The purpose of the present study was to explore the prior educational and employment experiences of staff members in urban Aboriginal human services agencies. A total of 44 individuals employed by one of three community sites within one Canadian inner city generated 85 unique responses to the question: "What were your employment and education experiences before you got this job?" Multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis of independent grouping of the responses by 16 participants revealed five underlying themes: formal education, helping others, holder of cultural knowledge, life experiences, and on-the-job training. These results were compared and contrasted with the available literature. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)