What Makes a #1 Best Place to Work?
June 29, 2026
High Country Search Group was recently named the 2026 #1 Best Place to Work in Denver by the Denver Business Journal. Not that anyone is counting, but that’s the third time in the past five years we’ve gotten the #1 ranking. And, over the past 20 years, we’ve almost always been in the Top 5. So, that’s pretty cool.
While I’m not 100% sure I can blog definitive proof that we actually are the #1 Best Place to work in all of Denver, I’m pretty sure everyone is tired of blogs discussing the relative merits of AI and whether it’s coming to take all of our jobs. So, I thought it might be worthwhile to take a quick look at what Best Place to Work means and looks like for us.
What’s interesting is, if you walk into our office looking for the secret sauce, you’ll probably leave disappointed. There’s no foosball table. No nap pods. We do have a gym, and we do have kombucha. But, neither are why people come to work here.
The truth is, recruiting, like most jobs, is simple, but not easy.
The fundamentals aren’t complicated. Source. Recruit. Interview. Build relationships. Create opportunities. Follow up. Repeat.
The challenge is doing those things well, consistently, day after day, especially when the results don’t show up immediately.
That’s what makes great recruiters. And honestly, that’s what makes great companies.
We’ve built a culture around process, accountability, and people doing their part. Nothing revolutionary. Just a group of driven professionals rowing in the same direction. Somehow, that consistently leads to successful, profitable recruiting desks and remarkably long tenure… which seems to translate into remarkably productive relationships both internally with our colleagues and externally with our clients and candidates.
Overall, people seem to appreciate working at a place with high expectations, high levels of success, and low levels of drama.
But is there a secret sauce?
Yes. Yes there is.
Hire great people.
Every great hire improves the culture. Every bad hire makes it harder.
In fact, one of the reasons this is a great place to work is because we keep raising the bar on who gets to work here.
And here’s something that may sound strange:
The wrong people probably wouldn’t think High Country is such a great place to work anyway… and that’s okay.
We’re not trying to be the easiest place to work in Denver. We’re trying to be “The Best” by being the most consistent and the most rewarding. Pretty sure none of the best workplaces are built with perks. They’re built by great people doing meaningful work alongside other great people.
The gym is nice.
The kombucha is fine.
The people are the reason.
Founder / Managing Partner
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