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GREENSBORO — This won’t be the first feature story on Daniel Seddiqui and it won’t be the last. Not with 35 states down and 15 to go. Not with 35 jobs down and 15 to go.

This week, the 27-year-old Californian has come to Greensboro where he’s working for a modeling agency.

Last week, he caddied on Kiawah Island, S.C. Next week, he’ll be a miner in Coal Mountain, W.Va.

He’s working his way through 50 jobs in 50 states in 50 weeks. He’s researching a book. And in the process, he’s become a celebrity.

“The first 10 (stops), I was a nobody,” Seddiqui said Thursday. “Now, people just look at my Web site and they are offering me jobs.”

This from a guy who couldn’t find work after he graduated from the University of Southern California in 2005 with a degree in economics.

Hundreds of resumes and more than 40 interviews produced nothing in his field. Then, he began accepting any job he could find.

He tutored elementary school students part time; he worked as a cross-country coach — as a volunteer; he painted stairs.

In short order, he held five jobs in five states.

Then, he had his ah-ha moment.

Last year, while taking a train to Florida, a man offered him a job. That made him think about the possibility of finding work in every state.

“I was struggling for three years,” Seddiqui said. “I took life in my own hands and made it happen.”

He returned to California and started planning.

“Most people would say (the plan) was impossible, especially in this economy,” Seddiqui said. “I basically went through hell to make it happen.”

He landed his first job last June working for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah.

With 10 jobs lined up, he hit the road in August in his 1997 Jeep. He had a suitcase, a credit card, a laptop, and a video camera.

He’s been on the road ever since, except for the week of New Year’s, when he returned home to visit his parents.

So far, he’s worked as a peanut sheller in Georgia, a cheese maker in Wisconsin, a syrup maker in Vermont, a meat packer in Kansas, a logger in Oregon and a wedding coordinator in Nevada.

The jobs are supposed to be representative of the state he’s visiting. So why did he pick modeling for North Carolina? He said he’d already worked as a farmer in Nebraska and planned to work in furniture in Pennsylvania.

And his research showed that Charlotte has a lot of models. So he called Directions USA, a model and talent agency, only to learn that the business no longer has an office in Charlotte, but does have one in Greensboro.

Owner Jill Joyce, who had just seen a feature on Seddiqui on Fox News, said her staff would show him how the modeling business works.

“We’re just trying to take good care of him,” Joyce said. “He has had a rough 35 weeks.”

Seddiqui, who went for a modeling shoot Wednesday, works five days a week and travels two. Typically, he stays with his employers. On the road, he sometimes sleeps in his car.

As for compensation, he gets paid 90 percent of the time, typically making between $300 and $3,000 a week.

And when he’s not working, he’s usually talking to a reporter. He figures he’s done more than 500 interviews.

“I felt like I had no opportunities,” Seddiqui said. “Now, they are endless. This has opened so many doors for me.” So far, he’s gotten 12 book offers and six to eight TV and movie deals.

When Seddiqui finishes his travels, he’ll decide what he wants to do next. He may pick one of the jobs he tried — he said he especially liked modeling — or he might write more books and speak on college campuses.

“I wanted to help people in my position,” he said. “I am showing that there are alternatives if you can’t find a job in your chosen field.”

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com.