I’ve squeezed a lifetime into the past two months, full of ups and downs and lefts and rights and tears of both sadness and joy. On January 26th, I started a new job in San Francisco. After two weeks, I quit, upon realizing it wasn’t anything the interview implied and everything I didn’t want to be doing. So, even in this economy, I decided there was always going to be a reason to settle, so I didn’t.

I blazed through job applications and spent hours on Craigslist searching for something that might pique my interest. Upon realizing that my resumes and cover letters were ending up in the black hole of databases that may or may not find me a good match, I made a decision to take control over my job search. I was sick of feeling helpless and at the whim of every hiring manager that gave my resume a thirty second look-over before deciding if I was worthy of an interview or not.

After feeling like I was running on a hamster wheel trying to find a job that I am passionate about, I got a flash in my head on March 6th. Twittershouldhireme dot com. I would make a website to show Twitter how much I want to work for them and it would get to them organically through, what else? Twitter. The website came after I was recommended by someone to work at Twitter, after I brought cookies personally to the office, and after I sent emails detailing why I would be a good fit.

I stayed up till 6 a.m. making the site and once it was finished, I sent out one single tweet. As you all know, the site has gone viral and has inspired many people, including a few copycat sites. Word about the site caught on almost instantaneously and since then, it has been a month full of excitement, from lunch at Twitter headquarters, Fortune Magazine interviews to now a live interview on CNN.

No, I haven’t been hired at Twitter, but this experience has unlocked many more opportunities that I didn’t even think were possible. I would love to work at Twitter, but I’ve found a different direction for my passions.

I’m starting my own business called Shatterboxx Media, which is already thriving, actually. I’m doing graphic design and consulting. (Which, by the way, shameless plug, I’m available for hire!) Also, I am working as a part time contractor doing Community Management for techVenture. This all falls under the umbrella of Shatterboxx Media.

My own business would not have been possible before twittershouldhireme.com. My name is out there and I’ve built up my own credibility by doing something out of the box and attention-getting, perfect for a career in marketing/design. I didn’t wait for a company to give me a chance to prove myself; I made my own experience happen, because I was passionate.

No matter what the economic climate is, there is no reason to settle when it comes to what you’re passionate about. You may think you have to stay at a dead end job or you have to take a job you’ll never love, but you have choices. Believe me, I’m a 23 year old who is one year out of college, about to build my own business, which I already see thriving.

I took chances. I stood out. I didn’t wait; I made things happen. I was waiting though, before I started the site – when I was sending out ten resumes a day and staring at my phone, hoping at least someone would call me in for an interview.

It’s time for you to follow your passion. Stop making excuses. I know what it’s like to make excuses and when you stop making them, your head hits the pillow at night soundly, without having that itching pang of all the dreams you’re not going for swirling around in your head.

I know the media has got us all down, but we need to lift ourselves up again. We need to see the hope throughout the dreary climate. We need to band together and find new ways to follow our passions. We need to realize that there will always be a reason to settle and we can’t let it happen. We can’t let ourselves give up. We are all in this together, capable of greatness, and deserving of a life of passion.

Now, go. Build something great.

(all pictures by pbo31)

I’m a big Twitter advocate, as you should assume. When I first started Twitter, back in, oh, mid 2007 (yes, I’ve been on the service since then!), I was not even a big fan at all. People told me I had to be on it, that I could do all these different things with it, but I kept forgetting I even had Twitter. I was getting “nudged” by the Twitter bot every other day, because I wasn’t updating. So, I ignored it. I pretended Twitter wasn’t there, even though all my friends insisted it was the most fun thing on the planet.

Then, there was Facebook. (I know, I’m not in chronological order, it’s okay, move on.) I signed up out of what seemed like obligation as people drilled into me that it needed to be utilized, immediately. I was still reaping the benefits of MySpace and had built a community there. I signed up for Facebook and found no use for it, so I deleted my account within six months.

Social media isn’t something you consume because people tell you to. There are thousands of networks out there and only the very prominent get talked about. You don’t need to join Twitter if you want to network. You don’t need to join LinkedIn if you want to get a job. You don’t need a blog.

Pushing yourself to use social media because other people have found value in it is the opposite of what makes networking so robust. We each find a niche or two and feel understood, validated, free to explore who we are in relation to others. And, there’s enough room for the big networks and the small ones, but when people tell us we need to be on certain ones to achieve certain goals, I know they are wrong.

The reason Twitter is so huge is because people have found ways to passionately leverage it. These people are mostly innovators and early adopters. But, you don’t need to passionately leverage it if you don’t want to. You can find a job without using Twitter and, possibly, you will find a new network to leverage to stand out from others who are reading how to leverage Twitter to get a job. All things buzzy fade eventually.

Find the network or outlet that can make you come alive. Your use of networking tools that work for other people, but you’re not passionate about, is a waste. Ignore the people that say if you don’t have LinkedIn, you’ll be behind. Ignore everyone that tells you that you need a blog to establish yourself as a specialist.

If you hate blogging, it will show. If you aren’t passionate about LinkedIn or Twitter, you’ll get nothing out of it. There’s too much out there on social media that says what we NEED to use, instead of allowing people to use what will work for them best. In this age of networking, where most people you need to meet are online, you are more likely to meet someone for a potential job when you are using a product that you are passionate about. I say, ignore the buzz. Do whatever the hell you think will bring out your passions and see where that leads you.

Too many times I see people consume social media out of obligation, instead of out of passion. Nothing great comes from that line of thinking.

(All pictures by k masback)

Let me share a story with you: A month or so before I graduated from college, I snagged an interview with an award-winning ad agency called Goodby Silverstein. They are the masterminds behind “Got Milk?” and have been named Ad Agency of the Year by Advertising Age numerous times. Needless to say, I was nervous. The entire week before my interview, I pored over countless career advice articles online. I answered the 100 most common interview questions out loud two times. I read advice that contradicted the last article I had read. I read about how to act, how to sit, how to shake hands, how to have a conversation, how to, how to, how to.

I should tell you now that I am a fantastic interviewee. I’ve won awards for public speaking and am very comfortable around people. I nail interviews. Why I was reading so much advice, I can’t be quite sure, because when I had the interview at Goodby, I was so far from authentic, I wouldn’t have hired me. And, they didn’t.

The advice froze me. It contradicted who I am and who I wanted to be hired as. I went into that interview as a patchworked version of all the crummy advice that people pass off as expert opinion. I was simultaneously five different people, based on the differing advice I read. I decided, right there, I was going to stop reading 99% of career advice.

I should say here that if you want status quo in your career, read advice. Chances are, if this blog is resonating with you, you don’t want status quo. You want brilliance and greatness and you will get it, if you ignore 99% of career advice.

Career advice doesn’t teach you to stand out. It teaches you to do what everyone else does, because everyone else is Googling what you’re Googling and taking that advice. Career advice is teaching you to be average, but you don’t want to be average. You want to be memorable. And, average people are not memorable.

Tell me a time where you worked hard and passionately when nobody was looking. Tell me a time when you created projects for yourself, so you could seem more valuable to an employer (or a lover or a friend or a business partner). Tell me a time when you were so self-motivated to seek out meaningful work that you provided your own work experience, instead of waiting for it to come along.

I hope at least some of you have stories to tell for these scenarios. Most entrepreneurs will relate, I’m sure. But, what if you can’t? Don’t you think you should be able to?

Let me tell you a story. I met with the CEO of a Silicon Valley consulting company last week. Our initial meeting was set up to talk about if I would be a good fit for any of the startups he consults with. We chatted, both of us with our guards down, which was good. We weren’t trying to impress each other, like some typical interviews. Plus, this wasn’t a job interview, per se, so both of us were at ease.

Now, I believe I have an impressive experience history, even though I’ve had one job out of college that I stayed at for six months and another job I quit after two weeks. Needless to say, I never run out of hands-on, real work experience to talk about, because contrary to popular belief, you CAN gain VALUABLE work experience while in college. Whoever imposed the RULE that work experience begins the second you get handed a diploma needs to be fired. Quick. Now. Because, it’s BS. Don’t tell me the months I spent working, as the acting CEO, on a marketing campaign for Coca-Cola for a national competition was nothing when I learned how to do marketing research, media planning, advertising implementation, etc. Ah, but I digress.

However, when I was speaking with this CEO, do you want to know what I was talking about the most? This past month being unemployed. The blog I promoted. The guest post spots I landed. The connections I made. The community I built for myself. The social media knowledge I gained. Real work experience in an unconventional way.

And, I’ll tell you. The CEO was not looking to hire, did not ask me there to hire me, was merely seeing if I was a good fit for other companies. Yet, at the end of our hour long discussion, he was asking if I would be interested in working for his company at a position that he didn’t even know was open. Suddenly, the doors to his office had swung wide open.

I tell you this: The things you do when nobody is looking are the things that count. Of course, it’s impressive what you accomplished at a job, but you know what’s more impressive? What you accomplished when you weren’t getting paid. That’s where your commitment lies and that’s when a company knows if you’re exponentially passionate (and, well, a rockstar).

I immersed myself in the culture of social media for a month. I was in it before, but I hadn’t fully jumped in, only a halfway attempt at connecting online. Yet, once I made that leap, I knew there was truly, 100% no going back, because I fit here.

And, I didn’t wait to get a position at a company to figure out what I want to do. I didn’t need to stay at a job for longer than two weeks to understand that it wasn’t for me. And, quitting that job spiraled me into a different realm all together. I found the time to truly get to the heart of my passion and focus my attention on gaining the skills I’d need for the job I eventually want.

You can do it, too. If you’re unemployed (or even if you’re not), you can be making opportunities for yourself, instead of waiting for them to come to you. I knew I didn’t have the experience to be a social media marketer or community manager, but I feel like I do now.

Hell, I just launched a purely viral campaign that has amassed 22,000 page views in just three days. And, wrote a guest post for Penelope Trunk that has garnered over 100 comments in one day. Who else can say they did all of that in a little under a month?

No pay was necessary. I was motivated simply by the desire to set myself up for a life of passion and meaning, because I knew what I did or did not do for the time I was unemployed could make or break the future of my career.