Loved this New York Times magazine article about writer and actress Mindy Kaling, who stars as Kelly Kapoor on The Office. A GGG through and through, she’s a Dartmouth grad who clearly loves what she does. A few very interesting nuggets from the piece:

• She routinely works 18-hour days writing for the show, starting at 10 a.m. and leaving after 7 p.m. On days when she acts in the show, too, she starts at 6 a.m. for hair & makeup, then jets back and forth all day between the writer’s room and set. She never volunteers to leave early.
• Her big break came just one year after college, when a goofy short play she wrote about Ben Affleck and Matt Damon became a surprise hit at a New York festival. The producer of The Office hired her as a writer two months later.

I think there’s a great lesson in this latter story: start doing your own thing (just do it!), and it could be the unexpected audition for your dream job.

Mindy has a memoir coming out in November called Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (and Other Concerns). It will definitely be on my reading list!

Photo: Justin Stephens for The New York Times

Growing up around her Italian family in Michigan, Michelle Bommarito— best known as a cake design guru on Food Network Challenge— learned to love being in the kitchen. As a child, she helped out on weekends at her family’s Italian Market, Bommarito Brothers CO, and just enjoyed being around food.

“Whenever I wasn’t at my dad’s store, I would be in the kitchen with my Mom and my grandparents,” she says. But she never thought food would be her life’s calling. Instead, her dream was to one day own a bed and breakfast in Europe.  Michelle graduated with a Marketing Management major and a Psychology minor from the University of Michigan, and her first job out of college was for Marriott.

She resisted being around baking and cooking, but her heart kept being pulled in the direction of the kitchen. After working in the marketing and hotel business for years, Michelle decided to take a bread-making class, just for the fun of it.

“I didn’t think I was going to culinary school to change my career,” she says. “I thought it was to have that backbone and knowledge as a woman.”

After a nudge from a coworker to pursue cooking school, she attended The Institute of Culinary Education in New York. Then, she moved back to Michigan, and opened her own wedding and pastry business called Michelle Bommarito LLC.

It was a slow start; her first year she had just 17 wedding cakes.  “But then, it grew to 35 and then to 55 a year. It just kept building,” she says. “Whatever you want to do, go out there and do it! Volunteer, do charity work; I can’t tell you how much charity work I did to get my name out there. I was doing what I loved even though I wasn’t getting paid.”

After running the business for 10 years, Michelle got the itch for something new. “I always loved what I did for a living,” Michelle says. “But then I started feeling that figurative tap on your shoulder, you know, that feeling that says ‘Hey, you are not doing exactly what you should be doing, ‘ I knew it was time for that transition, to take a risk.”

In 2009 she closed up shop and decided to try her hand as a traveling chef, teaching her vast knowledge of cake design, and also conducting “Eating Well” Speaking Engagements and Super Power Food Culinary Demonstrations.  Years earlier (before she even opened her cake company), Michelle had found herself bed-ridden from working too much. “After about a couple months of putting up with it, my cousin took me under her wing and said, ‘Michelle, you’re going to my Holistic doctor,’” she says.

The doctor put her on an extreme diet that consisted of grains, lean cuts of meat, nuts, flaxseed oil and vegetables.  After two weeks on the regimen, Michelle was filled with bouncing energy– and she’s kept up the healthy lifestyle for fifteen years. (Yes that’s right: the cake designer doesn’t eat cake–except of course to test each batch of her creations for quality, and the occasional “just a bite” at a party to celebrate!)

Making wellness her primary career focus was a natural progression. Says Michelle, “I just decided one day, I really think I’m supposed to follow in the wellness direction. I lived it for so long and I believed in it. It’s good for my body and it made me be who I am as far as my high energy.”

As for what’s next in Michelle’s life, only time can tell.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do next,” she said. “It happens to be every 10 to 12 years is when I evolve; ironically it’s what happens.”

Inspirational, that doesn’t even begin to describe this risk taker, but ambitious and courageous . . . that’s a start.

Needs some inspiration for taking the plunge in your career?

Check out The 9 steps of getting started the Bommarito style:

1.     Find your strength and your passion.

2.     Invest in your knowledge and skills.

3.     Create your own style and niche.

4.     Develop (figure out what is good for you to make you a success).

5.     Impress quality in every aspect of your job, career or passion.

6.     Not all business is good business, check who you will do business with.

7.     Know your competition.

8.     Price yourself correctly (competitively and accordingly to what’s right in the market).

9.     Put yourself out there and market yourself.

–Erin Lucido

Dear GGG, Help! I’m a communications student trying to land a summer internship, and so far I’m having no luck. I’ve applied to dozens of posted positions on literally every job board I can think of—and nothing.  I’m even willing to work unpaid! What am I doing wrong? – Madison, age 23, Washington, D.C.

Hi Madison!

Well, it sounds like your major mistake is relying on job boards! Don’t get me wrong; job boards have a place in the hiring eco-system. It’s just usually not the best way to apply to and land open positions, especially in glamour-type professions such as publicity. Why not? First, if it’s a big job board (e.g., Monster), or the website of a large company, your resume is a needle in a haystack of literally tens of thousands of resumes gathered for the position. Even if it’s a smaller board, you’re leaving too much to chance that a “key word” search of the database will pull up your application, or that a recruiter’s quick glance of your resume will sufficiently grab his or her attention.

Second, most good jobs are either 1) already filled –or ‘slated’ with internal candidates– by the time they’re posted or 2) not ever listed on a job board. This is particularly true for highly-competitive industries in which the supply of candidates far exceeds the demand.  Before even looking through a stack of new resumes, managers usually have a handful of folks on their radar—such as people who have informational interviewed with them before, former employees, or other professional acquaintances—that they can pick up the phone and call about the opportunity.  Which is why you’re kind of wasting your time mindlessly dropping your resume into a job board black hole.

You’d be much better off spending zero (you read that right: zero!) time on job boards. Starting today, research a dozen medium-sized companies/firms that really inspire you.  Do some investigation on Google, Linked In and even Facebook and figure out how to get in touch with the company’s executives. Send ‘em a letter or email passionately expressing your interest in the company and any opportunities there. Include your resume. Ask for an informational call or meeting. No, you’re not being “too aggressive.” Think about it: What do you think you’ll be doing if you actually get hired to be a publicist? You’ll be cold calling people, trying to sell yourself and your client! The skills needed to be good at the job—e.g., confidence, fearlessness, resourcefulness—are exactly the skills you need to get the job.

Now, get after it!

Taking a break from sending tweets and updating my LinkedIn profile, I organized a panel of social media experts to participate in Harvard Business School’s 20^th Annual Dynamic Women in Business Conference last Saturday.  Entitled “Beyond the Buzz,” the panel focused on how students and professionals can use social media most effectively to promote their personal and professional brands.  Each offered some targeted advice:

Take control:

Whether you like it or not, you have a social media presence, so it is in your best interest to control it.  At a minimum, make sure your Facebook, LinkedIn, and other online profiles are professional and flattering because they will be viewed (and judged) by potential employers and colleagues.  This is even more important if you are pursuing a career in a media-related field.  When a friend recently interviewed at a news publication, her interviewer looked her up and began following her on twitter in the middle of the interview.  Participating in social media is not an option; it is a necessity if you are in the business of networking – which you are by definition if attending business school.

Be patient:

By promoting “The Happiness Project” on her popular blog, author Gretchen Rubin garnered massive pre-sale orders, contributing to top spots on best-seller lists around the world.  Rubin credits her success to methodically building her brand presence online through consistent six-day-a-week blogging, frequent tweets, and monthly videos.  She stresses that you need to build a relationship and trust with your audience so that when you ask them for help – such as buying your book – they do it.  The same is true for a job search; gradually building your online network now will give you the credibility you need later.

Be real:

Katherine Tasheff, who has held a variety of digital media positions and currently works in book publishing, argues that the importance of a trusting relationship in social media makes authenticity even more important.  Tasheff claims that the easiest way to sabotage your brand is to be disingenuous; your audience is smart and can “smell” dishonesty from miles away.  To avoid this, Katherine recommends not differentiating between your “real” and online self and committing to being “as authentic using social media as in real life.” Furthermore, she notes, since the average Internet user in the U.S. spends over thirteen hours per week online, perpetuating a “fake” self online is a significant – and poor – investment.

Have a strong voice:

Social media is inherently different from other forms of traditional marketing: people come looking for you.  For this reason, it is particularly important to have a strong voice.  Alexandra Samuel started her business in 2005 after readers of her blog reached out to her, struck by her then novel conviction that companies must have web 2.0 websites to survive; readers asked her to implement social media strategies for their businesses.  Given the breadth of social media, a strong voice is needed if you want to stand out.  At the same time, do not pull a Kenneth Cole – the designer currently is embroiled in a PR nightmare following his recent tweet: “Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at http://bit.ly/KCairo.”

Never stop learning and experimenting:

To conclude the panel, each panelist gave some practical real-world tips for social media success. Here are my favorites:

• End each blog entry with a question
• Ensure tweets are at least 10 characters under the limit so others can retweet
• Remember that a strong voice attracts, so don’t be discouraged when it also repels
• Research what’s out there so you don’t end up launching an idea or site that’s redundant
• Never miss an opportunity to broaden your network – online or off

What is your number one piece of advice for using social media?

–Alexandra Bochicchio

I am 24. At times, I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot in my short career. Then, I’ll read or see people younger than me a lot farther down their career path. I know you’re not suppose to compare, but I can’t help it. I’ve had a completely different journey, especially post-college, than I could have ever imagined. I’ve dreamt of a magazine job for so long, I can’t imagine another type of job. So I was a little surprised when I read that one should have SIX different type of jobs before 30 to create a well-rounded applicant, and that excludes temporary and freelance positions. I wondered how I compared to this list:

1. “A Service Job”

Aside from journalism gigs, all my jobs have fallen under this category. My first job my freshman year of college was being a student assistant in the College of Communication. Ever since, I’ve been “assisting” others. Through working in a service job, I’m suppose to learn how to deal with people when they are not at their best – Check!

2. “A Job in Which You’re Forced to Clean”

I worked at a dry cleaners for more than a year. And, yes, many people don’t care about the condition of clothes when they come into the plant, only when they left. I had a man yell at me because the shirt he brought in that was soaked in spilt coffee didn’t completely come out. I absolutely believe this job made me more respectful of working together as a community.

I also had a boss who threw away his lunch (yogurt and banana peel) in his trash and made me throw it out. We reused trash bags, so many times I had to reach down and grab the sticky yogurt top. Now, I am always conscience of what (and how) I throw away. – Check!

3. “Childcare”

I’m more of  dog person. So, I probably won’t be babysitting. But, when I was working at the cleaners, I oversaw four high school seniors. Trust me, this counts.  – Check!

4. “A Job Working for your Parents”

I’m suppose to learn “separating the personal from the professional” when my parents get me a job. Honestly, I don’t like this one. My family is in transportation, and I have absolutely zero interest in the field. – Fail

5. “Physical Labor”

I worked in retail at a home store. I was on the store maintenance crew and every other day, we would arrive at 5 a.m. to restock the shelves. We may have had air conditioning, but it was definitely intense. It was a four-hour cardio class. We ran around the store, hurrying to have everything set by 9 a.m. It might not be traditional physical labor, but the pain I felt after my first day taught me this lesson. – Check!

6. “A Job Totally Unrelated to Your Career Goals”

Wait, you mean my current situation? – Check!

I think a seventh category can be added to the list, “Work for free.” In my current internship, I’ve learned how much I love what I do. I’m working for free, not sure what my step will be, and loving every moment.

It is interesting to look at past jobs and reflect on my experiences. Although I might have a different “ideal” path, I’m happy to learn that I did learn something from all my previous employers, if not for future employment, at least for personal reasons. And, who knows, by the time I find a full-time staff position, I may cycle through all six categories and then some!

–Samantha Hyde