A Day In The Life Of A BWB Recruiter -- Meet Leah Backes

Tech Recruiter Feature: Leah Backes

Welcome back to our "Day in The Life of a BWB Recruiter" series, where we're highlighting the people that make it all possible here at BWBacon. Meet our Recruiting Manager, Leah Backes. She's happy to tell you any and all recent sports news having to do with Colorado's professional and college teams, and is a fierce advocate for her candidates. Leah joined BWB in its early days, and has led the team in making hundreds of placements over the years.

How did you get start recruiting with BWBacon?

My husband, Kurt, was working for a competitor of BWB at the time, and I was doing some sourcing at the time for that company. Kurt and other coworkers decided to leave the company, and start their own business, but in the process of that happening, the company ended up in a horrible crazy lawsuit due to a huge misunderstanding.

After all of that happened, Dave had an office admin role open. After a couple of weeks of sourcing, there was a gap in the recruiting team because someone had to suddenly depart from the team. At this point, BWB only had one recruiter, and Dave knew that I had some recruiting in my background and asked if I wanted to start recruiting. The rest is history.

If you had to give tech candidates in the market looking for work advice, what advice would you give them?

Be extremely organized, make notes of every recruiting agency, company, and hiring manager you talk to. I would also say to do your research, know the companies inside out and backwards that you are going to be talking to.

Use interviewing as an opportunity to not only find a job but also to network and increase your circle of people you know. You never know when those people will come back around, and even if you are not interested in a role at that point in time, you will be more of a professional if you strive to make connections whether it turns into a job or not.

With how the market’s been the last couple of years, candidates have no fear of being bullish and that’s fine, but the key is to be open and honest about your expectations and what you’re aiming for with your salary as best you can. No one wants to take a step backward, but sometimes you have to look at the opportunity for how it is going to build your skillset and not just your bank account.

Especially talking to recruiters, disclose what you make because they are going to try and help you get more than what you make right now, as it benefits all of us. Let them know where you are currently at, where you want to get to, and if you have other offers on the table because the more info you can disclose to a recruiter, the better we can help and advocate for you.

What BWB value do you feel best represents you and your approach to recruiting?

Trust your gut. Candidates are interviewing with companies as much as you are interviewing them, so if something does not feel right, trust your gut, and move on. On the flip side, if I am talking to somebody and the flow is not there, I need to trust my gut and understand that this person is not into the position and to move on.

What’s It Like To Work With Leah? Hear From Candidates She’s Worked With…

Leah has been amazing to work with: thorough, collaborative, and communicative. Based on your outreach and Leah's great work, I'd say you all rock! Thanks so much!

-Conrad

Leah, I have worked with you for years and I trust your judgement as you have never let me down...never. In fact, you are the best talent acquisition specialist I have ever worked with.

-Alex R

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I am currently working with Leah, and the standard of communication established at BWBacon is phenomenal; you have a great team on your hands. I would love to secure a contract with a company under BWBacon and I’m excited to hopefully make that happen soon.

-Theresa

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Final Thoughts:

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Leah. If you are working with Leah, you can expect her to be upfront and honest with you in navigating your job search, and to not sugarcoat anything. Leah builds relationships with candidates that last years, and those relationships are a testament to her dedication as a recruiter. If you are interested in working with Leah specifically, you can schedule a call with her today!

Here at BWBacon Group, we know and live what you are experiencing as an employer or job seeker in Denver, Boulder, Dallas, San Francisco, New York City or any of the other cities we work in. We believe great recruiting starts and ends with understanding people.

If you have any questions about living, working or playing any of the areas we serve, please contact us. We are happy to help. Seize the day, every day, that’s what we say!