I met Helen Stortini (no relation to Zack) at a recent Net Tuesday event, and she told me about her entertaining project. She was laid off earlier this year, and instead of accepting a new job that she maybe didn’t want, she decided to do a tour of a bunch of possible jobs she could have:
I’m shadowing people at work to find out what they do, what sort of skills they need to do it, and whether or not it would be a match for me. In a sense, I’m still hopping around in the career bouncy castle, but this time I’m looking before I leap.
It’s kind of like bring your daughter to work day, but it’s bring your unemployed 33-year-old friend instead. It’s an opportunity for me to test drive careers, but also to explore the myriad of work (be it weird, wonderful, or ordinary) that people do everyday. And to find out what it is that makes people truly enjoy the work that they do.
So far she’s tried a melange of jobs, such as stock broker, chef and reporter. It’s a fun project, and exactly the sort of thing that gets one a book deal.
Helen comes into your workplace for a day and kicks the tires. She’ll do “whatever menial or mundane task that needs to be done” assuming it’s legal and doesn’t involve removing “all of my clothing”. Can you provide a new stop on her tour?
DarrenBarefoot.com 