It’s like Us Weekly’s “Stars: They’re Just Like Us!” section — but not quite stars. Reading about other people’s lives is part of our cultural zeitgeist; knowing about other people offers a sense of inspiration. It gives us a sort of behind-the-scenes insight, which is like finding out a secret on the playground that none of the other kids know about it. It’s giddy and thrilling and enticing, but we’re not really sure why.

Of course, “Stars: They’re Just Like Us!” has a certain celebrity appeal. Who wouldn’t want to be Natalie Portman or Oprah? We’d all love glamorous careers and enough money to buy four houses and a small country. But the alternative to movie stardom isn’t necessarily a 9-to-5 office cubicle job. Behind every job are 50 more opportunities. Now-dinosaurs like Myspace and LiveJournal served as the initial building blocks for Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Biz Stone of Twitter.

No Joe Schmo delves into the heart of local communities and finds out the essentials about their careers. Although the job market is brighter than it’s been in years, it’s important to keep your mind open to outside-the-box opportunities. We admit, some jobs we highlight — like dog food tasters — aren’t extraordinarily appealing. But those dog food tasters might offer some of the most valuable career advice.  They’re not necessarily featured on Fortune 500 lists, and you probably wouldn’t recognize them on TV. But their stories and career paths are just as worthwhile.