Samantha Larson

“The ways that we're using AI are definitely not taking the human piece out of the work. I can focus more on what I'm good at, and that's connecting people with companies.”

Samantha Larson recruits for one of the most specialized corners of American industry. By her count, only three agencies in the United States headhunt for mining talent, and she works at one of them. As Talent Acquisition Director at MRC Recruiting, she fills highly credentialed roles: metallurgists, geologists and mining engineers. Right now, she has more of those searches open than at any point in her career.

The surge has a clear source. A national push for domestic critical mineral supply chains has the sector moving fast, and demand for technical talent has climbed with it. Other parts of the economy may be struggling, but mining is booming, and Samantha is busier than she has been in 18 years of recruiting.

She describes the work with disarming simplicity. Talent acquisition, she likes to say, is the fun side of HR, because the job is giving people jobs.

Raised Inside the Industry

Samantha grew up in Elko, Nevada, a town built around mining. She returned home after college in 2008, when jobs were scarce, and leaned on the network a small town provides. Her aunt's neighbor worked at one of the local mines and had a recruiting position open. That introduction became her first role in the field.

At 25, she was working the career fair circuit for a large mining company, competing with other major producers for graduates. Alumni of the target schools volunteered to help recruit, and with a company credit card in hand, her mandate was to make sure they enjoyed the experience enough to return the following year. It set a pattern she still describes with enthusiasm: every job she has held, she says, has been the most fun job she has ever had.

A Global Search From Boise

For the past five years, Samantha has worked in executive search at MRC Recruiting, a firm that has specialized in mining placements for more than four decades. Her focus is narrow by design, centered on positions that require advanced technical degrees.

She works from home in Boise, Idaho, yet her reach is international. On a recent stretch she spoke with someone in Australia one day and someone in Brazil a couple of days later, and those conversations with people around the world are what she enjoys most about the job.

A Firm Built Around Mothers

MRC Recruiting is led by CEO Lindsey Schultz, who took over the firm from her father. Samantha calls her one of the coolest people she has ever met. The team is made up entirely of women, all of them mothers, and Lindsey deliberately seeks out talent who can work from home and build their schedules around their children.

The lesson Samantha draws from Lindsey is about conviction backed by action. Mining remains a male-dominated field with real hurdles for women, especially mothers, and Lindsey structures the business to open doors rather than simply talk about it. Samantha carries that commitment into her spare time through heavy involvement with Women in Mining, an organization that advocates for more women entering the industry.

Change in an Industry That Resists It

Samantha jokes that mining gets a new idea every hundred years. Over roughly the last five, though, she has watched technology arrive in earnest. Machines are taking on punishing physical work, such as handling the heavy drills that pull core samples, and she sees that as a barrier falling rather than a job disappearing. When physical strength is no longer the gatekeeper, more women can step into those roles.

Geology is shifting too. Work that once meant examining rocks by hand and taking notes is now being taught to AI, with people checking and perfecting its output. In her view, these changes create more opportunity for newcomers to enter the field instead of shutting them out.

Built for the Surge

Samantha says she could not manage her current workload without AI. A note-taker feeds a task system that checks in twice a day with anything she discussed but has not yet handled. Another tool sits in her inbox, flagging new messages and drafting replies.

The relationships with candidates and client companies remain hers to manage. What the tools remove is the administrative load and the running mental list of reminders, which frees her attention for matching people with employers. As the country turns to its own mines for critical minerals, the geologists, metallurgists and engineers who will run them still have to be found, and Samantha wants women to have a fair shot at those roles.