Ian and I left Vancouver just over three weeks ago now when we started filming of the One Week Job show. It is awesome having Ian on board. He is amazingly talented and brings so much to the project. He has done another great job in putting together the footage from last week at Princess Margaret and Episode #3 can now be viewed in the player on the homepage.
Having Problems With Video Player?
It's come to our attention that some people are having issues with the video player not working properly or not showing up at all. I figured out the likely problem: your flash player is not up to date. To fix it download the latest flash player here and follow the instructions. It takes a few seconds and you'll be good to go.
Once again, thanks for all your feedback and support!
My Bags Are Packed, I Am Ready To Go...
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
How To Subscribe To The One Week Job RSS Feed
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, New Team Member, New Look
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 Long Weekend In Quebec
I have the day off today as it is a holiday in Quebec - St. Jean Baptiste Day. I have been to a couple of St. Jean Baptiste day festivities in Quebec city which were a lot of fun, yet this weekend I decided to come down to Toronto and visit a friend. We went to Canada's Wonderland yesterday and so went on a bunch of rollercoasters and into the water park. It was nice to spend a day at the amusement park and just relax, as you may have noticed by the lack of entries this weekend. I am back in Montreal for Week Fifteen starting tomorrow and it should make for quite an interesting week. Not too sure how quite to describe it just yet, but will do my best and be sure to announce it for tomorrow morning.
The plan right now is still to head to Ottawa after Montreal, so if you have any offers for the week of July 2nd in Ottawa, check out the 'offers' section and send me an email.
-Sean
On The Road Again -> Montreal
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
One Step Further ; Another Lesson Learned
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
What's Your Story?
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
Meet My PR Consultant - Carla Shore
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
Looking For A NiceJob?
A big thank you to everyone at NiceJob.ca who have come on board as a sponsor of One Week Job to help me out with my travel expenses!
If you actually know what you are looking for in a career, unlike myself, be sure to check out NiceJob.ca. Nicejob.ca is the first Canadian job search engine and the most popular, continually browsing companies' career pages for the most recent job opportunities.
It provides job seekers quick and direct access to thousands of jobs found on various employer websites saving all the time and trouble it takes to go to each site individually, or from traveling throughout the country changing jobs each week to see what's out there.
jobWings Careers is the founder of Nicejob.ca and is the Canadian leader in specialized job boards with 14. These web sites are all part of Publipac.ca, Canada's only niche job board network.
Thanks so much jobWings, I really appreciate your support!
-Sean
Meetings, Oh Meetings
Just heading out for a couple of meetings with some people that I might potentially be working with to turn One Week Job into some form of documentary, tv series, or episodes to be released online week to week. I will let you know what comes of it! -Sean
Gill Deacon Show Cancelled
I found out today that the Gill Deacon show on CBC Television was cancelled due to poor ratings and so I won't be flown out to Toronto in a couple of weeks to do the show. They were going to have me on the show and film me doing all sorts of various jobs around the CBC Studios from being a Janitor to Show Programming, yet since the show has been cancelled it is no longer going to happen. It's really too bad as I was looking forward to it - also because I need to get out to Quebec after my best friends wedding on May 19th and so that would have gotten me well over half-way there at no cost! Anybody have a jet plane and plan on heading out that way sometime during that week?
In other news, I was recently contacted by a production company out of Ottawa, Ontario about the possibility of turning One Week Job into a show. It is something that I had in the back of my mind and now that I am in Vancouver for a few weeks, I am going to look further into talking to different production companies about the possibility. If you have any contacts/ideas with any production companies and wouldn't mind passing them a long to me, I would really appreciate it!
My job for this week is planning my best friends stag, writing my best man speech, meeting with some contacts about One Week Job stuff and generally trying to get myself organized before heading out again. If you are in Vancouver and want to meet up, give me a shout!
If you haven't done so already, be sure to read this post and sign your name!
-Sean
Dead Air And Day Dreaming
I had an interview with CBC Radio in Vancouver, BC yesterday which turned out to be quite hilarious. I guess it had been a while since I was back in Vancouver having to drive into the downtown area and so underestimated the time it would take. I was running just over 5 minutes late for my in studio interview. When I arrived I was a little out of breath and rushed, but had a few minutes to relax before the interview. I suppose I did too good of a job relaxing and as the host was in the process of introducing myself, One Week Job, and asking me a question, I must have began dreaming because when I came back to reality I heard only the last words of her question: "...everything Sean?" And she had an expecting look on her face patiently awaiting my response.
I had absolutely no clue what the question was and so responded with, "yeah everything," in hopes that she would continue on with the next question. I found out from some friends later that the question was something to the effect of: "Sean is trying to figure out what he wants to do for a career, and is so doing everything. What do you mean by everything Sean?" To which I responded, "yeah everything."
Dead air followed and the host stared at me with a perplexed look on her face leading me to believe that I had not answered the question correctly. I still had no clue what she asked me and so decided I would take another shot at it and just began talking about the last few jobs that I have had, finishing my sentence with, "so yeah pretty much everything."
Once I stopped day dreaming the rest of the interview went well, although I wish I had recorded the interview as I would love to hear the opening again! Haha:)
I am back in Vancouver now for three weeks as my best friend is getting married May 19th. If you have any job offers for me in Vancouver for the next few weeks or simply want to meet up, give me a call or send me an email.
The week after the wedding, the Gill Deacon Show on CBC Television is flying me out to Toronto for the show and then from there I am off to Quebec and further out East! Anybody know any lobster fisherman?
-Sean
Vancouver Bound
I just finished up the week working at Lake Louise yesterday and now am heading back to Vancouver today. Since I worked this week right up until the Sunday and have to get back to Vancouver for my best friends wedding, I don't have a job lined up for the week. It will be nice to take a few days off to just get myself organized before heading out again in a few weeks.
I will tell you more about the end of my week and how the event up at the mountain went when I get back to Vancouver, but for now I got to get out on the road.
-Sean
Long Weekends Are Fun
I am down in Calgary for the long weekend visiting a friend of mine I met in Quebec a few summers back. It is nice to spend some time 'relaxing' after having such a busy week up in Edmonton. I will be back in Edmonton for Week Seven, then I think I will be heading to Calgary or perhaps into Saskatchewan to work on a grain farm. Actually who am I kidding, things seem to change daily with One Week Job, so who really knows where I will be the following week.
Here is an interview I did on CBC Newsworld this week. It was quite funny as I was just talking to the camera in an empty news room, I could only hear the news anchor through my ear piece and there is a slight delay because it was via satellite.
Meet Alan Kearns : My "Career Coach"
Alan is the Head Coach and the Brand Champion! of CareerJoyâ„¢, a Canadian career coaching company. "He is one of Canada's foremost experts on all things relating to careers with more than 14 years of experience coaching people through successful career changes." Sounds like I could use somebody like this around!
I did a podcast (Listen here) regarding One Week Job with Alan about a week ago and we discussed the possibility of doing something more together. Alan was willing to get involved with the project as a sponsor and also offer up his expertise.
I will be speaking with Alan a few times each month about how the project is going, where I am at in my journey, what I am learning, and provide his thoughts and advice. These talks (podcasts) will be recorded and then posted to oneweekjob.com.
If you are having difficulty deciding on a career or looking to change an unhappy work place situation, be sure to check out Alan's site!
-Sean
The One Week Job Project - Intro Video
Alrighty so after five weeks into One Week Job, I have finally created the Intro Video. Pass the link a long to friends, contacts, potential employers, embed it directly in your blogs, websites, etc. and help spread the word!
Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPU-Tqe0tSo
Looking forward to meeting you!
-Sean
