No one would hire Daniel Seddiqui when he graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in Economics three years ago, so the Los Altos native decided in August to make his own break by working 50 jobs in 50 states over 50 weeks.
This week, number 39 for Seddiqui, he is working at CorpCo, a Brandywine Hundred firm that helps national and international firms incorporate in the U.S.
He has worked as a border patrol agent in Arizona, a stilt walker in Florida and a bartender in Louisiana, but Seddiqui, 27, said there is something special about the First State.
“It feels like one big small town,” he said. “Delaware is in the middle of everything.”
Seddiqui met Gov. Markell on June 16 and said any state where an ordinary person can meet the governor is OK by him.
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Seddiqui's Job Highlights Week 3: rodeo announcer in Souix Falls, S.D. Week 12: logger in Medford, Ore. Week 23: cheesemaker in Theresa, Wis. Week 31: high school football coach in Birmingham, Ala. |
He has found work by Googling companies and making phone calls as he crisscrossed the nation, he said, and selects jobs that are synonymous with the state he is visiting. CorpCo is only his third office job and he said he is finding the work a bit hard to grasp.
“There is a lot of paperwork, a tricky software program and follow-through, but he is making progress,” said CorpCo’s marketing manager Alison Kochie.
Though Seddiqui said his worst job was at an auto repair shop in Detroit that was robbed at gunpoint.
The CorpCo job has taught him a lot about incorporation and business laws and Seddiqui plans to use that knowledge when he someday becomes an entrepreneur. He said he'd like to start a company that helps young people find jobs that fit them -- something he missed when he first searched for a career.
But he said his cross-country adventure is much more than a publicity stunt.
"There's so many things you don't know unless you do it yourself adn that's what this project is all about," he said.
Next week, he will move on to Lancaster County where he will make furniture with an Amish family before moving on to New Jersey, New Hampshire, Maine, Alaska and Hawaii then returning to California for his final job.
He is chronicling his travels on LivingTheMap.com and is also writing a book about his adventures.
