# Matt Rikus Wessels Matt Rikus Wessels is a remote worker on Himalayas, People, Brand & Ops Strategist at Talent Atlas, based in South Africa. Source: https://himalayas.app/@mattrikuswessels ```text Global People Operations Leader in Talent Acquisition, Training & Organisational Development ``` | Detail | Value | | --- | --- | | Availability | Looking for a job | | Location | South Africa | | Authorized to work in | South Africa | | Job categories | Chief of Staff, Talent Acquisition Manager, Communications Manager, People Operations Manager, People Partner | | Skills | SEO Optimization, Education Management, Online Learning, Workforce Planning, Corporate Communications, Organizational Development, Employer Branding, Social Media Strategy, Content Strategy, Leadership Development, Recruitment, Talent Acquisition, People Management, Communication Skills, Training, Training and Development, Business Development | | LinkedIn | https://https://www.linkedin.com/in/mhwessels/ | ## What I'm looking for ```text Seeking a strategic role in global talent acquisition, leveraging expertise in digital innovation and cross-cultural leadership to drive organizational growth and engagement. ``` ## About ```text I build people and operating systems that help organisations work better as they grow. Over more than 15 years, I have moved from teaching and academic programme coordination into international recruitment, people operations, organisational development and multi-site operations. At Son’s Edu in South Korea, I established the organisation’s first international HR and recruitment function, supported more than 100 international educators and staff, and advised senior leaders as the group expanded across 11 campuses. I also moved recruitment in-house, with reported annual savings of KRW 72 million (about USD 53,700), and coordinated the move to online learning for more than 1,000 students and 40 educators within 72 hours, when the government declared COVID-19 as a national emergency. My experience includes operations management, workforce planning, talent acquisition, employee support, contracts, visa documentation, manager development and change delivery. I now run Talent Atlas, advising businesses and coaching people through career decisions. I welcome conversations about in-person opportunities in organisational development, operations and people management, in South Africa or internationally. I’m especially interested in work that connects people, ideas and opportunities across countries and cultures. Outside work, I’m usually looking at maps, reading geo-fiction or collecting flags. There are worse ways to spend ``` ## Experience ### People, Brand & Ops Strategist (current) Talent Atlas. Jul 2025 - Present ```text I advise businesses and professional practices in South Africa, the US, South Korea and New Zealand on brand positioning and operations. I lead website, brochure and marketing projects from brief to delivery. I coach professionals on career direction, CVs and interviews, and developed the Talent Atlas Human Performance Index to guide conversations about strengths, development needs and role fit. ``` Skills: Market-Research, Resume-Writing, Recruitment, Brand-Management, Business-Development, Market-Research-and-Analysis, Digital-Marketing, Digital-Transformation, LinkedIn, Branding, Document-Design, Web-Design ### Project Manager & Managing Editor Son's Edu. Oct 2024 - Apr 2025 ```text Delivered four learner workbooks in five months for EngFlip E-Learning Reading Adventures, a flipped-learning English series. Managed a KRW 10 million budget and led a distributed team of editors, designers and reviewers from content planning through editing, quality review and production. ``` Skills: Market-Research, Resume-Writing, Recruitment, Edtech, Copywriting, AI, Project-Management ### Associate Director Son’s Edu. Jan 2022 - Oct 2024 ```text Partnered with the CEO on people strategy and organisational development across six divisions. Supported group growth from about 5,000 to over 11,000 students across 11 campuses and from about 11 to over 100 international employees. Mentored five Campus Directors and five Head Teachers. Led people strategy for 20 educators during the BeTop Kids integration and served as its interim Vice-Principal. ``` Skills: Organizational-Development, Web-Design, Talent-Acquisition, Corporate-Communications, Workforce-Planning, Social-Media-Management, SEO-Optimization, Employer-Branding, Leadership-Development, People-Management, Training-and-Development, Training ### Global People Ops & Comms Manager Cognitio et Veritas. Jan 2020 - Apr 2024 ```text Managed global recruitment and corporate communications for an international outsourcing firm. Successfully placed professionals across various sectors while enhancing employer branding and engagement through strategic digital initiatives. ``` Skills: Social-Media-Strategy, Website-Optimization, Stakeholder-Engagement, Process-Optimization, Communications-Strategy, Outsourcing, Recruitment, Communication-Management, Digital-Marketing ### Global People Strategy & Ops Manager Son’s Edu: Son’s English Academy. Jan 2016 - Jan 2022 ```text Built the group’s first international HR and recruitment function. Recruited and onboarded over 100 international educators and operations staff, negotiated over 100 employment contracts and brought recruitment in-house, with reported annual savings of KRW 72 million. Coordinated the move to online learning for over 1,000 students and 40 educators within 72 hours. ``` Skills: Recruitment, Training-and-Development, Social-Media-Management, Intercultural-Communication, Crisis-Management, Leadership, Student-Engagement ### Academic Program & Talent Lead Son's Edu. Nov 2013 - Nov 2016 ```text Recruited, onboarded and mentored teachers across three campuses through classroom observation, feedback and shared lesson planning. Designed and taught advanced English communication programmes for school learners. Created a teacher rotation to cover absences internally, with reported savings of KRW 8 million per semester. ``` Skills: Project-Management, Teaching, ESL ## Education ### Rome Business School Master's, International Human Resources Management. 2020 - 2021. Grade: 3.5 ```text Completed a Master's in International Human Resources Management with a capstone project focused on attracting and retaining young talent in a post-COVID era. ``` ### Stellenbosch University HonsBA, History. 2010 - 2011 ```text Earned an Honours Bachelor of Arts in History, with a dissertation on Afrikaner ideas of self-determination and the rise of the network society. ``` ### Stellenbosch University BA, International Studies. 2007 - 2009 ```text Completed a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies, which included an exchange program at Humboldt University of Berlin. ``` ## Tech stack - Facebook Ads - Google Docs - Gmail - Google Drive - Slack - Microsoft Teams - Google Workspace - Microsoft Office 365 - Asana - WordPress - Google Sheets - Wix - Canva - LinkedIn Recruiter - LinkedIn Ads - Lovable - Meta Business Suite - ChatGPT - Microsoft Word - Claude To contact Matt Rikus, message them from this profile with a Himalayas employer account: [Hire on Himalayas](https://himalayas.app/hire). ## People also viewed - [Pariksha Ramauthar](https://himalayas.app/@pariksharamauthar): Senior Lead: Group Talent Attraction & Employer Branding, Old Management College of Southern Africa Mutual Limited - [Wilhelm Louw](https://himalayas.app/@wilhelmlouw): English Home Language Teacher, Pretoria Boys High School - [Suzanne Botha](https://himalayas.app/@suzannebotha): Client Engagement Specialist/Talent Advisor, Lead Talent Strategies - [Lee-Anne Bennett](https://himalayas.app/@leeannebennett): Director of Operations, DWD - [Nomfundo Hlatshwayo](https://himalayas.app/@nomfundohlatshwayo): Remote Talent Acquisition Specialist, Zig Zag HR Community - [Hanette Stimie](https://himalayas.app/@hanettestimie): Client Relations Director, Insights Prep - [Kayleen subramoney](https://himalayas.app/@kayleensubramoney): Business English Coach, Astex Language Academy - [Phumla Mnisi](https://himalayas.app/@phumlamnisi): Talent Acquisition Specialist, Cherry Assistant - [Jean-Claude Batt](https://himalayas.app/@jean-claudebatt): Online English Teacher, Private Practice - [Elizna Smit](https://himalayas.app/@eliznasmit): Head of Coaching, iO Sphere