Hello! I'm Anna Gordon.

I don't just talk a good game about career navigation and reinvention, I've lived it!

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

When I started out in career development, it was the "wild west" of professions. It was the career I never knew I wanted. As an emerging field, it wasn't listed in any course book or "what I should do with my life" guide. I just knew that, for me, the job search process was a fun and challenging problem to solve - one that I wanted to help others with. Having no idea where to begin, I took out the Yellow Pages (high five to my people who are old enough to know what this is!) and spent hours looking up and then calling any place I could find that helped people with work. I wanted to know if there were people doing what I wanted to do, and how I could get started. I set up meetings, asked questions, talked to anyone who would speak with me. I developed a plan to leverage my existing skills to get my foot in the door so I could work my way up. The rest, as they say, is history. (There is, of course, more to the story but...that will require more time and a few cups of coffee.)

EARLY DAYS & RESUMES

Resume design and development was my passion and speciality for many years. It was my art form, my creative outlet, my intellectual work. I wrote resumes for friends, family members, colleagues, newcomers, at-risk youth, high school students, new post-secondary graduates, experienced professionals. In this area, I was an elite athlete. Like all athletes, however, there eventually came a time to retire when my worn out hands could no longer keep up. Although I no longer write resumes, my many years of experience in this area have provided wonderful insights into personal branding, self marketing, and strategy that I still use to the benefit of my clients to this day.

NON-LINEAR CAREER ADVENTURES

People often assume that a successful career is best designed as a linear path from point A to B. For most people, including myself, this is not the case. (See? You can stop stressing about the perfect plan. You're welcome.)

Although I would define myself as a long-time career professional, I have certainly enjoyed some non-traditional career adventures that have provided learning and opportunities that I could never have imagined. Here are a just a few: 

• working at a food bank for a year to learn more about food insecurity (aka HUNGER), the cycles of poverty, and the plight of the working poor
• teaching fitness classes and making the beautiful connection between movement, mental health, and career satisfaction
• closing my booking calendar for a year to work on a "no shame, no blame" climate action education project with a wonderful group of people that I've come to adore

These experiences that strayed from the traditional career path helped to enhance my learning, broaden my world view, expand my network, and provide perspectives that continue to positively influence my work and my own career journey.