52 Jobs in One Year

Nov. 23, 2007 — -- Experts predict that today's college graduates will have four to five different careers in their lifetime.

And if one college grad has his way, he'll have 52 different careers in one year.

Sean Aiken has only been working at the One Girl Bakery in Brooklyn, N.Y., for a couple of days, but he has already baked dozens of cookies and pies and become an expert at icing.

His goal isn't to create the perfect cookie; instead it's to find the perfect job.

"I had no idea what I wanted to do for a career," said Aiken. "So instead of jumping at the first job that came along, I thought maybe I should go out there and try a whole bunch of different jobs and learn what I need in a career to be happy."

For the last nine months, Aiken, a recent college graduate with a business degree, has been traveling throughout the United States and Canada working a different job every week. His experiences are documented on his Web site oneweekjob.com.

So far he's worked as a veterinary assistant, a cancer research fundraiser, a bungee-jumping instructor and even a repairman at the Georgia Aquarium.

Aiken admitted to "Good Morning America" that one week was probably not long enough to learn about a job.

"It's more about the overall experience and learning something new each week," said Aiken.

Generational Problem?

Some critics have called Aiken's job-a-week experiment symptomatic of his generation's inability to fully commit to something.

But other experts have a different take.

"This generation is not lazy," said Trudy Seinfeld, who works at the New York University Career Services office. "They're coddled by their parents, yes, but what this generation really wants is to change the world, to do something they feel passionately about and might help others."

Aiken said that his father has asked him why he doesn't just get a "real job," but said he responded by reminding him of something he had told him last year, about his own experience in the real world.

"I said to him that in my last year of college, he said, 'Sean, whatever it is you do, just find something you're really passionate about,'" said Aiken. "He said, 'I've been alive 60 years and I've yet to find something I'm really passionate about, besides your mother.'"

Aiken has received a few job offers from his job-a-week employers — including one from One Girl Cookie — but says he wants to try his hand at at least 18 more weeklong jobs before settling into anything permanent.

"There's no rush," said Aiken. "That's one thing that people tell me, 'You're going to be working the majority of your life so take the time to figure out what makes you happy.'"

Aiken earns no money from the weekly jobs. Instead, his employers donate his wages to charity and, when they can, offer him a place to stay as he makes his way around North America.