As I got up this morning, put on my suit, (which has been sitting in my suit case for the last three weeks), took out my map, and got on the metro to go to work; I thought to myself, wow, I am heading to my first day on the job in downtown Montreal with a company I have no previous knowledge of, have never met, and I have no idea what the week will entail.

This is ofcourse the case of most Monday mornings, but every now and then I find myself viewing the experience from an outside perspective and just think to myself, “Sean, this project you started is kind of crazy.” Definitely keeps life interesting I guess. I like to think of the quote; “A journey of a 1000 miles, begins with a single step.” I think that is one way I am able to keep moving forward; one step at a time.

I was speaking with the President of the company this morning, Nathalie Francisci, and I asked her how 10 years ago she chose her career path and started a head hunting firm. Her response was interesting and it made me think about ‘choosing’ careers in general. She said that she didn’t choose the career, and that in a way, it in fact had chose her. I guess if we truly love what we are doing, then there is really not too much choosing involved and it just kind of makes sense. It makes me think of happily married couples in which we often here how the decision to marry their spouse was the easiest decision of their life.

When One Week Job is all over, will I really choose a career, or will the different characteristics I identify as what I need in a work place situation, simply come together to form a career I will love doing? Sure, I chose to go on the journey and discover what these characteristics are, but what ‘career’ comes out in the end won’t be as difficult a choice as commiting to the journey in the first place.

I spent the morning organizing media interviews for the following week in Montreal. It should be quite busy, though I must say a big thanks to Carla Shore for helping me sort all that out.

Everyone working with Venatus Conseil Ltd. Talent Brokers is really nice and they were kind enough to show me how the whole recruiting process works. They had received a new mandate today so I was able to see how the process starts off. It is like detective work; generating a list of all potential candidates, qualifying these candidates and then narrowing them down until you find the right one.

Tomorrow a Quebec Television station (TQS) is coming into the office to do an interview which will be the first time that I give an interview about One Week Job in French. At times I find it difficult to express myself in English, so it should be interesting how I manage in French!

If you find yourself in dowtown Montreal tomorrow, drop by the office and say hello!

-Sean

PS - Pledge Your Passion

This week I will be working with Venatus Conseil Ltd. Talent Brokers, a corporate position recruiting firm based out of downtown Montreal, Quebec.

Venatus Conseil Ltd. has offered their services for large and medium-sized clients in Quebec since 1997. They are recognized for their expertise in the recruitment of corporate positions, with their main pratice areas consisting of accounting, finance, legal services and human resources.

It will be great to have a different perspective on the job search being able to look at the process from the other end. Hopefully I will end up with some good tips to share for all those out there in similar situations as me. However, I am a firm believer that the interview process should be equally focused on asking ourself the question; “Why do I want to work for this firm,” as much as it is from the employer asking; “Why would you make a good candidate for this firm.”

-Sean

I am all packed up after spending a few weeks here in Trois-Pistoles, Quebec and today I am on my way to Montreal to get ready to start work bright and early Monday morning. More on that later and how Week Thirteen finished up, but for now I have to hit the road.

I have not decided where I will be working the week after next, so if you have any offers, ideas, or are in the Montreal area and want to meet up, let me know!

-Sean

As a Certified Career Development Professional and in the role of Career Counsellor, I meet youth and parents in their homes. This is a special time. It’s a moment for the family unit to come together, reconnect, share perspectives, and listen with an open mind. Common questions center around which post secondary program to apply to, whether to work after high school or continue with post secondary education, which programs will be most useful, which job to apply for…

I’d like to let you in on a little secret based on my many years of career counselling experiences. The pressure to clearly answer these and other questions comes not from the youth, but instead from the parents.

With an abundance of exciting work opportunities awaiting today’s youth, it is no wonder that the vast amount of choices can quickly become overwhelming. Given this reality, we as parents reach out to our daughters and sons, and in support of their challenges to make the “right” career choices, tell them straight up that the most important thing is to be happy.

Attention Parents!! You can help your daughters and sons to do this, and they want you to. The career journey is not about one big decision regarding which program to take, which school to attend, which occupation to choose. Remind your teens that who they are, knowing themselves, following a life path that honours their interests, values, beliefs and passions is much bigger than any job or occupation.

~Robert Manolson

Robert is a Certified Career Development Professional based in Edmonton, Alberta and has over 25 years experience as a skilled speaker and persuasive presenter. Creator & Master Facilitator of Powerful Play Experiences, he facilitates organizations and groups in workplace fun & wellness workshops with highly engaging, innovative “Powerful Play Experiences.”

Learn more about Robert, or contact him through his webiste:
Powerful Play Experiences

Want to submit a guest post? Click here.

My week of work with CADFEL (Centre d’accueil et de formation en langues), a language school here in Trois-Pistoles, Quebec, hasn’t been all too exiting, but I did come to another realization which is great.

It is something I had previously recognized, yet I really understood it today; I really enjoy the creative process and developing a vision for the future. I was speaking with the president about the french immersion programs they have, ones they are thinking about developing, his passion to share the french language and expose as many other Canadians as possible to the distinct Quebec culture.

We were discussing the direction of the program and generating ideas as to how we can cultivate our vision of its future. During this talk, I had a lot of energy as I was contributing my ideas and was passionate about the possibilities and where it would lead. Then, I was assigned to do some research on the computer in which I was lucky not to fall asleep on a few occasions.

I realize that I am going to need to be in a creative position, a visionary type role in which I am sharing my vision with others and seeing the potential of a certain idea or opportunity. I am not all that interested in the day to day (for more than a week that is), yet I love to look to the future and develop a plan as to what needs to be done in order to get there. And thus, one step further…

My first article in the Globe and Mail came out today, I am not able to pick up a copy as I am currently in rural Quebec, though I could tell that my mom was pretty proud in an email this morning, so I guess it turned out pretty well.

Next week I would like to head to Quebec city, yet do not have a job lined up as of today, so perhaps I might just go straight to Montreal. If you have any contacts or ideas for potential One Week Jobs in Quebec city, or if you live in Quebec city and just want to meet up, give me a shout!

If you haven’t checked out the ‘Pledge Your Passion‘ section on the site as of yet, give it a read and make your promise today:)

keep searching,

-Sean

As of tomorrow, I will officially be able to call myself a columnist for the Globe and Mail.

I will writing a column for the Globe and Mail in the Careers section every second Wednesday about my experiences with One Week Job and what I am learning throughout the journey.

I am excited about the opportunity as it gives me another way to share what I am learning to a broad audience. Also, because it forces me to stop and think about what I am taking away from the experience. I have found that it can easily become distracting getting caught up with everything, that I don’t take the time to reflect on what I am learning.

My first column comes out in the Careers Section of tomorrows paper, Wednesday, June 13.

Pick up a copy and let me know what you think!

-Sean

This week I will be working with the language school here in Trois-Pistoles (C.A.F.E.L - Centre d’accueil et de formation en langues). This year is the schools 75th anniversary and is an awesome environment to be immersed in Quebec culture and learn the language.

There are few different programs here. If you are a student I would definitely take a look at the MyExplore program in which you can receive a bursary from the government to take a five week french immersion session.

The town is looking to increase the amount of programs offered here throughout the year and so I will be working with the school to figure out how the best way to go about that would be, is it feasible, what time of year, etc.

As of now, next week I will be heading into Quebec city.

-Sean

I would like to start using oneweekjob.com as a platform for others to share their stories regarding ‘One Week Job’ type themes.

I will still be blogging about what I am up to week to week, but I think by having other people contribute and share their stories, we can all learn from each others experience, share ideas, help others out, and open up a forum of discussion on different topics.

So as of now, if you would like to be a guest writer and contribute a post to the website, please send it to me in an email with the subject line: “Guest Post Submission”

The piece can be written any way you like and be of any length that you feel necessary. Tell us your story, what inspires you and why, what are you passionate about. Perhaps you are in the same situation as me; how are you going about finding your job, what scares you, what inspires you, what advice do you have.

Perhaps you are in a career that you love and want to share that experience with us, why are you passionate about it, how did you discover this is what you wanted to do, what advice do you have. Maybe you found the courage to leave an unhappy work situation and go after what you love doing, maybe you feel as though you are stuck in a rut and hate your job…

If you have a website, be sure to include a link so that we can direct people to your site and what you are up to. If you have a picture you would like to be included, send that too.

I look forward to hearing your story!

-Sean

I spent the last couple of days working at ‘Portes et Fenetres Bernier’ (Windows and Doors Bernier) in Trois Pistoles, Quebec. It has been a pretty quiet week so far at the shop as there are not too many jobs on-going at the moment. Which is really nice though because I have a lot of work currently trying to get some articles done for my potential future column in the Globe and Mail.

Tomorrow we are going out on the road to Riviere-du-Loup to make some installations. Here is a picture of me getting ready to hit the road.

Working at a ‘Windows and Doors’ company made me realize just how many jobs are out there constructing random products that we use everyday. I was attaching a mesh screen to a window frame and thought to myself; there is a company who simply makes mesh screens. How one gets into that business to begin with, I have no idea, but somebody has to do it and I am sure there are quite profitable.

I am curious if they are enjoy what they do? Who knows, but I am sure it is a good story how the person who started the company saw a need for mesh screens so went and started a mesh screen business. With summer coming up and the mosquitos coming out, I for one, am thankful they did.

-Sean

I was contacted several weeks ago by a media relations advisor from Vancouver, BC named Carla Shore. Carla has been nice enough to volunteer her over 15 years of experience in the communications field to help me out with organizing my media interviews, writing press releases, etc.

It has been a lot of work trying to organize my jobs, how I am getting there, where I will be staying… on top of trying to organize interview requests and it can sometimes be a little overwhelming. Carla contacted me at just the right time and was asking just the right price.

Her company, C-Shore Communications Inc., was started in 1998 and “offers expert public relations and writing services to create effective communications programs for private and public sector clients.” I am really grateful that Carla has so generously donated her time to help me out, as it will allow me to focus more on my jobs, the experience I am having, and what I am learning in the process.

If you or your company is in need of media relations advisor, Carla is awesome! She is easy to talk to, very nice, polite, helpful, and great at what she does.

You can reach her through email at info@cshore.ca, by phone at 604-731-0975 or check out her website: www.cshore.ca.

Thanks so much Carla!

-Sean