Possibly the most overemployed guy in America

updated 4:29 p.m. ET Feb. 25, 2009

THERESA, Wis. - At a time when some people are having trouble finding one job, Daniel Seddiqui is lining up 50 — one in every state.

Each job symbolizes the state's most famous industry, and each lasts one week — just long enough for the 26-year-old to appreciate the labor and explore the region.

Since starting in Utah in the first week of September, he's been a park ranger in Wyoming, a corn farmer in Nebraska and a wedding coordinator in Las Vegas.

Last week, in Week 23 of his yearlong saga, he was a cheesemaker in southeast Wisconsin. He mixed ingredients, hoisted slabs of cheddar — and tasted plenty of his work.

"I would say this was as hard as logging," he said, referring to his stint as a logger in Oregon three months ago. "Everything here is done by hand so there's a lot of heavy lifting."

Seddiqui, who grew up in Los Altos, California, insists his job-hopping isn't a gimmick. It's a legitimate effort to travel the U.S., learning about cultures across the country and developing a respect for what other people do, he said.

For example, at his Nebraska job he was surprised that every farmer he met had a college degree.

"That's the problem with stereotypes. People think farmers aren't educated, but probably every one was more educated than me," he said. "That's the kind of thing you learn when you do this."

The hardest job so far was toiling in a meatpacking factory in Topeka, Kansas Seddiqui said his employer said he could slaughter a cow with a rifle, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"That was a little too extreme," he said. "But they didn't really expect me to do it. They just said I could if I wanted."

The goal of his project, which he plans to write a book about when he's done, is to force himself out of his comfort zone. By daring himself to try all sorts of jobs — rodeo announcer, border-patrol agent, archaeologist — other people might be willing to follow his example, he said.

At least one person has already been inspired, according to Seddiqui. After a news crew in Kansas City, Missouri, reported on his stint as a boilermaker, an unemployed dentist who saw the story decided to brush off his old welding skills and apply. The next day the man had a $40-per-hour job, Seddiqui said.

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