Darby started her ALKU career in August 2020 as a Cybersecurity Recruiter after she graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She immediately picked up the job quickly and achieved great heights in less than a year and a half of starting while working in a startup group. She has been essential to the Cybersecurity group since day one.
Starting at ALKU in a start-up group in the middle of a ton of change takes work. Still, Darby took the challenge and quickly became an incredibly skilled Recruiter and leader. She always goes above and beyond to ensure that employees get the help they need and share all the knowledge she has learned.
Since pursuing management, Darby has mentored three new hires. Two of these new hires had no prior internship or staffing experience. Today, Darby has successfully grown these two Recruiters to impressive heights within their first eight months.
Outside of her day-to-day role, Darby has played a large part in two successful sales competitions. Additionally, she has attended multiple career fairs with the College Relationship Development team and has been involved in several volunteer opportunities. Darby is consistently leading in organizing and planning any outings and events for the Cybersecurity team. She is also a member of ALKU’s Employee Resource Group (ERG) ALKU Women Empowered (AWE).
In her new role, Darby will oversee the Recruiting team and continue to grow her team’s careers and the overall success of the Cybersecurity team.
Congratulations, Darby! We can’t wait to see all you accomplish in this new role!
“DARBARA! I have been looking forward to this promotion for a long time! From the time you closed your first deal, I knew you had what it takes to be a leader, and I’m so excited for you to step into this new role. Darby’s start at the ALKU may have been the most difficult of anyone…COVID, a start-up division that was rebuilding the personnel, was working remotely because of an office renovation. None of that was ideal, but it helped mature you in this role much faster and led you to where you are today. In only two and a half years of experience in staffing, you’ve seen more highs and lows than people with twice that much tenure. The thing about you that I’m most proud of is that you’ve never settled or felt sorry for yourself – you’re always looking for what’s next. You’ve always cared about your own personal success, but you’ve cared more about the success of the division as a whole. That mentality is what is going to make you an incredible leader and manager for the people around you, and I can’t wait to watch you grow in this role. Cyber has a bright future with you leading the Recruiters, and I couldn’t be happier for you taking the next step in your career. Congratulations, Darbs!” – Senior Recruiting Manager, Cybersecurity & Data Science, Tyson Ashcraft
“When Darby began at ALKU two and a half years ago, she joined a team and an office in turmoil. She (and the rest of the team) was forced to go remote as we renovated the Franklin office. To think about the infrastructure that Darby had when she started to what a new hire who starts in Franklin has now is a night and day difference. Darby played a huge role in that transformation in such a short time. Darby quickly became the “go-to” Recruiter for Cyber. As impressive as that is, I’m more impressed with what she has done to grow other people and the group. She is a pillar for the Franklin office and has proven she can teach others to be successful. Congratulations on a well-deserved promotion Darby!” – Sales Director, Epic, Data Science & Cybersecurity, Dan Lyons
“When Darby started at ALKU, she instantly became the best Recruiter in the Cybersecurity group—and proved that with her growing success. As her success grew, she showed how ferocious of a competitor she could be (just ask Tyson). As she ran her desk efficiently, she showed signs of being a future leader by taking time to help others and being a perfect example for others to follow. Over the past year, I am not sure I’ve seen a better example of someone dedicating themselves to learning everything they could about leadership. The way she takes control of a morning meeting and controls the room throughout the day is like someone who has been a manager for years. I couldn’t be more excited to witness Darby lead Cybersecurity into the future. Her fearless attitude and relentlessness to make everyone around her better is going to help develop an amazing Recruiting team in Franklin!” – Vice President, Healthcare IT & Cybersecurity, Dave Tuell