In February, Floor van de Waterbeemd joined The Economic Board’s team as a programme officer for the Human Capital Agreement. She will also provide support for the board’s other themes, such as sustainability. 
Floor studied business administration, specialising in marketing, so ‘with an economic slant’. She spent many years in marketing roles, gradually shifting her focus towards communications. She often worked as a one-woman team, which meant she was responsible for all communications and therefore took on a more coordinating role.
“For example, at technical companies, I had to gather information internally and translate it for non-technical staff. I always really enjoyed that ‘spider in the web’ role. But I did miss having colleagues to bounce ideas off.
I felt my strength lay in the communications side of things, from the communications plan right through to implementation. I’ve always worked at companies where everything lands on your plate – where you don’t just write the plan but also carry it out.”
Floor spent much of her career working on the commercial side of companies, but in recent years she has worked for foundations with a stronger social focus, such as Stichting 2Switch and Kiemt.
Floor has now moved into a role as a programme officer, where she is once again the linchpin, coordinating and keeping an overview – qualities she excels at. It suits her very well. “I enjoy being directly involved in the substantive work.”
Human Capital Agreement
“I think employment is really very important, including for this region. At Kiemt, I noticed that the energy transition is giving rise to a whole new field of work, which simply means people are needed. And conversely, for the region’s appeal, it’s important that there are interesting jobs available. That’s why it’s good for a region to establish its profile – to identify what it’s good at and promote itself accordingly.”
Floor has been given an oversight role at the HCA; she draws up schedules and budgets, organises the folder structure, keeps track of what’s going on, who’s doing what, whether tasks have been completed and saved, monitors deadlines, manages finances, and organises knowledge transfer and events. From scheduling meetings and minute-taking to a more substantive role, for example in working groups.
