Jeff Johnson (BRIX Recruiting Partners)

Jeff Johnson is a senior recruiter for BRIX Recruiting Partners in Chaska. 

From Brooklyn Park, the gregarious Johnson was a solid football player at Blake High School, manning the interior of both the offensive and defensive lines for the Bears. 

“I loved two-a-days,” says Johnson from his home office. 

“But colleges weren’t knocking on my parents’ door, unfortunately.”

Scouts may not have been inundating Johnson with scholarship offers, but Hamline, a local Twin Cities university, saw enough potential in Johnson to let him join their team.

“If you go to a private school for high school, then there’s pressure to go to a private college,” he says, but after one year Johnson left Hamline to avoid the steep tuition and figure himself out. 

“I wanted to continue to pursue academics, but I didn’t know what I wanted to study.”

Somewhat rudderless, Johnson enrolled at North Hennepin Community College, an unrenowned institution that yours truly once attended. 

At NHCC, Johnson stayed active, playing rec basketball a couple times per week.

His skills on the hardwood were limited.

He was a role player, at best. 

Off the court, Johnson studied human societies, cultures, and their development.  

“I took every anthropology class they offered,” he mentions.

Within a couple years Johnson had earned an associate’s degree.

Normally, after getting a two-year degree students will transfer to a traditional four-year college, but Johnson still wasn’t sure what he wanted to do academically, so he started working full-time.

First it was Domino’s Pizza and listening to consumers bemoan the fact that their deep dish lacked enough pepperoni, but then he transitioned into working as a courier.  

“As a courier, the hours were great, but there wasn’t room to grow,” Johnson says. 

“And over time I began to look at a lot of the guys in their fifties and sixties who had been doing that work, and they were miserable.”

Not wanting to eventually find himself professionally dissatisfied, Johnson pivoted into working for his friend, who re-sold used electronic devices.

Like most industries, over time that area evolved, which spurred Johnson to once again pivot into something new.

He admits that he never thought he would get into recruiting, but Johnson’s uncle had fielded a request from BRIX Recruiting Partners about a job opening.

“My uncle wasn’t looking to make a change in his career, but he mentioned my name instead,” the Brooklyn Park native recalls. 

Fast forward a few years and Johnson is now a senior recruiter for a nationwide headhunting firm that specifically places candidates into management and executive level roles for home improvement companies. 

“I’m not a résumé collector. I don’t post on a job board and tell people to apply,” Johnson says when asked what his position entails. 

“I listen to what our clients want in a candidate, and then I go out there and find that exact person for them.”

Adds the amiable Johnson:

“The majority of people that we place are not online applying for 10-12 jobs a day. They are passively employed. They’re also comfortable, and it takes an awesome opportunity for them to consider moving.”

In other words, Johnson and his firm are looking for high-level talent, the type of talent that can immediately generate revenue for a company in the home improvement industry. 

Those types of candidates don’t come around every day, so netting top-tier talent often takes time and rounds of in-depth conversations. 

“So much of what I do is communication and setting expectations for both our clients and the candidates that we source,” Johnson says, because for a successful organization and a qualified candidate to come together requires extensive interviews and negotiations. 

“From the time the search opens up, to when the candidate walks in the door for their first day of work at their new company, that process averages around 10-12 weeks,” Johnson adds. 

Of course, that figure could be higher or lower, depending on the region of the country.

For as much of a resource as Johnson is for his clients and prospective candidates, much of the joy he receives from his job centers around making connections that can positively impact the trajectory of both entity and individual. 

“Having an understanding of the massive candidate pool that we work with is crucial. Since I have a pulse on people from previous conversations, then when opportunities pop up in the future, I can connect the dots and make things happen for both our clients and our candidates,” Johnson explains. 

“Building that pipeline and reputation has taken time, but the way things are now is a lot easier than making 100 cold calls.”

From my vantage point, Johnson is a facilitator, a broker of opportunity who breaks down walls and approaches interactions with a genuine desire to bring value.

Like many successful individuals, his intent is to build relationships instead of looking to place candidates just to fill a void. 

“Putting that extra 30-45 seconds into an outreach and personalizing the exchange could be all the difference between us placing someone and that candidate either staying at their job, or choosing a different company for their next move,” Johnson says. 

“We are all human beings, and so if you can connect on a personal level, particularly in an era that is so automated and impersonal, there is goodwill to be built, and some success to be had.”

Looking ahead, Johnson appears primed to be a staple at BRIX, a beacon of positivity who will keep bridging the divide between great companies and good people.

“I am going to continue to grow and expand my network,” the senior recruiter says.  

“If I am consistent about leading with trying to help people, then I’ll very likely continue to have a positive impact.” QS

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