Sean and I have a new favourite beer. It’s true. We’ve converted. And it’s not just because our first few days at Steam Whistle Brewery, located in downtown Toronto, have been surreal.

Elizabeth, our Steam Whistle rep and big CN Tower fan, picked us up at the airport and drove us to our accommodation for the night: a condo on the pristine downtown waterfront, mere steps from the Tower itself. It was a quiet evening, spent unpacking our gear and getting Sean pumped for his big introduction at the brewery.

Sean spent his first day meeting the staff, all the way from the brewery floor to the office. The most surprisingly thing for me was the fact that everyone in the office sits together in a big, hardwood space - including the brewery founders Greg and Cam. No corner offices here. In such an environment, the creative vibe is easy to feel, and it comes across in the interactions between all the employees. They really seem to enjoy their work.

A brief interview with Toronto personality Jojo Chintoh from CityTV livened up the afternoon. Since we’re from Vancouver, we’d never actually heard of him, but the Steam Whistle staff were buzzing during his visit.

That night Sean’s bartending skills were put to the test at a silent auction fundraiser for cancer, held in the adjacent event space in the brewery roundhouse. It’s a beautiful room with high ceilings, massive windows, and plenty of Steam Whistle on tap.

Early this morning we were driven out to Hamilton, ON for a radio interview at Y108 Rock FM, where Sean got to talk about his intimate dealings with cows during his stint as a Dairy Farmer. After returning to the brewery, Sean spent most of the day out on the line, packing fresh bottles of beer for delivery.

City TV reporter (and CommandN) Amber Mac dropped by for a quick interview.

Everyone here has been so incredible, it’s actually difficult to convey the experience accurately through writing, (which is mostly why we’re doing the TV Show). Steam Whistle’s business mentality, fusing your passion with your work, is exactly what the One Week Job project is all about.

Greg and Cam, the Steam Whistle founders have a wealth of knowledge about what it takes to envision and find your passion - after all, they did it. They built their brewery from the ruins of their previous workplace, combined the best of the old and the new, and now find themselves living their dream, everyday.

Anyway, it’s only Day 2 here, so Sean has plenty more lined up for the week, including an appearance on Breakfast TV tomorrow morning, a sampling at a yacht club, and a few client visits out on the road with the Steam Whistle sales team.

Until next time!

– Ian

This week I will be working with “The Good Beer Folks” at Steam Whistle Brewing, one of the few independently owned Canadian breweries around. They are located in the heart of downtown Toronto and apparently brew an incredible Pilsner (I will be sure to do some research and get back to you on that one).

Elizabeth, who works in the marketing department at Steam Whistle, was really awesome to take time out of her Sunday to pick Ian and I up from the airport yesterday. She had a schedule all made up for the week and it looks like it is going to be pretty busy. I have heard only good things about Steam Whistle and everyone that works there, so I am really looking forward to the week and I am sure it will be a lot of fun.

Today I will be helping out with the tours of the brewery and then bartending tonight at an event sponsored by Steam Whistle. Throughout the week, I will also get to do some brewing, bottling, deliveries, sales… and of course probably the most important, remembering to take time for the necessary tasting to ensure quality control;)

We started filming for the first episode of One Week Job which will be coming out next week. We are currently looking for sponsors for each weekly episode - get all the details on our ‘Show‘ page!

If you are in the Toronto area, I will be on Breakfast Television Wednesday morning talking about One Week Job and my week at Steam Whistle. Better yet, if you do live in Toronto, make sure to pop in to the brewery, say hello, and jump on a tour!

See you there!

-Sean

Ian and I are almost all set to head out to Toronto tomorrow. We bought a new camera on Thursday and have most of what we need for the show - thanks to Fiddy who set us up with some great equipment he used when set a goal to hitch hike through all 50 States in 50 days last year. Was he able to do it? Well, see for yourself - Hitch50

We are still in need of a wireless microphone which we are hoping to pick up in Toronto. If anybody out there has one that they are looking to get rid of, please send us an email or give us a call.

These next few weeks are going to be pretty busy and will be a lot of fun. I am really excited to start shooting footage and get the One Week Job show going. It will really help to show what I am up to each week and the experience I have been having so far.

It was great to be home for the week, see family and friends and finally get some sleep. It’s incredible how easy it can be to slip back into that comfortable feeling of being at home so quickly. I had gotten used to living outside of my comfort zone, constantly changing locations, changing jobs, continually meeting new people. I have only been here a week and already I feel a sense of nervous excitedness about leaving the comfortable feeling of home and heading back out on the road. Though, I guess that’s what it’s all about.

My friends wedding is this afternoon, then we will be on the plane bright and early tomorrow morning on our way to Toronto. Do you live in Toronto? Myself, Ian and some of our new friends from the week will most likely be going out somewhere next Friday night, August 3rd - you should come!

-Sean

Mark Anderson recently wrote a provocative column for the Ottawa Sun, examining Sean and the One Week Job project from a new angle.

He writes:

“To a greater or lesser extent, we’re all defined by what we do. Worse yet if we’re not doing what we think we should be doing, if we’re not “living up to our potential” (an angst-ridden phrase if ever there was one). Young people in particular struggle with issues of identity and career, of who they are and what they should be doing with their lives.”

I believe this partly explains Sean’s own decision to strike on the road, searching for that “perfect job” that could define who he is in life, and what he has accomplished.

But is Sean the guy to do it? As Mark continues:

“You can argue that Aiken is not an ideal role model for today’s youngsters, that by age 25 he’s no longer a child, but a man, and men work at careers, and careers, by definition, involved a degree of stick-to-it-ness and stamina, and sometimes even clenched jaws and indigestion.”

That’s not to say you should mistake arbitrary hard work for an inability to explore your options. Says Mark,

“If you graduate high school and know in your heart of hearts what it is you want to do with the rest of your life, by all means get on with it. Few, however, are in this rarefied position.”

In the end, does anyone really find their purpose in life? And can it be combined with their passion? One reader defined the idea of purpose in a unique way, that certainly fits the idea for One Week Job:

“Like so many of us who believe we don’t know our “Purpose” and need to find it - our purpose truly is more of a guide or compass than an actual destination. “

What do you think about purpose and passion? Share your thoughts in the comments!

I am currently in Vancouver for a good friends wedding this weekend. I am not working a One Week Job this week - Ian and I are trying to get things all organized to head out to Toronto this Sunday where we will start production of our new Internet TV Show.

Here is something that Ian brought to my attention a while back that I thought was pretty cool.

There are so many definitions of the word success, and so I don’t really like using the word too much. But, no matter how you define it, here is great video describing what some “successful” people have said on how they got to where they did.

We are always told these things, just a matter of starting to believe in it I guess.

Greetings everyone! This is Ian here, excited to add my first post to the blog. I thought I’d kick things off with a brief reminder and description of the One Week Job RSS feed.

Basically, an RSS feed (which stands for ‘Really Simple Syndication’) is an easy for you to stay updated on all the One Week Job blog posts. You can subscribe to the feed, and your feed reader automatically grabs the latest.

Here’s a short video “RSS In Plain English” (thanks to Common Craft) that will help demystify the process:

Make sense? If you have any questions, let us know! Otherwise, if you scroll down you’ll see an icon and a link to our RSS feed on the right hand side. Or just right-click this link and copy the feed into your reader.

Voila! Until next time…

– Ian

NEW SHOW

As of July 30th, One Week Job will become an Internet TV Show/video podcast!

A new episode will be released after each One Week Job and will begin production next week in Toronto, ON when I am working with Steam Whistle Brewing Company. Part reality-tv/part adventure series, each episode will run approximately 10 minutes and will document my journey, what jobs I am doing, interviews with my employers, what I am learning, the people I am meeting a long the way, how I am getting city to city, where I am staying, etc.

I am pretty pumped about the start of the new show! It can be difficult to accurately relate the experience I am having and all that I am learning simply by using blog posts. With the show, it will be easier to share the experience as others can join me for the journey, feel a part of the adventure, be inspired, and hopefully learn with me.

Check out ‘the show‘ section to find out more!

We are currently looking for sponsors for each weekly episode, so if you, your company, or anyone you think may be interested in getting some publicity and would want to get involved, we would really appreciate if you could pass on the word about the project.

If you would like to sponsor an episode, you can contact me through email, oneweekjob@gmail.com , or call me on my cell, 416-735-9335.

NEW TEAM MEMBER

Ian Mackenzie is my best friend. He has been helping me with One Week Job since I decided to go through with the idea and start working on the website in January. Ian will be coming on the road with me starting next week Monday, July 30th in Toronto - he will be filming and editing our weekly episodes, as well as contributing to the blog.

If you are a Survivor fan, you may have come across Ian before - he started a campaign a while back in which he was trying to convince the producers at CBS to let him on Survivor. He made an online petition, received over 5000 signatures including the endorsements of many past Survivor contestants. However in the end CBS didn’t budge and would not open up the show to Canadian applicants.

As of this week, you will see Ian contributing to the site - writing posts, musings, updates from the road… etc.

It is going to be awesome having Ian on the road and he will really be able to contribute to the project. He is a great writer, has amazing web skills, and pretty much just an amazing guy.

If you are in need of a great website marketing consultant - looking to improve your company’s online identity, change your websites look, increase traffic, search engine optimization, lay out, basically anything web related - check out his website.

NEW LOOK

If this is your first time visiting the site, then you won’t notice a difference. But if you have been here before, then you may have noticed the site has a new look.

I am not a fan of the photo in the header but Ian insists it was the best he could find - I am not convinced. Anyways, let us know what you think!

A store to end all stores. I have never seen a store before like Agnew’s General Store. The variety of things in there is really quite remarkable, how they keep up with all the ordering and dealing with that many distributors I have no idea.

You could find anything you could ever possibly need in that store, and then to top it all off, you could head across the street when you are done shopping and pick up an ice cream cone for the road.

I spent the week doing a bunch of different things, I got to fold t-shirts, sort mail, work in the garden center, price and shelf items, help with deliveries, cut a key… well, it’s a General Store so pretty much a whole lot general stuff.

I realize the best part of all my jobs is all the cool people that I get to meet week after week. I really enjoyed getting to know the Barker family here in Wilberforce and that was a huge part of my experience here. We spent a lot of time visiting, we went to this old house that was turned into a movie theatre, played restaurant with the kids, and my week in Wilberforce would not have been complete without going Geocaching. Wilberforce, Ontario is the Geocaching Capital of Canada. So, when in Rome…

Continue reading this post >>

GEN Y JOURNEY: ONE WEEK JOB

18 jobs, 18 bosses: insights into a great employer

SEAN AIKEN

July 20, 2007

Last week, I was the race director for a triathlon in the Northern Ontario town of Marathon. Essentially, I helped co-ordinate the logistics of the event and made sure everything ran smoothly. The week before, I was in Ottawa serving breakfast and cleaning rooms at a bed and breakfast. Before that, in Montreal, I was working with a distribution company in which we picked wild plant products, processed them and then sold them to high-end restaurants in town. Before that, it was helping to match people and employers at a recruiting agency …

In the past 18 weeks, I have held 18 jobs, and, along the way, have had to work for 18 different bosses.

In my search for an ideal career, I continue to discover characteristics of a work environment that I believe will help make me happy. Obviously, one of these characteristics is a great employer.

I am sure at some point we have all had bosses who, for whatever reason, just didn’t click with us. Maybe they didn’t communicate effectively, did not share the same outlook, or perhaps they were simply not that nice.

So what makes a good boss? Reflecting on the past 18 weeks, I have been able to identify key traits that I found consistently apparent in the employers I have had the opportunity to work with.

Continue reading this post >>

I received this offer quite early on in One Week Job and I am pretty sure that I decided I had to go immediately after I finished reading it. So, here I am - Read for yourself!
___________

Hello Sean!

Bring your hard working self to Wilberforce, Ontario to Agnew’s General Store and experience the retail business in cottage country. A family owned and operated business since 1921, we’re five generations deep. In fact, until Grama passed away just last month, you could have easily found four generations standing side by side on any given day!

Located at the centre of the Geocaching Capital of Canada, Wilberforce is a small community that grows in size with the arrival of the cottagers and outdoor enthusiasts in the summer. Looking at a map of Ontario, you’ll find us at the southern tip of Algonquin Provincial Park, a great place to canoe/kayak, horseback ride or hike.

Agnew’s General Store has grown since 1921 with the addition of the Garden Shed, Eileen’s Ice Cream Shop and the Cache Stash so there’s no end to the action around here. Just when you’ve finished helping Elsie find the butter and have Larry’s plumbing needs all figured out, Eileen’s Ice Cream shop needs an extra scooper. And when everyone is happily licking their cones, away you dash to load 30 bags of cow manure into someone’s little Mazda.

Enjoy talking to the different groups that gather to chat, linger over the giftware or ponder whether they need one half or three quarter inch screws for that new deck. Some people rush in to get steak for the BBQ and others spend hours strolling through the outdoor Garden Shed but each one has a story to tell.

In addition to above mentioned daily action, you may also have the pleasure of:
wrapping produce
running the cash register
finding someone a toilet plunger
filling the milk case
unloading the hardware truck
talking to the locals
watering the flowers
sampling the fudge (yep!)
dusting the giftware
talking to some cottagers
sweeping the floor
cutting a key
talking to some campers
mixing some paint
grinding some hamburger
talking to some geocachers
weighing some grass seed
filling the coffee pot
dead heading the petunias
talking to some visitors
putting together a wheelbarrow
re-folding some shirts
or pricing the eggs
(but no grass cutting, that’s Harley’s job)

By Friday you’ll know the difference between a Porterhouse and a T-Bone steak, you’ll wow your friends with your knowledge of cottage plumbing solutions and in the future, you’ll know exactly which flowers to put in that planter on the end of your dock!

And as if that wasn’t enticing enough, we have a spare room at our house and could use a good dishwasher/baby sitter. We even have a trampoline!

For fun, after hours we swim and kayak in the many lakes, ride our bikes and hike the surrounding forests. And to really top off your stay, we’ll take you geocaching! (Treasure hunting with a high tech twist… a GPS!) A man with your sense of adventure is sure to appreciate a good cache and the Geocaching Capital of Canada has just that!