MRT Insights

In this blog, our veteran recruiter of 31 years and Co-Owner, Craig McMillan, will share his insights on how the recruiting industry is vital to our way of life. He will also reveal how he chose a life of mentoring others to enhance their Executive Recruiting skills and pass on lessons to the next generation.

Mentoring Origin Story

When we sat down with Craig McMillan, we asked him what experience made the hard times in his professional career worth it. If you know him, his answer is not surprising, yet it highlights the emphasis Craig places on working as a team and his passion for his career calling. Craig shared with us a story from 1994 when MRT was chosen by a major international company that was building a new state-of-the-art plastic injection molding and extrusion site in the states. The company needed to staff the new building in record time. MRT was asked to take on this task with Craig as the team leader. After all was said and done, Craig and one of his colleagues were invited to the new building to meet all of the candidates they were able to place within the company. MRT and Craig’s efforts were applauded, and Craig was thrilled that the timeline and goals were met. However, Craig’s largest takeaway from this endeavor was “seeing a person under my guidance with no recruiting experience become a successful Recruiter”, he says.

Craig’s Appreciation for His Mentors

Craig is not shy when acknowledging how his success has come from his past mentors. To Craig, they have shaped him to be a better speaker and writer. They have helped him become a thought leader in the plastic and metal manufacturing industries. In his role as Co-Owner, Craig admits his mentors are part of the reason why he understands how a business is operated successfully and the importance of mentoring others. Craig shares that the foundation of his success comes from his mother and father, but many others contributed as well. His grandfather, a business owner, taught him customer service. His uncle, a farmer, taught him responsibility and hard work. His in-laws, the founders of MRT, gave him the roadmap of his recruiting career when he was offered a job at 24. Now, 31 years later, his passion is being a “Servant Leader”; mentoring those around him.

The Effects of Craig’s Mentoring

Within our firm, Craig has mentored 20 professionals, some still in our firm today. From this, he is confident in the next generation and knows they are working hard to bring about positive and impactful change within recruiting and our industries. Craig loves mentoring, not only because it gives him happiness seeing others grow and learn, but he learns from them as well. He does not have the ‘smartest person in the room’ mentality. He embraces ideas that might be better from those he’s mentoring. Craig says, “if he is the smartest person in the room, he has already started losing.” It is rewarding to him to pass on what his mentors taught him because he “promised his mentors he would”, he says.

His current goal is sustaining his success, revealing his parent’s main advice “congratulations, you’ve reached your goal, now sustain it.” We’d say after 31 years of successful recruiting, he is doing just fine.

If you would like to reach out to Craig to learn more about his story, join our successful team, or hear about his service offerings, do so here. At MRT, we encourage our team to work together toward our goals, and we place that same value when working with our clients and candidates. If you are a professional in the plastics, metal, and rubber industries, reach out to us and see how we may be able to enhance your company or career!