Shirin Khamisa BA BEd
Licensed HeartMath Provider
Shirin founded Careers by Design 20 years ago with one goal: more happy Mondays. She created the Connect Head & Heart approach — and leads the team of coaches and counsellors who practise it across Canada.
Queen's UniversityEnglish Literature & Concurrent Education
University of TorontoPost-degree study, Career Development
Careers by DesignFounder · Creator of Connect Head & HeartThe synthesizer behind Connect Head & Heart
Shirin Khamisa knows what it feels like to be stuck. Before she found her calling, she was frustrated and under-utilized at work, wondering if a career that truly fit her even existed. Navigating her own successful transitions — from teaching, through brand marketing in pharmaceutical and not-for-profit companies, to founding her own practice — became the raw material for everything she built next.
What she built is unusual. Rather than choosing one school of thought, Shirin spent two decades collecting and testing them: degrees in English Literature and Education from Queen's University, post-degree training in career development at the University of Toronto and coaching at Adler Learning International, ICF coach certification, a HeartMath licence, and deep study of cognitive and energy-based techniques for emotional mastery. Where others saw separate disciplines, she saw pieces of one puzzle: real career change is mental, emotional, and practical all at once.
Her synthesis became Connect Head & Heart — Careers by Design's signature approach, grounded in research and backed by a 95% client satisfaction rate. It pairs scientifically validated tools and traditional career strategy with techniques that quiet stress and surface what you actually want. Twenty years on, Shirin has helped thousands of people in one-on-one sessions, is a regular contributor to national news media and television, and leads a hand-picked, Canada-wide team of career, life, and leadership coaches trained in her approach.
What does that mean for you? You don't get a counsellor or a coach or a strategist — you get an approach that integrates all three, designed by someone who needed it herself and refined across thousands of clients: clarity on what drives you, confidence in your value, and a practical plan for what's next.
Education & Credentials
"Your work should give you energy, not drain it. Our approach connects head and heart — so you understand yourself at a deeper level, manage stress, and build a career that fits exactly who you are."
One method, woven from many disciplines
Most practitioners pick a lane. Shirin's contribution was recognizing that career change doesn't happen in one lane — and building a method that works in all three at once.
The head
Traditional career counselling and strategy: validated assessments, Personality Dimensions and Career Dimensions facilitation, VIA Character Strengths, and the practical work of direction-setting, job search, and interviews.
The heart
HeartMath biofeedback and techniques for emotional mastery — including EFT and TAT — that reduce stress and clear the anxiety, doubt, and overwhelm that block good career decisions.
The bridge
ICF-certified coaching that connects insight to action: a customized program that creates change at an accelerated pace and teaches you to design your career — and your life — for yourself.
Every coach and counsellor on the Careers by Design team is trained in this methodology — so whoever you work with, you get the benefit of Shirin's synthesis.
Working with Shirin
Three things clients notice from the very first session.
Someone who's been there
Shirin's insight comes from navigating her own career transitions — from frustrated and under-utilized to founder of a national practice. She understands the challenge from the inside, not just the textbook.
The whole picture, not just the resume
Her holistic approach addresses the mental, emotional, and practical dimensions of career change together — because a new job title doesn't help if the underlying pattern comes with you.
Founder-level perspective
Twenty years, thousands of clients, regular national media contributions, and a team she trained personally. You're working with the person who wrote the method.
Q&A interview
Hear Shirin talk about why she founded Careers by Design, what the Connect Head & Heart approach looks like in practice, and what twenty years of coaching have taught her about how careers really change.
Start your journey to More Happy Mondays
Book a free chat with our team — we'll match you with the coach or counsellor best suited to your goals, all trained in Shirin's Connect Head & Heart approach.
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