Hatice Ballikaya, Training Team Manager
I am the second child (of three) of a Turkish Cypriot migrant family. We moved to London when I was nine years old, so English is my second language. I went to school and grew up in deprived boroughs of London, and I remember having to work my socks off in year 9 at school to convince our Head of Gifted and Talented to add me to her list!
In order to build my career, I obtained two degrees (French BA and Law LBB). While I was studying, I always had a part time job and I gained lots of transferable skills from these.
In order to get to where I am as a BAME young woman I had to work very hard – go the extra mile by networking and doing volunteering to add experience to my CV, for example. I also did a lot of community youth work for the Turkish speaking community of London, chairing a number of youth groups – work that I found really rewarding.
Before joining NHS Resolution, I was looking for training contracts in private legal firms. I found that the selection process wasn’t fair and inclusive- it was too competitive and there was not much on offer for BAME women.
I started working for NHS Resolution in a temporary admin position and worked my way up to become the Training Team Manager, managing the team of our junior case managers. From day one, I knew that I wanted to stay at NHS Resolution and grow. This year, I completed ten years of service for our organisation and the wider NHS, which is of great personal pride to me. The organisation has offered me excellent development opportunities over the last ten years through things like secondments and the leadership programme. I feel the organisation offers great opportunities for women. In particular, I find our CEO Helen an inspirational leader.
NHS Resolution is one of the best things that happened to me and my career. I am very proud to be part of our organisation and always happy to support our aims and my colleagues across the wider NHS.
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