Fifteen years ago, Daniel Seddiqui was the “most rejected person in America.”
Fresh out of college with an economics degree — just in time for the Great Recession — he went through 120 job interviews with no offers.
So, armed with a love of maps, the California native went on a quest to work at least one job in each of the 50 states.
He’s since repeated his cross-country journey 20 times and wrote eight books, including the bestseller “50 Jobs in 50 States.” Seddiqui has since claimed the title as the “Most Traveled Person in America.”
Author Daniel Seddiqui speaks Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, during a Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Council meet-and-greet at Black River Farms in Lower Saucon Township. He talks about his journey across the United States and his experiences working 50 jobs in 50 states. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
People listen as author Daniel Seddiqui speaks Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, during a Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Council meet-and-greet at Black River Farms in Lower Saucon Township. He talks about his journey across the United States and his experiences working 50 jobs in 50 states.(April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Author Daniel Seddiqui speaks Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, during a Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Council meet-and-greet at Black River Farms in Lower Saucon Township. He talks about his journey across the United States and his experiences working 50 jobs in 50 states. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Author Daniel Seddiqui speaks Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, during a Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Council meet-and-greet at Black River Farms in Lower Saucon Township. He talks about his journey across the United States and his experiences working 50 jobs in 50 states. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Books by author Daniel Seddiqui are for sale Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, during a Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Council meet-and-greet at Black River Farms in Lower Saucon Township. He talks about his journey across the United States and his experiences working 50 jobs in 50 states.(April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Author Daniel Seddiqui speaks Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, during a Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Council meet-and-greet at Black River Farms in Lower Saucon Township. He talks about his journey across the United States and his experiences working 50 jobs in 50 states. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Author Daniel Seddiqui speaks Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, during a Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Council meet-and-greet at Black River Farms in Lower Saucon Township. He talks about his journey across the United States and his experiences working 50 jobs in 50 states. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Author Daniel Seddiqui speaks Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, during a Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Council meet-and-greet at Black River Farms in Lower Saucon Township. He talks about his journey across the United States and his experiences working 50 jobs in 50 states. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Books by author Daniel Seddiqui are for sale Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, during a Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Council meet-and-greet at Black River Farms in Lower Saucon Township. He talks about his journey across the United States and his experiences working 50 jobs in 50 states.(April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Author Daniel Seddiqui speaks Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, during a Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Council meet-and-greet at Black River Farms in Lower Saucon Township. He talks about his journey across the United States and his experiences working 50 jobs in 50 states. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
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Author Daniel Seddiqui speaks Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, during a Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Council meet-and-greet at Black River Farms in Lower Saucon Township. He talks about his journey across the United States and his experiences working 50 jobs in 50 states. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
“I went through nearly 19,000 cities across the country,” Seddiqui said. “I’ve had a life lesson from each one.”
As it turns out, the Lehigh Valley was the last place in the U.S. he had to visit to complete his map.
On Wednesday, Seddiqui spoke about his experiences and gave advice to a group of young professionals at a Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce mixer at Black River Farms in Lower Saucon Township. He later gave a talk at the Bethlehem Area Public Library — Main Branch.
Seddiqui spoke about his unique job hunt and what he did to overcome obstacles to get them.
He started his journey with no money and no help.
“I really did feel like the world was against me, but that actually made my purpose a little stronger. and dealing with rejection gave me opportunities like this,” he said.
The jobs themselves reflected America’s melting pot with a diversity of different occupations:
Singing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Utah
Changing tires for a racing pit crew in Indiana
Mining coal four miles underground in West Virginia
Building furniture with Pennsylvania Amish
Taking pictures for National Geographic in Alaska
Wrestling steers in South Dakota
Working as a dietician in Mississippi
Here are the lessons Seddiqui said he learned in pursuing these and other jobs.
Attitude
“You need to have a willingness to be coached, learn by asking questions,” Seddiqui said. “Just having a positive attitude was contagious for the employers who wanted to keep me on board.”
He said the only jobs that didn’t offer to keep him on were being a lobsterman in Maine (he got seasick) and being a reverend at a Las Vegas wedding chapel (he was more nervous than the couples).
Go with the flow
Being able to adapt to the new climate was key.
“I had to go with the flow, knowing I can’t control everything that was gonna be a part of this journey,” he said. “I love this quote: ‘If you wake up in perfect conditions, you’ll never get anything done.’ So this is really showing you that there are no perfect conditions. There’s always an excuse not to go for it.”
Network
Seddiqui said he got a job as a baseball scout for a baseball team owned by actor Bill Murray after striking up a conversation with a stranger on a subway ride in New York. Meeting new people is a good way to open doors to opportunities you never knew.
“Make connections for the most likely opportunities, relationships, partnerships and so forth,” he said. “Every networking opportunity doesn’t always have to be confined to a social gathering like this. It could be just a random person that you meet on a train, or a bus, or a client.”
Endure
It may take several attempts to land any opportunity. It’s important not to give up.
“Looking for a job is hard,” Seddiqui said. “… What gave me the energy was a purpose. The purpose is a driving course.”
He said that a unique thing about American culture is making your job part of your identity. He said that his purpose is finding work that is more than just satisfying his personal needs, such as birthing horses in Kentucky or mining coal in West Virginia, which gave him a lesson on the dangerous work that people will do to put food on the table.
Persevere
It’s important to finish what you start.
“Can you imagine if I finished at state number 12?” Seddiqui said. “How much would that have built my life? How much regret would I have if I didn’t finish it? Whatever it takes to finish it. Because I knew what I was worth in the end. Although I didn’t know what was going to happen at the end, I just knew that I had to finish it.”
Finally, Seddiqui urged the audience to remain curious.
“You always want to learn, no matter what subject, because you never know how you will use it later in life,” he said. “Reading, being curious …. that’s what really propelled me to step outside of my comfort zone.”