Life Lessons - From Trainee to AD

2019 marks my 9th year with Macildowie. 

Post-university I made the decision to run my own business.  Then the credit crunch hit.
I found that my dreams of becoming the next Richard Branson weren’t likely to materialise so I made the decision that it was time to build a “proper” career. 
At this point in my life I knew nothing other than;

• I liked interacting with people.
• I wanted to ‘see the fruits of my labour.’
• I wanted to earn as much money as I could, as quickly as possible

Enter my life changing Macildowie opportunity…

I stumbled across an advert which talked about ‘Being the MD of your own desk’ and ‘unlimited earning potential’ and 5 interviews later, having been given some pretty direct feedback that there was a concern I ‘might be a dreamer’ I was offered the job. 

The past 9 years have been an incredible journey so I’d like to take the opportunity to share some of the things that I have learnt during my time with Macs:

• This is truly an employee first business. The level of dedication to help you become the ‘Best Version of You’ hasn’t just helped me develop my career but more importantly, I believe the values of our organisation have helped me to become a better person in all aspects of my life. 

• In trying to understand why people do what they do, I’ve come to the conclusion that almost anyone can achieve their goals.  With pain and reflection, you make progress, you keep improving by 1% every day.  To succeed in this industry, resilience, a growth mind-set and a strong work ethic, will see you thrive. 

• A broad perception, a level head and a deep level of intrinsic motivation are critical to your success. There are good and bad days in recruitment and quite simply, your goal is to learn from these experiences and to use them to improve.  There is always something new to learn.

• Courageous Communication and listening are critical to yours and your team’s success. The damage in teams striving for high performance is usually done by what ISN’T said, rather than what IS said. So, be brave in your approach and listen to the feedback that your team mates are giving you. 

• Technology might be changing at an exponential rate but people are fundamentally the same. They care as much about how you make them feel as to what you actually do for them. Work hard and have THEIR interests at the heart of what YOU do! 

• Nothing beats experience. We operate a 70,20,10 L&D model here, where 70% of your learning is done ‘on the job,’ 20 is done through ‘coaching and 1 to 1’s’ and 10% is done through formal ‘classroom style training.’   We like people who have an insatiable appetite for self-improvement.  There are ways to win in recruitment that will speed up your route to success, and we have written a “Guide to Gold” booklet to assist all new starters with these tricks of the trade.   

So why am I telling you this? 

As part of my career advancement at Macs I have moved from being a recipient of our graduate training programme, to a participant of its delivery and in more recent years, to the co-designer. 

We have a rich history of growing and developing the careers of graduates (with the best example being James Taylor, our Managing Director.) This is evidenced in our recent 23rd place finish in the Sunday Times Top 100 Best Companies award, which I believe is a true reflection on the strength of the culture that we have created at Macildowie.

So what does this mean for you? 

If you value working in collaboration with people who are driven to go the extra mile to deliver for their customers and you are someone who wants to grow and develop yourself, if you understand that generally speaking, there is a direct correlation between effort and results – we want to hear from you!