Selina Stanley Recruitment | Entrepreneur of the Year

With two decades’ experience in recruitment and over 10 years specialising in early childhood leadership and management, I launched my own boutique recruitment agency, Selina Stanley Recruitment (SSR), in January 2021.

My business is uniquely positioned as Australia’s only recruitment agency that specifically focuses on recruiting senior leadership and centre directors in the early childhood education and care sector.

I chose this niche because I’m endlessly inspired by the passion, wonder and curiosity of people who are attracted to this industry. Nothing gives me greater satisfaction than knowing I’ve placed a quality leader in a centre, as this profoundly impacts other staff, the children and their families.

My professional journey to date includes the following milestones:

I began my career in my home country of Ireland, before I relocated to Sydney, Australia, and gained valuable experience leading nationwide recruitment and talent projects for clients in a variety of industries, including FMCG, Hospitality and Logistics.

In 2013, I was appointed Talent Acquisition Manager at Guardian Childcare & Education. This role was critical in building my professional network and embedding my reputation in the sector. I also saw first-hand the critical importance of inspiring leaders in shaping the culture of a centre and positively impacting Australia’s youngest citizens.

I launched SSR during COVID, when early childhood centres remained open as an essential service. At a very challenging time, I distinguished myself as a driven and empathetic recruitment partner who truly cares about placing the right people in the right roles.

Since launching in 2021, we’ve built a candidate system of over 4,000 early childhood professionals through strategic sourcing on LinkedIn, Seek Talent CV search and trusted referrals (pg1). While we advertise roles, around 80% of placements come from our proactive, targeted search and networks, with only 20% sourced via Seek job ads. This ensures clients are introduced to high‑calibre, carefully vetted candidates that others may not reach.

In 2025, I attended a transformative Women in Leadership Retreat in Bali (pg3), hosted by leadership coach Shelly McElroy, which pushed me to think strategically about the next evolution of SSR (detailed further below).