diff --git a/nomad/poc-2.hcl b/nomad/poc-2.hcl
index 68031ae2..426910a6 100644
--- a/nomad/poc-2.hcl
+++ b/nomad/poc-2.hcl
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ job "poc-2" {
                     <<ENDOFSCRIPT
                     set -xeu
 
+                    # source the init script to inherit its PWD
                     source local/init.sh
                     env
 
diff --git a/nomad/poc-2/init.sh b/nomad/poc-2/init.sh
index 0a09de90..a8b59a7e 100644
--- a/nomad/poc-2/init.sh
+++ b/nomad/poc-2/init.sh
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ pwd
 ls -lha
 
 # this directory is persisted across job runs and can be used to persist state over time.
-export JOB_STATE_DIRECTORY="${STATE_DIRECTORY}/${NOMAD_JOB_ID}"
+JOB_STATE_DIRECTORY="${STATE_DIRECTORY}/${NOMAD_JOB_ID}"
 mkdir -p "${JOB_STATE_DIRECTORY}"
 cd "${JOB_STATE_DIRECTORY}"