How to make your passion your career
By: Grace Noble
ProMazo had the chance to interview Jacqueline Fuller, President of Google.org and a previous leader of the Gates Foundation, in early 2020.
Fuller has had a wide ranging career that started with working as a speechwriter for the Health & Human Services Secretary. After taking a couple years off to stay home with her children, she was inspired by the mission of the Gates Foundation and jumped back into her career. Fuller worked for the foundation for 8 years. After her time there, she moved on to Google.org where she found herself moving up to vice president.
As part of the interview, Fuller gave us several great insights for students on following their passion, finding their marketable skill and taking chances.
Follow your passion:
According to a study done by Boderzine, 80% of college students change their major at least once in four years of school, and Fuller is part of that super majority. During school, Fuller volunteered in a disadvantaged community in Los Angeles. She learned a lot during her time there and realized that, “this is where [she felt] most alive.” So, after 3 years of studying arms control, Fuller changed her major to urban poverty and public policy.
But finding what makes you tick is only one part of the puzzle. From Fuller’s perspective, you have to pair it with something that can make your passion your career.
“We do our best work when we are energized and are bringing our curiosity to our daily work,” Fuller said. “Follow your energy. Follow your curiosity. Look where you come most alive, then combine that with the pragmatic.”
Anything can be marketable in the workforce as long as you pair it with something that is valuable to someone. And it really can be almost anything. People even get paid to test video games; if that exists, there is most definitely a place in this world for what you’re interested in.
Find your skill:
When moving to the job market, it can be hard to find that one thing you are good at, but Fuller tells students that it is vital to identify it.
“The truth is if you have one bankable skill that you have invested in and the market demands, then that can get you [where you want to be],” Fuller said. “Some examples of skills are coding, product design, accounting, writing, being a top notch researcher, being phenomenal at social media. There are many types of skills, just make sure to bring yours with you in your career.”
It was precisely because of her one bankable skill that she was able to secure her first job and nearly every career jump thereafter. From her start as a speech writer, to the Gates Foundation, and now at Google.org, the opportunities were opened because of her one skill.
In fact, when Fuller was first given the opportunity to meet with someone from the Gates Foundation, she marketed herself as being able to do almost anything. She wanted this job so badly that she would go to the ends of the earth to get there. She wanted to be everything that they needed.
As it turns out, the foundation simply needed a grant writer. This is something that Fuller could deliver on and it is why she was given a shot at the Foundation.
Overall, Fuller’s advice is for students to find that one thing that makes you valuable and run with it. It can be anything under the sun, but if you don’t market yourself as having that skill, you might not get very far.
Taking Chances:
Fuller had to take many chances to get where she wanted to be in her career; especially when she wanted a job with the Gates Foundation. You might want to take notes; the story is pretty incredible.
One day, while she was reading the paper, she stumbled upon an article about the Gates Foundation, which talked about their desire to help the poorest of the poor. As she read the article, she could hardly put it down and still to this day she can remember all of her excitement. Fuller knew she had found her dream job and internally she exclaimed, “take me! this is my passion.” There was one problem though: they never said they were looking for anyone to help them and their location/contact info was not given in the story, but Fuller didn’t let that stop her. To put it in terms of our 21st century friends, she low-key stalked the Foundation.
Don’t worry. We’re mostly kidding.
She took clues from the story, which said that the headquarters was above a pizza shop in Redmond, Washington, and searched for the Foundation’s offices on Google Images (looking at every pizza shop in the area and matching it to the description in the article). After finding out where she thought they might be based, she traveled to Seattle, walked up to the Foundation’s building, and shared her resume thinking to herself “I’ve got this”.
Fuller got rejected, but she didn’t let that stop her. She kept going back to submit her resume, trying to prove that she was the person they needed. After several attempts, she eventually nabbed the job.
Fuller also had to take the same sort of risk to secure her current position as President of Google.org.
After working at Google.org for a few years, Fuller heard that there was a need for a new vice president. She worked up her courage and wrote her superior a 3 page memo touching on everything that Fuller wanted to do to make the organization better. She never got a response.
Just picture the sinking feeling in her stomach when she put herself out there and got no feedback. And then imagine her surprise when her manager recommended her to lead Google.org three months later. Looking back on the experience, she realized it was precisely because of the memo and her writing skill that she was considered for the position.
In both of these examples, Fuller had to go after what she wanted, but she describes, “that’s not really [her]. [She] had to screw up [her] courage and do that.”
So remember, even as a student, it is important to roll up your sleeves and go after things, or else you will never get what you truly want.
