The Job Hunter's Guide to America: 50 Jobs in 50 States
America is supposed to be the Land of Opportunity. But Daniel Seddiqui couldn't get a job when he graduated college. So instead of whining or sponging off his parents, he decided to turn his disadvantage into an advantage - by doing 50 jobs in 50 states as a way of assessing employment in America in 2011. Daniel was up for most things - so he tried making cheese in Wisconsin, patrolling the Arizona border, packing meat in Kansas and mastering the mysteries of online marketing.
He didn't want just any job. He wanted a good cross-section. After all, his mission (if it panned out) would teach him as much about himself as about the job market. But he also wanted to gauge which were the good places - industries and locations -- to work, which were the promising positions and, of course, what should he avoid like the plague?
The good news
"I would say either alternative energy companies (currently oil & gas) or social marketing firms are great places to work," Seddiqui told me. "I worked as a petroleum engineer for Chevron and their industry has expanded outside of the use of oil, so there are lots of opportunities. Then I worked at a Internet marketing company, which has been exponentially expanding. Because of social media sites, like Twitter and Facebook, people are figuring out ways to expand their business and market themselves more effectively."
The bad news
"Whenever I worked an environment destructive job, like logging, oil rigging, or coal mining, it was pretty disturbing. Humans have always discovered natural resources and used them until extinction. The worst industry was coal. It wasn't just dangerous; it is dying because companies have started to switch to alternatives for energy."
"I was also disheartened by how disconnected and unnoticed the poor regions of America have been. I couldn't believe the contrast between living in the Mississippi Delta to a Beverly Hills, CA. Are the two regions even aware of each other? Who knows, maybe the wealthy would be more humble and less greedy, and the poor would be more inspired and motivated if they could at least see one another."
Great bosses are still out there
I wondered who Seddiqui's best boss had been. After all, he'd seen more leadership styles than most coaches ever do. "I worked as a landscape architect for Jim Deflon in Albuquerque," Seddiqui told me. "I had never been so jealous of anyone else before! He was always in a good mood, laughing and joking. He couldn't wait to wake up in the morning to start his workday again. If you're 60 years old, working the same job since you're a young adult and still excited to go to work then that should tell you something. He knows he does work that changes peoples lives and that's what keeps him going."
You have to believe
Perhaps the best news of all is that, after taking a lot of the rough with the smooth, Seddiqui isn't fundamentally downhearted. He knows more about America, and about himself, than he did before. And he isn't at all defeatist. "What makes someone successful is having an internal drive that fuels energy to do something productive, something worth their doing. If you can find that something, then nothing will stop you."
Photo courtesy of Daniel Seddiqui
For further reading:
How to Recover from Post-Vacation Blues
How to Go On Vacation and Still Be Productive
Warning: Your Employees Do Not Love Their Jobs