🎒What makes someone a great recruiter?

I’ve spent five years of my career working with recruiters and recruiting companies, and there’s one refrain I’ve heard over and over again:

No one goes to school to become a recruiter.

And yet these people learn and develop and fall in love with their work!

What I’ve learned getting to know recruiters: they are both sales-focused and human-centered. They must manage complex relationships, assess needs, and earn the knowledge to become a trusted advisor. They learn their industry (or several industries) inside-out to understand what makes top talent stand out in those fields. They are judicious with their time management, yet also generous with their ability to field calls at any time of the day or night when a candidate or a client needs their guidance.

So how do you excel in a field like that? One that requires a focus on both relationships and results?

You make your own path. You bring the skills you have. You show the people you serve that you genuinely care. And you learn the rest along the way.

For this week’s edition of the newsletter, we’ll show you how three of our team members have done all that – and more.

We can start with Brenda Czyz, who was a high school business teacher when a local business owner noticed her aptitude for helping students discover their strengths and get excited about their potential.

Brenda’s academic background in accounting, business, and psychology gave her a well-rounded foundation for human resources and talent acquisition. But it was her time in the classroom that truly shaped her approach. This was where she learned how to understand how others thought through problems, and where their strengths could take them.

It was the foundation for something so critical in recruiting: understanding and bridging the gap between who someone is today, and who they can be tomorrow.

That philosophy became the cornerstone of her career in staffing.

Transitioning into talent acquisition, Brenda approaches every conversation with curiosity and intention. Those who know Brenda know she takes the time to understand a candidate’s technical skills, and also their story, their goals, and what truly drives them. At the same time, she partners closely with clients to uncover the requirements of a role, the nuances of their teams, and how they build and maintain culture.

To do both effectively allows Brenda to operate as more than a recruiter. This is what it looks like when a staffing partner becomes a trusted advisor.

Over the past twenty years, Brenda has built a reputation for combining a relentless work ethic with an incredibly human approach.

Decades of earned experience as a technology professional made tech recruiting a natural fit for Linda Ruszala.

After earning a Bachelor’s degree from Buffalo State, Linda worked as a developer at notable names across Buffalo. Businesses like AM&A’s Department Store and M&T Bank. Government entities like Erie County and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Just to name a few. All the while, the possibility of joining Lighthouse was always floated by her father, Lighthouse co-founder Jerry Kieffer Sr.

In 2015, Linda got the call to bring her expertise to Team Lighthouse from then-CEO Don Harris. We’re glad she made the leap!

In her own words: “I found that my father was right; I am much more of a people person than I thought.”

To say Linda’s a people person is an understatement. She is our most frequent recipient of positive Google reviews for her supportive nature, her attentiveness and follow-through, and her focus on making the job-search process – which is often stressful and frustrating – a little bit easier.

The most recent addition to our team? Mike Mommertz, an Air Force veteran and dedicated dad who’s now on his third stint as a recruiter.

After the events of September 11, 2001, Mike answered an internal call to serve our country. He worked as a Network Security Engineer for the Air Force, managing critical network infrastructure and field communication systems. He earned a CompTIA Security+ certification and implemented several new programs and processes for his squadron.

Eight years into his service, Mike’s former military recruiter came back to him – and recruited him to be a recruiter.

It turned out Mike’s personable attitude and a desire for connection made him a natural fit for recruiting. He was top of his class in the Air Force’s military recruiting training program, after which he and his wife relocated their family from Buffalo – their hometown – to Erie, Pennsylvania to continue his service to the Air Force.

Mike’s civilian career path led him to M&T Bank, where he filled more than 270 full-time roles during a period of rapid growth at the new tech hub at Seneca One in downtown Buffalo. Through his time at the bank, Mike took an opportunity to work as a Product Owner and support their technology teams in a different capacity. He led a team in the implementation of the bank’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and loan forgiveness applications, allowing for more than 24,000 customers access to over $2.9 billion in federal loans. He also led a new Merchant Services application project and new feature development for loan originations.

But Mike heard the call to return to recruiting, and in May 2025 came back to his roots when he joined our team at Lighthouse as a senior technology recruiter.

We’re always looking for opportunities to help others find their next best jobs in tech. Here are a few opportunities these awesome recruiters are working on this week:

See you back here next week!