About Us
History
Founded in 2007, WayFinders Careers was created in response to an increasing demand for career transition and career management-related consulting services by experienced professionals and recent college graduates seeking assistance from their college/university career centers and alumni associations.
Structure
WayFinders is a virtual organization. The partners and consultants are located throughout the United States, giving us the flexibility and nimbleness to quickly and effectively respond to the needs of our clients no matter where they reside. Depending on the situation, consultative services can be delivered remotely or in person.
Our Approach
At WayFinders we don’t believe in the “one size fits all” philosophy, nor do we follow a career counseling recipe. There are no standardized formulas – only methodologies, approaches and techniques to be adapted to the specific needs of our clients. The phrase, “It depends,” comes into play quite a bit in our work.
Who We Are
WayFinders founders and consultants hold Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral degrees and each possesses more than 25 years of recruiting or career counseling experience. Where appropriate, we augment our talent base with industry experts to assist in assessing and coaching to the specific experience and career goals of our clients. We have direct experience in retail, high tech- hardware and software, OEM manufacturing, government, banking, accountancy, small business, non-profits and education. Over the course of our careers, we have:
- demonstrated a commitment to the development of positive career progression,
- been employed by Fortune 500 Companies and highly regarded academic institutions,
- developed a keen understanding of how to identify, recruit, develop, motivate and retain top talent,
- coached and counseled thousands of early-, mid- and late-stage professionals in best-of-class career development, career search and management principles, practices, strategies and tactics,
- evaluated thousands of resumes for professional positions and have been judged on the quality and retention of the individuals recruited, and
- served on professional association boards that focus on the relationships between the University career service and employers.
Meet Our Team
Tim Johnston – Managing Partner/Co-Founder
Tim’s background includes more than 30 years’ experience in the corporate staffing and career management/coaching fields. His sector and industry expertise includes high technology (hardware, software and services), manufacturing, biotechnology, retail, consumer packaged goods, accounting/finance, financial services and professional services.
Before launching WayFinders, Tim served as Vice President – Client Services at Torchiana, Mastrov and Sapiro, Inc. (TMS Consulting), the largest independently owned and operated outplacement and human resources consulting company in Northern California and a founding member of Career Partners International (CPI). Tim continues to maintain an ongoing consulting relationship with the firm and serves as a CPI certified Master Career Transition Consultant and company resource for all things social media.
Prior to TMS, Tim served as Director, Global Staffing at Saba Software, Inc. Previously, he developed and directed strategic staffing programs and initiatives at Cadence Design Systems, Inc., Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sun Microsystems, Inc., and The Clorox Company. Tim has also served as a recruiting consultant to a wide variety of industry, education and recruitment advertising clients.
Tim is widely regarded for his expertise in the recruiting and career management fields as well as his knowledge of the social media ecosystem and its applicability to career management, employment search campaigns and recruiting. He has been featured speaker and workshop leader at professional conferences and has received numerous national and regional awards recognizing his contributions to the profession.
Tim earned a B.A., International Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Career Partners International certified Master Career Management Consultant.
www.linkedin.com/in/worklifeyoda
Kathy Clayton – Partner/Co-Founder
Kathy Clayton has been a Human Resources Professional for 38 years. Her first position was with the U. S. Central Intelligence Agency where she spent 10 years in professional recruitment and staffing. Kathy left the CIA and joined a large international manufacturing corporation (up to 23,000 employees) headquartered in Portland, Oregon where she held positions of increasing responsibility leading to senior manager.
Kathy has managed professional staffing, college recruitment, international immigration and relocation, mergers, employee performance and career development, EEO programs and OFCCP reporting, reductions in force, administered compensation, benefits, executive and employee perquisites, and developed human resources policy.
Kathy has served on various boards, including President of the Western Association of Colleges and Employers, and on committees for the Society of Human Resources Management. She is an Honorary Life Member of the Mountain Pacific Association of Colleges and Employers—the highest level of recognition that can be achieved in that organization.
Kathy graduated from Portland State University and returned to Portland State to earn a certificate in Human Resources Management.
www.linkedin.com/in/kathleen-clayton
Sue Hansen – Partner/Co-Founder
Sue Hansen brings over 25 years of experience in the fields of sales, marketing, recruitment, training and development. Most recently, Sue was the Director of Recruiting for Deloitte & Touché, LLP in the Northern Pacific Region, a member of the Executive Diversity Council for the region, the National Recruiting Council and the Board of the Deloitte Career Connection for the firm. Before accepting the position with Deloitte she was Vice President of Recruiting Resources at Bank of America with responsibility for approximately 27,000 positions in Northern California, ranging from the tellers to the traders, College and Diversity Recruiting programs nationwide, all open executive level positions worldwide and all vendor relations relative to the acquisition and outplacement of talent.
Sue’s retailing background includes various Director level positions at Marshall Fields in Chicago and Macy’s California. She sold phone systems for Pacific Bell and offset lithographic supplies and equipment for 3M. Her knowledge of the inner workings of such organizations as 3M, Marshall Fields, Macy’s, Bank of America and Deloitte combined with her first hand experience with re-engineering, down-sizing, right-sizing, mergers, acquisitions, outsourcing make her uniquely qualified to assist individuals, teams and organizations not only survive change but thrive during the process.
Sue has served on a number of boards including the Western Association of Colleges and Employers and, most recently as President of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). Sue has been named to their Academy of Fellows, the highest honor to be bestowed upon members in the recruitment and career services profession. She is one of only 5 employers to ever have received this honor.
Sue graduated from UC Berkeley with a major in psychology and sociology. She earned her masters in counseling from California State University East Bay and is a Certified Empowerment Coach. She has recently been certified in IPEC Energy Leadership Assessment tool.
Meet Our Consultants
Tom Ballantyne
Tom Ballantyne is a counselor and coach with more than 25 years of experience in helping people navigate the world of work. His practice centers on successful transitions for job seekers and career changers from diverse backgrounds, from recent graduates looking for their first “real” job, to later-career individuals seeking greater meaning in their work or a career reboot.
Working in partnership with his clients, he takes them step by step through the process of transition, from clarifying values and goals to planning the journey and finding ways to overcome the obstacles that may arise along the way.
Tom was previously a senior consultant for Torchiana, Mastrov & Sapiro, the largest independent career management solutions firm in Northern California. Prior to joining TMS, he was director of the Graduate Business Career Center at San Francisco State University. Before entering the counseling field, he was a retained executive search consultant in San Francisco. He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from San Francisco State University and holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Santa Clara University.
Some of the services and support he provides his clients include: Assessment (MBTI, Strong Interest Inventory, Values Driven Work, Skillscan, Knowdell Career Values & Motivated Skills, etc.); job search skills training; mock interview sessions; informational interviewing techniques; job search strategy; offer evaluation and salary negotiation; successful networking, communication skills training, and working with social media.
www.linkedin.com/in/careerdoctor
Bill Wingard
Bill Wingard is a career advisor who specializes in helping clients prepare for and apply to professional school, including medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, physician assistant, nursing, and all other health professions; law school; business school; engineering; public policy; international affairs; education and counseling; social work; and psychology.
Mr. Wingard attended Villanova University, receiving a BS in Biology, minor in psychology, and then attended Wake Forest University’s master’s program in counseling. He has been a career advisor since 1976 (40+ years experience!), and a specialist in graduate and professional school advising since 1994. Bill was formerly the Director of Career Planning and Placement at California Lutheran University (8 years), and has been a Career and Graduate School Advisor at UC San Diego from 1987 to 2016. He was the Lead Advisor at UCSD for the past several years.
In addition to career advising, Bill has a strong interest in international education. He was chosen to work at Oxford University for an international job exchange, serving their science students. And he has visited many medical schools around the world, and often consults with people who desire an international medical education.
Mr. Wingard is an emeritus member of NAAHP, and has presented at their national meetings on topics related to pre-med advising and post-bac pre-health programs, in addition to running their training sessions for new advisors.
Bill is currently teaching new physicians and pharmacists from the Middle East, Asia and Latin America who are in the US applying to residency positions in UCSD’s “Bridge to Residency” program. He also teaches pre-med students in UCSD’s Post-Baccalaureate program.
www.linkedin.com/in/billwingard
What Our Clients Say
” I had the pleasure of working with WayFinders Careers when I was struggling to find a job in the biotech industry. I had recently gone back to get a certificate to help with my job search, but my job prospects were still slow in coming. My coach and I worked on my elevator pitch, networking at my school’s job fair, and fine-tuning my resume and cover letter. My consultant suggested a number of different angles to tackle job searching that I would not have thought of on my own, and I was able to take advantage of them and land a job that excites me.”
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“Very informative and helpful interview preparation and practice with my coach. I was uncertain regarding the question, “Tell me about yourself.” My consultant provided an explanation of how the reply is evaluated in the overall interview analysis from the employer’s point of view.”
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“Thank you so much for your help in this stressful graduate school application process … I was in an endless pit of despair, wondering how I was going to be able to write something the admissions committee wouldn’t immediately reject. My WayFinders consultant walked me through every word and went above and beyond my expectations. The stress has subsided and I’m actually excited to apply and see how admissions responds.”
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“My WayFinders coach was such an asset during my graduate school application process. I needed someone who would meet me in person when I wanted it, but they were also great at responding promptly to my emails with online resources and editing suggestions. Together, we broke the application process down into achievable steps and created a timeline of tasks to keep me on track. With my consultant’s guidance, my CV is the strongest it’s ever been, and I’ve received positive comments from graduate advisors at multiple schools.”
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“When I first contacted WayFinders, we had just been through some drastic cuts at my workplace, and although my position at work was secure for the near future, I wanted to prepare myself to look for my next job. But I didn’t know how to present myself, having split my professional life between two very different industry sectors. I felt at loose ends to define what my next move could be.
From our first phone call (I live in New York and my coach was in California), I felt that I could speak very honestly and candidly, and, in return, would be getting honest, constructive feedback. We were soon able to identify those aspects of my background that were common to both my worlds of work. We were able to draw examples from each to present myself effectively to potential employers and to demonstrate the cross-over skills that set me in good stead to work in other sectors.
I began to appreciate those qualities that I uniquely can bring to the workplace and with that knowledge in hand, I was able to re-approach my resume with fresh eyes, which was a tremendous gift.
I feel that I have a real champion in my consultant and that has made all the difference in this difficult process.”
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“Last year I participated in two webinars that you hosted for the Cal Alumni Association and found both very helpful. I would now like to explore how you might be able to assist me in my current job search.”
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“Thank you, WayFinders Careers, for providing this and other professional development webinars free to the public!”
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“WayFinders’ webinars are great…please keep them coming!”