About Rikka

The Building Products Industry’sPeople Expert

For over 20 years, Rikka Brandon has helped LBM dealers and building products companies solve their most persistent challenge: finding, hiring, and keeping the right people.

As featured in

NBCKitchen & Bath Business (KBB)CBSNortheastern Retail Lumber Association (NRLA)NKBA Voices From the IndustryHBS DealerNational Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA)Fast CompanyRedbook Lumber DataLBM Journal

Rikka Brandon started Recruiting in the building products industry in 2001.Since then she’s made over 600 placements with a less than 1% replacement rate.

She’s the Founder and Chief Executive Recruiter of Building Gurus, an executive search and recruitment consulting firm that works exclusively in the Building Products Industry.

She’s advised hundreds of building product companies ranging from mom and pops to the Fortune 100. However, her personal favorite has always been the privately held and often family owned business.

Rikka’s the go-to girl for growth-minded Building Products Owners and Executives who want to hire the right people to take their manufacturing, distribution, or retail business to the next level.

Rikka Brandon

Rikka is:

Industry Recognition

  • The leading Recruiting and Retention expert for the building products industry
  • The nation’s leading expert for LBM recruiting, hiring, and retention training
  • LBM Journal’s Recruiting + Retention Expert for 4 years
  • Service Provider of the Year for Luxury Products Group
  • A best-selling and award-winning author

Speaking

  • Repeat Speaker at West Coast Lumber and Building Materials Association’s (WCLBMA) National Convention
  • Speaker at BLD Connection (formerly NLBMDA) Expo North
  • Speaker at Building Material Suppliers Association (BMSA) Summer Conference
  • Speaks at National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) national events

Publishing & Media

  • Host of the LBM Journal’s Recruit + Retain Podcast
  • Hiring Expert for Lumber Blue Book – with 2 of the top 5 most-read articles (out of nearly 10,000) in 2022
  • Recruiting and hiring content for the Northeastern Retail Lumber Association (NRLA) blog and their Lumber Co-Operator magazine
  • Articles for the NKBA.com blog and Kitchen and Bath Business magazine (KBB), plus webinars
Work With Rikka

What People Say About Rikka

Rikka is my go-to girl for rock-solid recruiting, interviewing, hiring and coaching advice. The depth of her knowledge and experience is second to none in the LBM industry. Unlike many recruiters, she is always willing to share her little-known tips, techniques and tricks to help anyone hire better AND smarter.

Thea Dudley“The Credit Overlord” · Owner, Pocket Protectors LLC

Seeing the process through Rikka’s eyes helped our team learn more effective ways of remaining an attractive company to qualified candidates. She’s brought a lot of interesting information to us that we might not have thought of on our own, because we’re not hiring specialists.

CEOLumberyard