What is the difference between a job and a career? We took a look into the Webster Dictionary for the definitions of both words.
Job - a piece of work; especially: a small miscellaneous piece of work undertaken on order at a stated rate.
Career - a field for or pursuit of consecutive progressive achievement especially in public, professional, or business life (Washington's career as a soldier)
Career - a profession for which one trains and which is undertaken as a permanent calling (a career in medicine) (a career diplomat)
The difference is obvious. A job is a piece of work while a career is a profession for which one trains in, in pursuit of consecutive progressive achievements.
If you keep pursuing different jobs without any consideration to your career, you are likely to end up being good at a few things but excellent in none. That will also place you in the lower echelons of management where being “good” is acceptable; but not the top echelons of management, where only excellence is accepted.
One needs to plan carefully when it comes to one’s career but when it comes to a job, planning would not be that important, by virtue of what a job is.
Some people ignore their career and take any job that comes along. Such people will take the jobs, work and save some money. They basically work to live.
Others prefer to choose a single profession, such as accounting, marketing, lecturing, engineering, medicine, and sales and make a career out of it. They start in their chosen profession at the lower levels and painfully make advancement up the higher levels. For example, they may start as an Audit Assistant, then to Senior, to Assistant Manager, Manager and hopefully to become a Partner in the firm. Throughout their career, they stick to one profession, that is, External Accounting. It is highly likely that such people will choose a career that is compatible with their personal interests and beliefs and they basically live to work.
So, what is for you? Ultimately, it is your choice, right? There is no perfect answer here. Many people experience a little of both. Sometimes, there may be no choice at all. This is what life is all about.
What do you think of this article? Do you have any comments.
Cheers,
The Singapore Headhunter
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