{"id":4649,"date":"2016-03-16T14:17:57","date_gmt":"2016-03-16T13:17:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2016\/03\/16\/lach-om-jezelf-zeker-als-je-een-fout-maakt\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:16","slug":"lach-om-jezelf-zeker-als-je-een-fout-maakt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2016\/03\/16\/lach-om-jezelf-zeker-als-je-een-fout-maakt\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Don\u2019t be afraid to laugh at yourself, particularly when you make a mistake\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAysha Gasanova<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Sanne de Jong obtained a Master\u2019s degree from the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) in 2007. For the last three years she has worked as a financial and economic affairs officer with the The Hague municipal government. \u201cI\u2019m no longer obsessed with my career.\u201d<\/p>\n\t

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Name:<\/strong> Sanne de Jong<\/p>\n

Age:<\/strong> 32<\/p>\n

Study & year of graduation:<\/strong> Bachelor\u2019s degree in International Business from Tilburg University in 2006; Master\u2019s degree in Urban, Port and Transport Economics from ESE in 2007.<\/p>\n

Current position:<\/strong> Financial and economic affairs officer, tasked with planning and control, with the The Hague Municipal Government\u2019s Central Real Estate Organisation, a position she has held for nearly three years. \u201cThe estate agency lets out, purchases and sells all kinds of properties which play a part in municipal policy. It\u2019s a small but independent service which has its own HR department, its own budget and its own financial statement. I\u2019m responsible for planning and control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Golden tip:<\/strong> \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid to laugh at yourself, particularly when you make a mistake. It helps you put things into perspective, and if you go on to rectify your mistake, you\u2019ll actually learn from the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAysha Gasanova<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

What I learned during my student days<\/h3>

\u201cHow to manage my time cleverly. I was a reasonably good student, and after a while I had a pretty good feel for how much studying time was required for me to pass all my exams. I used the rest of my time for my various \u2018extracurricular activities\u2019 at various study societies, which I felt were just as important. To this day, I don\u2019t tick off the items on my to-do list from top to bottom, but rather figure out which item needs to be prioritised.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not obsessed with career<\/h3>

\u201cIt\u2019s not right that becoming a manager is people\u2019s ultimate goal, but I didn\u2019t realise this until quite recently. After I graduated, I attended a management course, like so many other people. It sounds flash, but now that I\u2019ve seen with my own eyes what managers actually do, I\u2019m no longer interested in being one. They mainly solve problems, have little time to spend on substantive work, and they\u2019re constantly under pressure, from their own team as well as from above. And people are always complaining about them.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoreover, I\u2019m nowhere near as obsessed with having a career as I thought I\u2019d be ten years ago. My friends are working ten hours a day, but I\u2019m not willing to do that, just to be able to move up the ladder. I think finding a proper work-life balance is every bit as important as having an interesting job. Sure, I want my career to go somewhere, but I no longer aspire to having a higher-level management position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ally McBeal<\/h3>

\u201cWhen I was at secondary school, the TV show Ally McBeal<\/em> made me want to study law at Leiden University so as to become a lawyer. I could picture myself wearing a nice suit, running all over the place and winning major cases. I was romanticising the law, but the show was such fun that I couldn\u2019t help dreaming of being a lawyer. In the end, studying law struck me as boring, but legal work still appeals to me. It\u2019s such a many-sided field that it would be far from boring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Be a rat<\/h3>

\u201cI\u2019m generally quite quick to say \u2018yes\u2019 to the requests I receive. A little too quick, actually. \u2018Be a bit more of a rat,\u2019 my manager advised me five years ago. I\u2019ve been doing just that quite successfully, in my own way. I\u2019ve got better at indicating what I can do and what I can\u2019t do, and I\u2019ll think twice before telling someone I\u2019ll do something for him. However, I\u2019ll always get back to the person and explain why I sometimes have to say \u2018no\u2019. I\u2019ve also learned to be more tactful in communicating with others. You can\u2019t talk to a member of the municipal executive the same way as you would to your managing director.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also read<\/h2>