Tracy McNaughton’s Post

As Clean Energy Talent 🌏 steps into its fifth year in business, 2024 brought some of our toughest moments—but also our biggest breakthroughs. Louise and I have faced it all together: refining our process, enhancing our tech stack, and committing to personal development to deliver the best possible experience for clients and candidates. Yet, one recurring theme from conversations with our mentors stood out: we weren’t focusing enough on our personal brand or connecting with our audience very well online. And they were right. 🪙 The Penny Drop Moment It suddenly struck me this year that every major decision we made to invest time and money into improving our business—whether through technology, processes, or training—started with trusting the face of the business behind it. Would we have improved our client and candidate experience by partnering with Odro if it weren’t for the late, great Ryan McCabe? 💙 His passion for humanising connections through video technology resonated so deeply that we built it into the very core of how we work. Would we have adopted SourceWhale without the presence of Dougie Loan? 🌟 Or levelled-up our Engaged Search methodology without the reassuring guidance of Louise Archer & Jordan Taylor at Retrained Search? What about the strategic direction we’re currently gaining from Ben Browning at Resonant? Or the transformational advice in our approach from Josh Braun at Braun Training? Each decision we’ve made as a consumer was shaped by an initial connection with the people behind the business. Their expertise, authenticity, and openness gave us the confidence to trust them with a critical role in elevating our own business—so why weren’t we doing the same? If I’m honest, Louise and I have both been avoiding this for a long time. Neither of us is particularly comfortable putting ourselves 'out there'. God knows how many times we’ve rolled our eyes at the endless stream of self-aggrandising posts on LinkedIn. 🙄 But I always come back to some of the best advice my Gran ever gave me: “whatever anyone else thinks about you is none of your business” and “get over yourself—you’re not that important.” (You can always count on a straight-talking Scottish Granny to humble you in under three seconds. 😂) Other inspiring voices on LinkedIn that continue to encourage us are those of Sean Anderson at Hoxo and David Wolstenholme at BrandMeBetter. Their messaging reminds me that human connection is at the heart of everything, and with the rise of AI and automation, it seems people are craving authenticity more than ever. So.... stepping into the digital spotlight is a new challenge for us. 😂 Rest assured, even if we don’t get this part right, we will ALWAYS deliver when it comes to supporting your business with critical hires and scaling your teams. 🌟 A new website and more exciting changes to come in 2025— and we can't bloody wait. Wishing a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to all!🎄 #PersonalGrowth #CET2025