After graduating college in 2010, Sean Aiken worked 52 jobs in 52 weeks to discover his passion. Along the way, Sean learned more about who he is, the value of communities around him, what drives people to choose a career, and what ultimately makes them happy. We’ll be showing the documentary film of his experience, One Week Job (2010, dir. Ian McKenzie) as the final event in our Careers, Conflicts, and Callings series at 7 pm Thursday, Nov. 7th in Science Laboratory Center (SLC) 120. And Sean Aiken himself will be in attendance for the night as our special guest to introduce his film, answer questions, and discuss his experience!
Special Winona State Guest Speaker Sean Aiken
During the course of his One Week Job experience, Sean travelled more than 46,000 miles, slept on 55 couches, and raised over $20,000 for charity. The jobs included being a Cowboy in Wyoming, an Air Force recruit in Trenton, Firefighter in Florida, Real Estate Agent in Beverly Hills, and so much more. Not only did he and director Ian McKenzie collaborate on the film we will show describing his project, he also wrote an acclaimed book about the experience.
Most recently, Aiken helped create the Wayfinding Academy, a two-year accredited college in Portland, Oregon at the heart of the movement to revolutionize higher education. Today, he is an Associate Professor there and travels North America and the world as a consultant and speaker. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, TIME, 20/20, The Rachael Ray Show, Good Morning America, CNN, MTV and numerous other media outlets around the world.
Director Ian Mackenzie
We are excited to bring One Week Job and Sean Aiken to campus as a part of this year’s Career Readiness theme. The film provides key insights on how to persevere when you lose your way, encounter stress, face setbacks, and confront problems.
Follow your passion. Despite setbacks, struggles and shortcomings, Sean continued on the year-long journey in pursuit of figuring out what he wanted to do with his life. But having followed his passion, he not only found his purpose, but he is devoted to helping others find theirs as well. Following your passion is where you’ll find your purpose and love doing it.
Life is always changing. No week was the same, in fact, no day was the same. That was a lesson Sean learned right away given all the jobs he worked over a 52-week span. That’s a lot of energy, a lot of time and a lot of change.
It’s up to you to find out for yourself. No one made Sean get up and do the work or complete the project. It was up to him to get it gone–to make sure he arrived to work on time, worked as hard as he could to figure out how he could execute the needs of each job. It’s on you to find out what you’re really made of!
Put yourself out there. You never know what blessings could come out of doing the things you are most afraid of, until you do it. And last …
Do what you love and love what you do! Almost every successful person Sean would talk to gave told him it’s about doing what you love and helping people along the way!
One Week Job will be showing at 7 pm Nov. 7th in Science Laboratory Center 120. This event is sponsored by Career Services, The Department of Communication Studies, and the Office of the Provost. For more updates, follow Winona State Film Studies on Facebook. We hope to see you there!
Admission is free and open to the public.
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