Akos Kiraly serves as the Head of Sales Strategy at SRH Higher Education, specializing in international student recruitment and university marketing, with a primary focus on Germany. With his expertise, Akos has successfully built recruitment and sales structures for universities with newly established campuses, contributing to their growth and expansion strategies.
Below are the highlights of the interview conducted between World’s Leaders and Akos Kiraly:
Describe who you are as a person, inside and outside of the workplace.
I was born in Hungary shortly before the system changed in the late 1980s. I spent my childhood in Hungary and came to Germany as an international student. I could say: I am a product of German higher education, and this experience has helped kick-off my career in education.
Describe your background, and what did you do before you joined the company?
My career in international higher education started when I worked for an agency in Germany that helped Anglo-Saxon universities enter the German market. These well-known universities, such as the University of Western Australia (AU), the University of Victoria (CA), or the University of Liverpool (UK), were interested in creating marketing and recruitment, strategies to recruit a large number of German students. After spending a couple of years with the agency, I have decided to make a move: I have taken up different Director of Student Recruitment positions for private universities in Germany (GISMA, SRH University Berlin, or Lancaster University Leipzig). I have had the opportunity to open new campuses in Berlin and Leipzig in Germany or Haarlem in the Netherlands. I particularly enjoyed building sales strategies for these institutions across the different recruitment channels to support their growth strategy.
What has made you successful? What do you value?
My motto has always been “teamwork makes the dream work.” I highly value the benefits of working with a multinational team. Motivating and developing coworkers benefits my own professional experience as well as increasing the productivity of the team. Managing an international sales team requires the ability to see the world through the glasses of many different personalities. Student recruitment is often compared to a marathon: the fruits of our work are visible at the end of each recruitment cycle, at the beginning of each semester intake after a long lead time. Although the work continues throughout the entire run, consistency is the basis for a good outcome. I love running half marathons to clean up my mind and recharge my batteries.
SRH is a private, non-profit foundation that operates in the healthcare and education sectors. We have 20,000 students studying with us, and we are the 3rd largest provider of private higher education in Germany. My work is very much involved in entering and developing different international markets to support our strategic goals.
Every time I have taken up a new position, I have gained respect from my own team by sharing my own experience: I was an international student, I have claimed up on the ladder step by step, and I have done administrative jobs before managing a team. I have received positive feedback from my team based on my ability to listen to them before making a change.
