As part of the WCO Women in Customs campaign, the WCO Secretariat spoke with Havva Eksilmez, Central Anatolia Customs and Foreign Trade Regional Director at Turkish Customs. Her journey showcases the importance of adaptability, leadership, determination and courage in the face of adversity. In this interview, she shares the lessons she’s learned along the way and offers advice to young individuals aspiring to make their mark in Customs and beyond.

WCO: Havva, thank you for joining us. Can you start by telling us a bit about yourself and how you began your career in Customs?

Havva Eksilmez: Thank you for inviting me to talk to you today. It’s an honour to represent my country and women in Customs.

I was born in Ardeşen, a town in the Black Sea region in the northeast of Türkiye, close to the border with Georgia. My father was a self-employed worker, and my mother a housewife.

In 1988, when I was only 15 years old, I started at Gazi University in Ankara, where I studied finance. Courses covered mathematics, economics and statistics, and I learned about public finance management, taxes and duties as well.

When I graduated four years later and started looking for a job, I realized that, although working for the Department of Customs may be an unusual career path, it would allow me to put to good use the knowledge I had acquired.

In 1993, I passed the Customs entrance exam and started working as a Trainee Customs Inspection Officer. As part of my traineeship, I followed theoretical courses and gained practical work experience at Customs in Izmir, which is located on the western coast of Türkiye and is home to one of the country’s biggest seaports. After completing my traineeship, I passed the final written and oral exams and started working as a Customs Inspector Officer.

When I think back to my childhood, I remember there being a busy main road near our house that was used for transporting goods cross country. I used to wonder where those trucks were headed and what were they carrying. Little did I know at the time that, one day, my work would involve dealing with those trucks and seeking the answers to those questions.

WCO: Over the years, how has your role evolved in Customs?

Havva Eksilmez: I was first posted as a Customs Inspection Officer in Adana, situated in southern Türkiye. After that, I moved to Kars in the eastern part of the country, closer to where I’m originally from. In 2000, I was posted to Ankara, where I worked at Esenboga Airport, then at the Ankara TIR Customs Directorate and later in the Ankara Postal Services Customs Directorate.

In 2003, I passed an exam to become an Assistant Customs Manager and became part of the administrative staff. Between 2003 and 2006, I worked as an Assistant Customs Manager for airport and truck operations, still in Ankara. I took another examination in 2006 to become a Customs Manager at the Ankara Customs and Enforcement Directorate. I held various positions dealing with the traffic of passengers and cargo via air, railway and road.

Then, in August 2012, I was appointed as Regional Director of the Malatya Firat Customs and Foreign Trade Regional Directorate, which is located in the Eastern Anatolia region of Türkiye. After seven years, I was moved to the Central Anatolia region, and I still hold this position, based in Ankara.

As you can see, I had to relocate regularly. It enabled me to gain hands-on experience in various Customs and trade operations. Today, I’m responsible for supervising some 860 officers working in my Directorate.

WCO: You were initially a field officer and then moved on to managerial positions. How did you experience this change?

Havva Eksilmez: Becoming a manager after working for a number of years as an inspector officer is sort of a natural progression. With the experience and knowledge gained from working in the field, it’s easier to make decisions. When I was first promoted to a managerial position, I’d already had experience of many different situations, tasks and people.

One key element in my leadership is communication. I like to share my experience, consult with my staff and explain my decisions to them so that they can learn from me, just as I had learned from my managers.

Although, after 12 years’ experience in senior positions, the work is certainly easier, Customs is such a diverse field that you’re forced to keep learning all the time. Regulations and tools evolve, and we all have to keep up with the pace of change. About 20 years ago, our Customs Code was reviewed substantially in order to align our procedures with international standards, and a great many small changes are regularly made to regulations and processes.

While I was still working, I also went back to Gazi University in 2010 to do a Master’s degree in finance; my thesis was entitled “Analysis of the Legal, Economic, Financial and Social Effects of Customs Exemptions in Imports”.

WCO: Can you think of a project or initiative in which you participated and which you consider as having been instrumental to your career?

Havva Eksilmez: When I was working as a Customs Manager in 2012, I participated in the paperless declaration project. We had to digitalize the Customs declaration procedures, which was an extremely challenging task.

Working in Firat in Malatya as a Regional Director was another unique and enriching experience for me. My role involved managing the construction of the new service building and of the Customs area, from the design stage right through to the construction phase.

On a lighter note, I also had the opportunity to visit the Aslantepe excavations in Malatya and meet the director of the archaeological site. I developed a keen interest in the ancient Customs seals that had been unearthed – the oldest examples ever to have been discovered. I contributed a chapter to a book entitled “Memories Passing through Customs”, which is a collection of memories from a number of Customs officers. In my chapter, which I called “A seal story”, I wrote all about those ancient seals.

WCO: How did you manage to balance your career and family life?

Havva Eksilmez: I got married when I was in Kars, and, soon after, we moved to Ankara and started a family. My husband works in the Police Department, and he was able to follow me wherever I was posted. We had our two children while we were in Ankara. We spent 12 years there. Living for so many years in the same place made life easier for our family.

Studying for the Assistant Manager examination while taking care of a two-year-old was challenging, however. Moreover, like all inspection officers, I would work shifts, covering any time of day or night, seven days a week. Night and weekend shifts were simply a part of the job. We were lucky enough to have the help of my mother-in-law when my first child was born. Family support is priceless. When my second child was only a year old, I was studying for my thesis and working at the same time. That period was certainly both interesting and challenging in terms of life experience.

WCO: What is the balance like between men and women in the Administration today? Do women face any specific difficulties?

Havva Eksilmez: In the region that I manage, the ratio of men to women is 60:40. There’s been a significant increase in the number of women working in Customs over recent years, including in management positions. Managers try to encourage women to plan their career path and put themselves forward for examinations to help advance their career.

I didn’t encounter any specific difficulties. I think many women possess certain qualities that make them good managers. They usually pay attention to detail, they are persuasive, they have a problem-solving attitude, and they learn from adversity. I’ve seen this in others, as well as in myself.

Unfortunately, I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019. It was caught at an early stage, and I’m currently in remission. I chose to continue working during my treatment, and both my senior managers and my family supported my choice. This period was transformative. I now feel more relaxed; I’m still very demanding of others and myself, but I take things a lot easier.

WCO: Thank you for sharing your personal story with us. What advice would you give to young women and men who are thinking of joining Customs?

Havva Eksilmez: The most important thing is to love what you do – to value your job. Everything flows from that. I know it’s a bit cliché, but I’d also tell them that difficulties and challenges are opportunities to discover more about who you are, and to test and grow your strength and resilience. Embracing change, rather than fearing it, can lead to growth, opportunity and a more fulfilling life. Therefore, it’s important that they find a job that will challenge them.

Customs is a particularly interesting environment where there’s very little routine and plenty of opportunity to grow. When you start working for Customs, you know that you’ll be expected to relocate regularly, you’ll need to adapt to new situations, you’ll have to understand new regulations and new working methods. All of this will prepare you to hold more responsibilities and will enable you to have a good career.

Customs also offers meaningful jobs. I’m particularly proud of what we achieved during the COVID-19 pandemic, or after the devastating earthquakes that struck southeastern Türkiye on 6 February 2023, destroying 13 cities. We had to work around the clock to manage the import of equipment and goods needed by the rescue and humanitarian teams.

Customs is also a job with an international dimension. I had the opportunity of working with the WCO to organize the PICARD Conference back in 2018 which brought together Customs officers and researchers from all over the world. I also enjoyed meeting colleagues from other countries during international forums. This international aspect was especially rewarding.

WCO: Thank you for taking the time to share your story and aspirations with us.

Havva Eksilmez: Thank you for inviting me to take part in this campaign. Talking to you today has meant a lot to me, and I hope that I was able to communicate my enthusiasm for a job that has been so rewarding to me on both a professional and personal level.