How do you know if a shoe fits? You try it on for size.
How do you know if a career fits? You try it on for size. That’s the best way to go about reality testing a career and answer the question “What career is right for me?”
Sean Aiken took the concept of reality testing to the extreme. He graduated from Capilano University in Canada, with a degree in business administration. He had a 4.0 GPA and was voted class valedictorian.
After graduating, he travelled around the world for a year-and-a-half before returning to live with his parents. At this point, he was still unsure of what to do with his life.
One day, during a family dinner, Sean’s father told him, “Sean, it doesn’t matter what you do, just make sure it’s something you’re passionate about.”
Shortly after, Sean started his 52-week journey, which he called the The One Week Job Project.
Here’s how it worked:
- Anyone, anywhere, could offer Sean a job for one week.
- Any money he earned for the work, he asked the employer to donate.
- Sean earned a total of $20,401.60.
Why did he want to do this:
In Sean’s own words…
Well, I think a mistake that a lot people make is that they focus on the end title – a specific career tile that they are looking for. They want to be a teacher or a doctor, lawyer, etc. – but they don’t actually think about the characteristics that goes into the job:
- What’s the lifestyle like?
- What are the type of people that you”re going to be working with?
- What’s the work environment like?
So I wanted to start with basically nothing on the table and ask myself things like:
- What is there that I need in a career to make me happy?
- How can I start learning about the characteristics that I’d like to have in a career?
Then I could start piecing the puzzle together.
So he worked is several locations around USA and Canada, in jobs such as an air force pilot, association professional, cowboy, fire-fighter, park ranger, astronomer, preschool teacher, motivational speaker, realtor, photographer, baker, stock trader, exterminator, rock climbing instructor, bartender, advertising executive, hotel worker, innkeeper, marketer and yoga instructor.
During the year, Sean’s best friend accompanied him on the road and recorded short videos of his experiences/jobs. You can see many of these here - What Career Is Right For Me - Webisodes.
After the 52 weeks, it looks like the One Week Project turned into Sean’s job 
and he’s launched a book, documentary as well as tours.
Do you know what you want to do with your life? What steps are you taking to find a career which you will find enjoyable and engaging?
