Jan finds the perfect challenge and the ideal place to live

Jan Baake started looking for a job that suited him after he finished his Public Administration studies in Nijmegen, even though he did not yet know what that would look like. There was, however, one thing he knew for certain: He wanted to go back to Twente. In the end, he found the perfect place to work, at the Vindsubsidies company. He also found the ideal place to live in Delden. Twente feels familiar, and he has enough challenges in his job as a consultant. In short, Jan is doing great. Want to know more? Read his story below. 

“I often go for a run through the Twickel Estate. If you’ve been away for a while, you appreciate the beauty of it even more.”

Jan Baake is ambitious and headstrong. If he wants something, he will go for it without backing down. This is the case on a personal level, but in his daily work too. Jan says he had a great childhood in Delden. After he completed VWO, Jan started studying Public Administration at the UT. Pien, now his wife, was studying in Nijmegen at the time, so Jan decided to follow his master’s degree in Nijmegen too. His broad academic background, with a specialisation in organisation and management, offered Jan several opportunities. Still, he did not yet know which way he wanted to go. There was one thing he knew for certain: he wanted to go back to Twente. 

“Pien said she would like to live close to her parents again. I completely agreed with that, since we are both huge family people.” And so, Jan and Pien went back to Twente. They moved into an apartment in the middle of the city centre of Hengelo. Jan found a job as a financial advisor at the municipality of Hengelo almost immediately. He got to know himself better in that time, and after two years he realised that he needed more variation in his work and that he loves to be out and about. This is how Jan eventually ended up with subsidy consultancy Vindsubsidies. There, Jan found the variation he was looking for. As a consultant at the company, Jan provides advice and process guidance in the field of policies and innovation, and subsidies for government organisations and various companies. Just like his work varies, so do his work locations. He works in Deventer, Zwolle and Enschede. In the current situation, Jan mostly works from home. Jan also joined the Young Twente Board in 2019, where he commits himself to a strong and future-proof region. 

When Jan lived in Nijmegen, he was homesick for Twente. Back in Hengelo, a kind of burden fell from his shoulders. However, the feeling of being home was only truly there when he started living in Delden again. Jan and his wife Pien bought a nice house on the outskirts of Delden last year. The house has a big garden, and there is a meadow with sheep right next to it. The only thing Jan can hear there is bird song. “I love it. It is a nice place to be. The people there have a charming way of dealing with each other.” Jan does not like to sit still, and Twente is the ideal place for that. “I often go for a run through the Twickel Estate, it is a beautiful forest, and it only takes me five minutes to get there. Every single time I am there, I think “wow, it is so incredibly beautiful here’. When you’ve been away for a while, you appreciate that even more.”

Jan will become a father this summer. Looking towards the future, he is glad to have his friends and family around. “I like watching football with my father, uncle and brother. It’s a three minutes’ walk, and then I can watch the Champions League there with them. I love being able to just go there for a cup of coffee or to pick up something. For example, my father could help me out easily with preparations for the nursery.” In short, Jan is completely at home. 

“I love being able to go to family for a cup of coffee so easily.”