Supporting women through mentoring

Amanda Nijjar, Head of Real Estate Strategy & Planning in Property Professional Services shares her career journey as a working mother and her role in mentoring young women starting out in their career.

Amanda joined Sodexo in 2018 and in her role she uses data, information and analytics to help clients develop their property portfolio strategies. This involves considering the organisation’s business needs, where to locate and which properties to retain or dispose, how the office or workplace will meet the needs of the organisation and their employees and developing business cases to seek approval and funding to execute plans. 

After completing an MSc in Operational Research at the University of Birmingham Amanda joined Post Office Counters as an Operational Research Analyst and over the next three years worked on statistical sampling and analysis projects. 

In 1994 she had her first son and took the decision to work part-time to blend being a mum with working life. “I didn’t return to a full-time role until I joined Sodexo, because I wanted the time to bring up my family – now two grown-up sons.” 

Shortly after returning to work from maternity leave, Amanda was promoted to team leader within the Operational Research team and was responsible for measuring and reporting all the customer key performance indicators on the company scorecard. 

“I think balancing family and work is challenging and I often felt that I was either letting family or colleagues down. I was lucky to be able to work part-time while my children were growing up which really helped me organise my week. The move to hybrid working means individuals can work flexibly around other commitments, which I see as a real positive.”

In 2003 Amanda moved to Royal Mail and worked as an Investment Appraisal analyst in the Finance team, reviewing major corporate investment proposals, before moving into corporate real estate in 2007. In the Royal Mail Property team Amanda developed business cases to release value from property assets for reinvestment in the retained estate and worked on a variety of projects including a new 5-year catering deal and a mergers integration project to simplify the business and remove duplication. Amanda’s final role before moving to Sodexo was Head of Change and Portfolio Planning in the Royal Mail Property team.

Recently Amanda mentored a young woman, Zuhrah, on the government KickStart Scheme. The Kickstart Scheme provides funding to create new jobs for 16 to 24 year olds on Universal Credit who are at risk of long-term unemployment.

Over the course of six months Zuhrah was working as an administrative assistant. Her role was varied from managing diaries, taking minutes at meetings to generating reports. This varied role meant she developed a range of skills and experience to transfer into another workplace. Her end goal was to develop her skills into a full-time administrator role, which Amanda supported her with.

“I helped Zuhrah with her CV and the wider team ran practise interviews with her. In just her second interview, she secured a permanent job with the NHS and when I met up with her recently, it was great to find that she is settled and happy there.
 
It’s amazing how much I got out of the experience too. I was happy to have made a difference and help set a young woman on the beginning of her career journey. She genuinely appreciated all the help and support and valued my advice and experience.” 

Amanda’s message to other women is:

“Early on in my career I was fortunate to work with some strong female role models who were great mentors. My advice to other women is to find a mentor who can share their experiences and help you explore your goals.”