Senior Manager - Admissions

Vidyashilp University; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 3,500,000 - 6,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Vidyashilp University is seeking a Senior Manager – Admissions to lead the admissions function, manage the Counselling Team, and personally handle high-value enquiries. The role requires strong people management, counselling expertise, and a track record of achieving admission targets.

You will drive strategy, monitor performance dashboards, and collaborate with Marketing, Academic, and Finance to optimize the admissions funnel and ensure a high-quality candidate experience.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; Master's preferred.
• 13–15 years of relevant experience in admissions or education sales.
• 3–5 years managing an Admissions Counselling team.
• Experience in higher education institutions preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor the Admissions Counselling team to meet monthly and annual targets.
• Monitor performance, allocate leads, and drive conversion across funnel.
• Coordinate with Marketing, Outreach, Academic, Finance for a smooth admissions process.
• Prepare regular performance reports for senior management.

Skills

Team leadership

Counselling

Sales

Negotiation

CRM

Analytics

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

Tools

CRM systems

Admissions software

Job description

Vidyashilp University is seeking a results-driven Senior Manager – Admissions available for an immediate joiner. This role leads strategic student recruitment, optimizes enrollment funnels, and drives team performance to achieve institutional growth targets. Candidates must have prior experience in a university environment.

Job Purpose

The Senior Manager – Admissions will be responsible for driving the admissions function by effectively managing the Admissions Counselling Team as well as individual counsellor performance. The role requires a strong combination of people management, individual sales ownership, counselling expertise, process discipline, and target achievement.

The ideal candidate should be capable of leading a team, coaching individual counsellors, handling high-value student/parent interactions personally, and ensuring consistent conversion performance across the admissions funnel.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, manage, and mentor the Admissions Counselling team to achieve monthly and annual admission targets.
• Allocate leads and responsibilities effectively across counsellors.
• Monitor individual and team-wise performance on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.
• Conduct regular performance reviews and provide constructive feedback.
• Identify underperforming team members and implement performance improvement plans.
• Build a high-performance and target-oriented admissions culture.
• Support recruitment, onboarding, training, and development of Admissions Counsellors.

2. Individual Admissions & Counselling

• Personally handle key, high-value, and challenging student/parent enquiries.
• Counsel prospective students and parents on programmes, eligibility, career opportunities, fees, and admission processes.
• Take ownership of critical leads and work towards successful conversion.
• Demonstrate strong objection-handling and negotiation skills.
• Ensure a high-quality student and parent experience throughout the admission journey.

3. Target & Conversion Management

• Own and drive team-level admission targets.
• Track lead-to-application, application-to-offer, and offer-to-enrolment conversion ratios.
• Analyse individual counsellor performance and identify gaps in the admissions funnel.
• Develop strategies to improve lead conversion and enrolment numbers.
• Ensure timely follow-up and effective lead management.

4. Performance Monitoring & MIS

• Maintain daily and weekly dashboards covering:
• Leads received
• Leads contacted
• Counselling interactions
• Applications
• Offers
• Counsellor-wise performance
• Review CRM/HRMS/admissions data to identify trends and opportunities.
• Prepare regular performance reports for senior management.

5. Training & Coaching

• Conduct regular training sessions for Admissions Counsellors.
• Coach team members on counselling techniques, communication, objection handling, follow-up, and closing.
• Conduct call audits and provide individual feedback.
• Develop scripts, FAQs, and best practices to improve counselling quality.
• Support new counsellors during their initial onboarding and ramp-up period.

6. Process & Coordination

• Ensure adherence to the defined admissions process, SOPs, and communication standards.
• Coordinate with Marketing, Outreach, Academic, Finance, and other relevant teams to ensure a smooth admissions process.
• Escalate critical student/parent concerns and resolve them promptly.
• Ensure accurate and timely updating of all lead and admission information in the CRM.

7. Strategy & Business Development

• Analyse market trends, competitor activities, student preferences, and admission data.
• Recommend initiatives to improve admissions performance and conversion.
• Support the development and execution of admission campaigns and conversion strategies.
• Identify opportunities for improving enquiry generation, counselling effectiveness, and enrolment.
• Strong team management and leadership skills.
• Excellent student/parent counselling and communication skills.
• Strong sales and conversion orientation.
• Ability to manage both team-level responsibilities and individual targets.
• Excellent negotiation and objection-handling skills.
• Strong analytical and performance-management skills.
• Ability to work with CRM and admissions management systems.
• Strong interpersonal and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to work in a target-driven and fast-paced environment.
• Strong problem-solving and decision-making ability.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree required; Master's degree preferred.
• 13–15 years of relevant experience in admissions, education sales, student recruitment, counselling, or a related field.
• Minimum 3–5 years of experience managing an Admissions/Sales Counselling team.
• Experience in higher education, universities, colleges, or education-focused organizations is preferred.
• Demonstrated track record of achieving admission/revenue targets.