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It’s 10.50pm. Currently I’m sitting in the foyer of the Ibis Hotel in Homebush (Thanks to my employer for last week the Toy & Game Expo for putting me up!) updating the website.

With just over 11 hours to go until I jump on Channel 7, Morning Show with Larry Emdur & Kylie Gillies to talk about One Week Job Australia and my journey so far!

I’d just like to share with you all that I’m pretty nervous about how the whole experience will go :-O

Fingers crossed that it all goes alright!

What’s in store for WEEK #25?

I’d also like to announce that next weeks employer for Week #25 is going to be with one of Australia’s largest online toy retailers, Toys Paradise (Who I was fortunate enough to meet whilst working over this long weekend at the Toy & Game Expo at Olympic Park in Sydney).

If anyone would like to come see me in action (acting like a big kid) working at the Toy & Game Expo. Feel free to come down to Olympic Park on today (Monday) between 10am – 6pm and say hello

- Paul

I’m super excited to officially announce the launch of One Week Job: USA beginning in June 2012 with 59-year-old Linda Chase from Portland, Oregon.

We’re looking for a sponsor. For details, contact sean@oneweekjob.com

I met Linda when we were seated beside each other on a plane in September 2011. We immediately had a great connection and quickly got into deep conversation. Linda told me that as she approaches the age of 60, she’s beginning to feel somewhat diminished, less confident and less relevant, despite having amassed many valuable life and professional skills.

After raising my two children, working a variety of jobs, being unemployed and underemployed (despite being highly educated), seeing long-held dreams slip away, and losing my life partner to brain cancer, I began wondering, ‘Now who am I? And where do I go from here?’

The One-Week Job Project is an idea that resonates, regardless of age. It strikes a chord that is intimately human – at some point in our lives we all must look deep inside ourselves to answer the question, “What should I do with my life?”

And yet it’s not just a question faced by recent college grads. Linda’s story is one that is shared by millions – empty nest parents who sidetracked their career to raise a family, those starting over after a divorce, or recently laid off, or retired – it’s a question we’ll continue to face at different points throughout our lives.

Today, many baby boomers are very active and want to get involved to make a difference. At the same time they may also be experiencing the difficulty of reconciling past dreams that are no longer possible, finding the strength to create new dreams, and to summon the courage to pursue them.

It’s an important conversation and a transition that currently many feel they must face alone. Linda’s courage to be vulnerable and to share her journey is sure to bring inspiration to all those who find themselves a little bit older with well earned life experience, and who refuse to believe that the best part of their life is behind them. As Linda says, “It’s never too late!”

One Week Job: USA is set to launch in June 2012. Leading up to Week #1, Linda will be blogging at OneWeekJob.com about her reflections, inspirations, musings, etc. as she prepares for the start of her adventure.

- Sean

Join the journey!

• Read Linda’s blog
• Offer Linda a One Week Job, a place to stay, or words of encouragement:
  linda@oneweekjob.com
• We’re looking for a sponsor. For details, contact project founder, Sean Aiken:
  sean@oneweekjob.com
• Sign up for updates, grab our newsletter (top right of page) —>
• Read Linda’s bio

We’re super excited to announce our partnership with SEEK.com.au in support of One Week Job Australia! SEEK is Australia’s number one job site with over 150,000 jobs online and visited 14.7 million times each month.

Here is Paul’s official introduction of OWJ Australia and our partnership with SEEK.

SEEK will support by:

• Documenting Paul’s story through social media and posting videos of his work experience on the seek.com.au YouTube channel
• Connecting Paul with employers and business owners across Australia in a bid to help him find his passion.

I first contacted a representative at SEEK before Christmas to tell them about One Week Job and our plans to launch OWJ Australia with 24-year-old Brisbane resident, Paul Seymour. Immediately they were interested in getting involved. Their brand promise is a perfect fit – “SEEK and you shall find.” We both believe that people should love what they do and recognize the importance of finding fulfillment in both our careers and life.

In February, I was in Melbourne, Australia to meet with the team at SEEK and to finalize how the partnership would work out. They truly are an awesome company with great people!

We’re looking forward to working with them for years to come as we help empower people around the world to discover their passion!

-Sean

This week I’m going to be working with a great Not-for-Profit organisation called Helping Hoops! …Swish…

Helping Hoops is an independent Melbourne charity running free weekly basketball programs for disabled & disadvantaged youth. Our sessions aim to:

• Build self-esteem and confidence
• Teach respect
• Build trust
• Promote social inclusion
• Develop teamwork skills
• Provide exercise and promote an active lifestyle

Yesterday it was great to meet with Adam McKay the creator of Helping Hoops and speak to him about my role as a Coach for the week within the charity… At this stage it looks like I’m in for a great deal of fun, especially after I gave him the licence to let his imagination run wild with the different promotional work he could get me doing. Who knows, by the end of the week i could end up dressed like SHAQ walking the streets of Melbourne!

Later in the day I caught up with Sean and we had an email out of the blue to head down to ABC T.V. Studio’s in Melbourne to do our very first T.V. interview! How cool is that!

Here’s a couple of pics of us out and about in their offices…

This also coincided with being Sean’s last night here in Australia so just to keep the traditions consistent we decided to grab one last beer by the Yarra River in Melbourne… And does anybody notice anything else about this pic???

Farewell bud, see you back in OZ soon mate.

Sean’s parting message,

Paul, enjoy the journey.

- Paul

One Week Job Australia is making its way down to Melbourne!

And that’s not all…

3 more Exciting announcements to be made over the next week!

 With myself and One Week Job Australia heading to Melbourne, I asked myself the question..

Am I ready to leave the comfortable surroundings of Brisbane, my friends, my family?

When I started One Week Job Australia, I thought to myself,

Yeah, I want to travel around Australia in search of my Passion.

Now after booking my ticket to Melbourne. I’m starting to realise it’s not just as easy as saying it’s One Week Job Australia. It’s One Week Job AUSTRALIA! 

Where every week I’m looking for my next job offer, finding a place to stay and travelling around the country, with nothing more than a backpack, my clothes, my laptop and my toothbrush!

At this stage I guess I would say I’m not sure what to expect, but I’m sure by the end of the project I will look back with fond memories of taking this next big step into the unknown.

- – -

Now,  as this is the start of the next big chapter for One Week Job Australia. I thought it might be cool to start adding a Video Blog in every now and again.

So here it is, my first and worst ever Video Blog announcement, talking about what’s coming up in Week 8!

Don’t forget, 3 more Exciting announcements to come throughout the week, so stay tuned!

- Paul

Wow, a huge first Four Weeks have kicked off the One Week job project in Australia!

I look at myself and imagine many others would feel the same. Working Four Weeks then already having a week of holidays, not too shabby.

But I find my mind is wandering, always thinking about what the next week is going to have in store for me, whether I’ll have a job offer to go to or a place to stay for the week. So I suppose I’ll just enjoy the holiday while I can, before Week 5 kicks the project back off in the New Year!!

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and I look forward to seeing what the New Year holds for us all!

- Paul

My Managers worst nightmare finally came to fruition yesterday afternoon. When she had a client call up to volunteer himself for a haircut… with me! lol

What will today have in store? Only time will tell I guess…

One thing’s for certain though, I’ll finally be picking up the scissors and donning my Hairdressers apron to give this one lucky (unlucky) volunteer a haircut to see them into the Holiday Season! I better scrub up on what’s been happening in the world of Hollywood Glitz & Glamour, do a bit of research on the Twighlight series and hopefully then the conversation should be free flowing enough to distract the client from what I’m actually doing to his hair..

I’ll be taking a few before and after shots to share with you all, so I’ll let you be the judge of my work!

Radio Interview with Kelly Higgins from ABC 612, Drive Show

In case you missed it earlier this week, here’s a link to my radio interview with Kelly Higgins talking about One Week Job Australia and the jobs I’ve worked so far. Click here to have a listen.

As you just hear I’ll be heading into their studio on Friday the 16th to give their Producer Lauchlan a haircut (scheduled around 3.30pm), so be sure to tune in or watch the live stream!

I’m still chasing a job for next week for somewhere in the greater Brisbane area, so be sure to send through your offers to me at paul@oneweekjob.com

- Paul

P.S. I even managed to get a Haircut from one the girls at the Texture Crew. Pretty great job if you ask me!

So I enjoyed a bit of a sleep in today, as it’s my day off from the Salon for the week. You’ve got to love that snooze button some days.

I’d like to thank Dan Nancarrow for the great write up today on the Brisbane Times website, if you’d like to check it out I’ve posted a link to it here.

I also had a few phone calls today from a couple of different radio stations in the area looking to get me on for an interview over the next few days. It’s pretty awesome to think that the message of One Week Job Australia is now going to reach a wider audience and hopefully inspire more people throughout Australia!

So if you’re in the Brisbane area this afternoon be sure to flick you radio stations over to 612 ABC Brisbane as I’ll be Talking with Kelly Higgins on the Drive Show at 4.15pm today.

I’ll also be having a chat with Nicole Dyer from ABC 91.7 on the Gold Coast tomorrow morning around 9.30am, so if you’re on the coast I hope you can check it out also!

Hope you can have a read or listen in!

- Paul

Monday December 5th,

So I was woken this morning by what I thought was my alarm clock…

Turns out it was actually a phone call from Ricki-Lee, a journalist from MX Brisbane (newspaper) wanting to do an article on One Week Job Australia and my journey. (luckily I didn’t press the snooze button!)

I’d like to think the interview went well, but being half asleep I can’t really say for sure. I do however remember my last words being a lyric from a Wiggles song, as I was mentioning that I’m doing Stage Hand work for their concert as part of Week Two of the project. Hopefully Ricki-Lee was kind enough to leave that bit out. lol

Make sure you keep an eye out for the article in this weeks MX (not sure which day though)!!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on it!

- Paul

P.S. Day one of Week Two starts in less than 12 hours!!!

What a great way to wrap up my final weekend of unemployment…

Catching up with friends, enjoying the Brisbane nightlife, having a BBQ down by the waterfront and my mate Sam’s been kind enough to offer me his place to stay for the week.

It’s 11.30pm at the moment. So now I guess it’s time for me to study the Bus Timetables and set my alarm for 8am, ready for my first day of work.. Although I’m not exactly sure whether I’ll be able to sleep tonight with a thousand thoughts currently running through my head about what tomorrow holds for me,  but I guess it’s like starting any new job.

Only time will tell…

Time for me to try and get some sleep, goodnight

-Paul