Nóra Czirják, trainee mentor and a team manager for Asset Risk Management
‘Making a positive impact is one of my main drivers. APG does this on a global and societal level with its ESG investments and I do it on a personal level by mentoring trainees. I use my knowledge and experience to support trainees in their growth and development.
I’m from Hungary and came to the Netherlands for an internship. During my Bachelor, that I did in Auditing in Budapest, I was offered several international internship positions. I ended up choosing APG because it's a large, socially responsible pension investor with exposure to every asset class. As a young woman who was very eager to learn, I was hoping to gain extensive knowledge at APG, and APG has fulfilled this expectation. By now, I have been working for APG for over 10 years and APG has been a great employer, where I gained a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience, and I still continue to learn new things every day.
Over the years I’ve worked at almost all the business units at APG Asset Management, and at the same time I also completed my Masters degree in Finance at the Maastricht University. Currently I am the manager of the Asset Risk Management team. My team conducts financial risk analyses for all the asset classes that APG invests in.
Next to this, I’m also involved in the trainee recruitment process.
What do we look for in a candidate? A combination of various elements, but in general we're looking for proactive candidates with a lot of potential who can properly substantiate why they chose APG. During the traineeship the trainees get the opportunity to look behind the scenes and gain a huge amount of knowledge and experience. You have to seize this opportunity, which is why eagerness to learn is an important requirement.
I mentor only one trainee at a time, as I am very dedicated and I want to give my trainees the time and attention they deserve. Through structural mentoring meetings I help them with setting their personal and professional development goals, and I support them with following and assessing their progress. I also cooperate with them to help them achieve their goals. In general we meet once a week for progress reviews, but if my trainee encounters a problem then I am always available for the trainee.
