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The One-Week Job Project: One Man, One Year, 52 Jobs (2010)

by Sean Aiken(Favorite Author)

3.16 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0345508033 (ISBN13: 9780345508034)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Villard

review 1: What an interesting book. This young man graduated at valedictorian from his college but really had no idea of what he wanted to do with his life. His father's advice was to choose something that you are passionate about. Since he just couldn't make up his mind, despite his degree in business, he came up with the idea of trying many different jobs. As a matter of fact, he decided to try a job a week for the next year, searching for the career that would make him happy. He set up a website/blog and sent out a bunch of emails to friends and family in order to set up the first few jobs. He got a few responses and decided to go with his soccer coach's suggestion--to be a bungee jump master. Then he was off and running. The media picked up the story and brought the webs... moreite to the public's attention. Soon he was getting lots of choices of jobs. As a matter of fact, he ended up getting 204 offers (and only took 52, of course). The jobs he chose were usually something he was interested in trying, and somewhere he could get to. He got a sponsor who provided living expenses in return for a banner on the website. And many places offered travel expenses and places to stay while he was there. He tried jobs ranging from Hawaii to eastern Canada to Florida. He was a vet assistant, exterminator, preschool teacher, firefighter, air force recruit, cowboy, NHL mascot, tattoo artist, innkeeper, recruiter, pizza maker, and many other jobs. The book was fascinating and very readable. Aiken sounds like a very outgoing fellow who is confident in himself and interested in everyone around him. He was open to new ideas and spent a lot of time talking to his mentors about themselves and their choices, while learning about the jobs they do.Some insightful quotes include: (from the snowshoe guide) "Life's about chances. It's too short not to take those chances...I don't want to be sixty-five thinking, Ah, I wish I'd done that. It I do it and it doesn't work out, then fine, it didn't work, try something different."(from the florist) "In school, my teachers always claimed they were teaching me skills that would prepare me for the "real world." That they made a point of distinguishing it from whatever world I was in at the time made this so-called real world a bit intimidating to me."(from the brewmaster) "My advice is to get into the workforce, no matter what job you have to take or what you have to do. Because the day you start working is the day you start building usable real-world experience. If you can be positive about whatever job it is you're doing--even though it may not be your passion or what you want to do for your life--but if you can learn to be positive, then you're in a position where you're soaking up the experience."(from the park ranger) "I see life as if it were one continuous trail, he said. There's no use thinking about what you should have done or what would have happened if you had chosen another trail. The best you can do is cope with the conditions in front of you. And if you're lucky, you've come well enough prepared."
review 2: **BOOK CLUB ROUND 15**We grabbed The One Week Job Project as part of one of our beloved Buy 2, Get 3rd Free sales at Barnes & Noble. The book follows author Sean Aiken as he tries out 52 jobs for one week each over the course of a year. The jobs range everywhere from firefighter to hockey mascot as you get to hear dozens of different perspectives on how to find happiness in the work place. Sean seems like a truly great human being and the knowledge and experiences found in this book would make it a perfect graduation gift for anyone leaving high school or college. less

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