain flexible. And despite the fact that we are small, we still deliver the quality of a large company.
Now, alongside your work you have a beautiful family. How do you combine work with your family life?
I used to work 4 full days, but since our eldest son started school, I’ve gone to 3 full days and 2 half days. So I can be at home on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. We combine that with putting our other son in day care, my husband taking a “dad day”, and falling back on family when we need to. I’m happy to sayt hat a good work-life balance is also important to CFP, and they pay a lot of attention to this. Because if one thing is not right, it also affects other things. With the agile way of working, management is for output (rather than attendance), and that gives me the freedom to plan my work more flexibly.
Finally, would you recommend CFP as an employer to others? And if so, why?
Yes, I definitely would. It is an organisation with short lines of communication, which makes it easy to discuss things with colleagues. CFP is open to your ambitions, so if there is something you would like to develop, they will be happy to think along with you. Of course, the working atmosphere is also very important, and CFP really does have a great one!
Are you also interested in working at CFP Green Buildings?
If so, let us know! We are still looking for colleagues. How does a position as Project & Account Manager sound? For more information on these and other vacancies, please contact us at info@cfp.nl or by phone on +31 55 – 355 51 99.
