Pursuits-turned-skills and their potential career matches

Gossiping = Blogger

If you have a flair for the dramatic, a strong work ethic and an ability to hunt down good tidbits and make sure they're accurate, you can thrive as a professional blogger. Companies like Gawker hire writers to pen entertaining and newsy bits several times a day. Or build up your expertise in a subject area and market your work until advertising revenues support you.

Internet addiction = Social Media Publicist

When Termeh Mazhar worked from home as a freelancer, he hid his obsession with YouTube fat-cat videos, Facebook, Twitter and MySpace from his clients. Today, they're his job. As a social media publicist, Mazhar works for a PR agency generating buzz for his clients on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, as well as writing his own blog and tracking his client's online competitors.

A stint at the Gap = Almost any corporate job

"Young professionals often tell me they don't want to put their summer job at the Gap on their resume, but as we talk about it more, inevitably we uncover loads of experience that's useful in today's business world," says Levit. "Nowadays, every department is a business and every team member a salesperson. Retail experience means you know how to engage in activities that meet customer needs."

A flair for the dramatic/comedic timing = Teaching

It's not all you need, but commanding a room is key to teaching success.

"People who are natural performers often tend to be good one-on-one communicators," says Alexandra Levit, author of How'd You Score That Gig? A Guide to the Coolest Careers and How to Get Them. "If you want to educate people effectively, you also have to be able to entertain them."

An obsession with global warming = Sustainability Coordinator

It takes more than watching "An Inconvenient Truth," but if you follow the scientific data on climate change and have a facility with numbers, you may be able to parlay that into a job helping corporations, universities and colleges reduce their carbon footprints. The jobs often require an environmental studies or engineering degree.

Getting Mom into the right nursing home = Elder Care Consultant

"Frankly, it's a relief for the Baby Boomer generation, sandwiched between elderly parents and children, to get some help," says Caprino. "People in this field must be compassionate, organized, connected to a great network of lawyers, financial consultants and understand the law and insurance. They really provide a deep array of consulting services." Often, they have a social-work degree.