Dilara Akgunes

As an independent HR Consultant, I bring expertise to support organizations in areas such as Generalist HR, Employee Relations, Talent Acquisition, Reward, Learning & Development, Organisational Change and HR Project Management.

With extensive experience in the HR field, I provide strategic consulting to clients in the UK and internationally, adapting my approach to suit diverse cultural and regional contexts. I have supported organizations across EMEA, North America, LATAM, and APAC in the media, private equity, entertainment, hospitality, energy and technology sectors, aligning HR solutions with their global business needs.

With 10 years of HR experience, I leverage my extensive network to connect clients with additional resources for needs outside my core services. My approach is highly customized to each organization, and I value sharing my knowledge and training clients throughout the assignment to ensure long-term success.

UKTV (part of BBC Studios) has been at the forefront of branded television for over 25 years, entertaining the nation with programmes they love. Its leading brands - Dave, Gold, W, Drama, Alibi, Eden and Yesterday - span comedy, entertainment, natural history, factual and scripted drama.

As the HR Manager, I was partnering with the business by providing professional and trustworthy strategic guidance and executive level coaching to business leaders and people managers. Taking a supervisory role within the HR team and overseeing all aspects of HR operations to ensure procedures are managed successfully and efficiently. Acting as the main point of contact in the business for all IR35 queries and providing contractual guidance to the Creative/Production team for all freelancer engagements for TV shoot production. I also managed a system implementation project to manage all freelancer engagements for the creative shoots and production.

I designed and introduced a ‘New Management Induction Programme’ that enables new people managers to gain the fundamental skills to manage their teams. I also launched a people managers newsletter that provides managers with key information quarterly for all upcoming HR events and highlighting management procedures and responsibilities.

ITN has been producing broadcast journalism since 1955 making award-winning daily news programmes for ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, providing comprehensive and impartial news to the public in the UK and beyond, reaching millions every day.

HR Advisor for ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 newsrooms in an extremely face paced work environment that operates 24/7. I was the first point of HR contact for management in the newsrooms for all employee life cycle matters. My responsibilities varied across HR Generalist, Learning & Development, Rewards & Benefits, Payroll, Recruitment and Diversity & Inclusion.

Coaching and mentoring management to build an inclusive and high performing team culture within the newsrooms was a crucial part of my role. I oversaw the recruitment process and strategy as well as advising management on recruitment practices whilst assisting in building strong talent pipelines. Additionally, I was responsible for a team of local hires in the US, ensuring employment practices are legally compliant with State and Federal law.

I created and facilitated training content on mentoring, performance reviews & line management training and managed the relaunch of the cross company mentoring and reverse mentoring programme.