Sophie-Anne Hawke
Sydney,NSW
Summary
Dynamic recruitment manager with a proven track record in driving enrolment growth and fostering team collaboration. Expertise in strategic planning, performance management, and operational oversight, delivering measurable outcomes in competitive environments.
Overview
15
15
years of professional experience
Work History
Future Student Recruitment Manager ANZ
Strategic Education Inc
Sydney
04.2023 - 05.2025
- Drove enrolment outcomes through strategic planning, market analysis, and data-driven decision-making, reporting directly to the Director and VP of Sales.
- Managed 12 direct reports across multi-site, cross-country operations, coaching and mentoring teams to exceed enrolment targets.
- Fostered a collaborative team culture, achieving a 98% Manager approval rating in the latest Culture Amp survey (70% participation rate).
- Mentored senior sales staff into 2IC leadership roles and built future leadership capability.
- Partnered with Marketing and Faculty leaders to refine campaigns, enhance messaging, and align recruitment with growth objectives.
- Championed continuous improvement by developing clear sales processes, documentation, and running workshops to improve team performance and customer outcomes.
- Facilitated weekly team briefings and individual coaching sessions to strengthen accountability and results.
- Managed complaint escalations with a customer-first approach, providing evidence-based recommendations to the Senior Complaints Officer.
- Managed staff incident and escalation responses in partnership with HR, supporting cases related to performance, wellbeing, and workplace concerns, and ensuring appropriate documentation and resolution.
- Lead for NZ operations in system integrations (CMS, CRM, Student Management Systems), coordinating with national IT team to ensure seamless rollout (including site mapping and UAT)
- Guided governance and compliance initiatives through student feedback forums, aligning practices with the Education and Training Act 2020 and the NZ Disability Strategy.
- Prepared an executive-level presentations on cultural engagement projects and provided insights to senior leadership.
Student Recruitment Manager
Media Design School
Auckland, NZ
05.2019 - 05.2025
- Delivered consistent year-on-year enrolment growth above government forecasts: 2020 (+12%), 2021 (+7%), 2022 (+20%), 2023 (+5%).
- Designed and executed the national field sales strategy, coordinating travel, presentations, expos, and events to drive market growth.
- Hired, trained, and managed a high-performing sales team, embedding coaching, mentoring, and professional development into operations.
- Supported recruitment of new sales and student recruitment staff, including shortlisting, interviewing, and participation in selection panels.
- Created unique selling propositions (USPs) and implemented targeted campaigns, using Marketing Cloud to improve student engagement.
- Co-led the implementation of NICE CXone, introducing call tracking and quality monitoring to improve service consistency.
- Acted as the NZ lead during the rollout of Canvas (MyLearn) SMS software, managing troubleshooting and cross-country stakeholder communication.
- Delivered weekly and intake-end reporting to executives, supporting forecasting, resource allocation, and decision-making.
- Ensured governance and compliance by contributing evidence to external re accreditation and review panels.
- Coordinated logistics for staff training sessions, ensuring delivery of effective onboarding.
Head of Sales (Acting)
Media Design School
Adelaide, SA
01.2019 - 05.2019
- Lead domestic and international sales strategy for New Zealand operations.
- Introduced new marketing and sales initiatives that improved conversion outcomes.
- Strengthened market capability by facilitating international agent training across the USA, India, Asia, and South America.
- Established B2B partnerships and supported agent networks through regular F2F engagement and training.
- Provided executive-level reporting on sales pipeline and performance.
- Supported compliance through submissions to the NZ Code of Practice and external evaluation reviews.
Senior Course Career Advisor & Operations
Laureate International Universities
Adelaide, SA
07.2017 - 05.2019
- Developed tailored sales strategies and consistently exceeded enrolment KPIs.
- Delivered student presentations at expos and recruitment events.
- Trained international sales teams, agents, and admissions staff on product knowledge.
- Acted as SME during the transition to Salesforce CRM, embedding best practice reporting to support decision-making.
- Maintained compliance with NZQA Framework and legislation.
Earlier Career
NewsCorp Australia
Adelaide, SA
02.2010 - 05.2016
- Direct Sales Partner – Real Estate | NewsCorp Australia | 2012–2016
- Account Manager – Trades & Services | Messenger| 2011–2012
- Market Manager Team Leader | The Advertiser (NewsCorp) | 2010–2011
Education
High School Diploma -
St Michaels College
Henley Beach SA12-2002
MBA - TBC 2026
Torrens University Australia
Sydney, NSWSkills
- Team Leadership & People Management
- Strategic Planning & Execution
- Recruitment, Onboarding & Staff Development
- Performance Management & Coaching
- Operational Oversight & Field Logistics
- Stakeholder Engagement & Relationship Management
- Change & Systems Management (CRM, CMS, SMS)
- Data-Driven Decision Making & Reporting (Salesforce, Power BI, NICE CXOne)
- Customer Centric Approach
- Governance, Compliance & Accreditation Support
Intermediate ability with the following systems:
- Salesforce (CRM),
- Microsoft Office 365
- Wisenet (SMS)
- Canvas (LMS)
- NICE CXOne (CCaaS)
- Workday (SaaS)
- FCM Platform
- ConnX
- OLARK Chat (LCP)
References
References available upon request.
Timeline
Future Student Recruitment Manager ANZ
Strategic Education Inc
04.2023 - 05.2025
Student Recruitment Manager
Media Design School
05.2019 - 05.2025
Head of Sales (Acting)
Media Design School
01.2019 - 05.2019
Senior Course Career Advisor & Operations
Laureate International Universities
07.2017 - 05.2019
Earlier Career
NewsCorp Australia
02.2010 - 05.2016
High School Diploma -
St Michaels College
MBA - TBC 2026
Torrens University Australia
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