Esther Hovenkamp

It feels like family

Esther Hovenkamp has been working for Conscia for three years. She is an Account Manager focusing on cybersecurity challenges and helps the account managers working on new business accounts.

“A day at Conscia is never the same. But I often begin the day by answering e-mails regarding cyber security questions from my colleagues who need to help customers. Then I may have a couple of meetings with the customers, both on-site and on video, or I help some of my colleagues write a tender,” says Esther Hovenkamp. 

Diversity and great teamwork

Before joining Conscia, Esther worked for an IT distributor where she offered various IT organizations support on Cisco products in a similar role. But Conscia is different in several areas.

“Conscia is progressive in the diversity of its employees. Conscia is the first IT company where I have seen such a high number of women employees. An example is, in the Netherlands, we have 12 account managers in our account management teams, five of whom are women. Which is a considerable percentage if you compare it to the average of other IT companies.”

Another thing that Esther Hovenkamp points out about working for Conscia is the teamwork:

“We have a kind of family feeling. There is a huge commitment, and people help each other across the organization. You always get help for a task when you need it. Conscia is known for the help offered not only to customers but also among colleagues,” Esther Hovenkamp says.

Personal development

For Esther Hovenkamp, it is important to learn more and develop personally and professionally, and Conscia has many possibilities in that area. 

“Conscia offers training opportunities and personal development. We can get coaching or attend courses depending on what we need. It is also possible to get a longer education. We all have a personal development plan. It is an online learning platform for personal and soft skills, and it is a good way to ensure that you follow the plan you have made with your manager to develop your skills.”

High level of technical skills across countries

Conscia operates in six different countries, and therefore you have the advantage of working with colleagues from other countries, also when it comes to technical issues. 

“Because of my focus on cybersecurity, I have a lot of contact with the Conscia offices in other countries. We have an ambassador program within the Conscia group where each country hosts regular sessions for updates on challenges in different markets, customers, and technical knowledge meetings.”

“People here have a high level of knowledge, which is relevant for our customers because of the high level of collaboration and knowledge sharing. It is also how we can serve customers even better. It makes us relevant to the customers, having a network of knowledge,” says Esther Hovenkamp.

A job that matters

IT is crucial for all companies and society in general. For Esther Hovenkamp, Conscia’s effort is important in many ways.

“We are relevant to large organizations for mitigating their security risks. For example, we work for several hospitals and airports where cybersecurity is even more important than in other industries. But cybersecurity is, of course, important to all kinds of companies. Customers are increasingly struggling to hire and retain high-quality security people, and knowledge about increasingly complex infrastructures is also a big challenge. In Conscia, we provide our services as an extension of our customer’s own organization. This means they don’t have to worry about cybersecurity but can focus on their core business. 

And this is what makes me most proud of working for Conscia. The culture of prioritizing “helping others first.” And that goes for customers and colleagues,” says Esther Hovenkamp.