What's the difference between a job and a career?
By bluegemini10
@bluegemini10 (327)
United States
August 31, 2011 11:20pm CST
i was recently taking an online survey, and It asked to seleect my job title, and it asked me if It's a job, or a career, What's the difference?
5 responses
@Fishmomma (11377)
• United States
2 Sep 11
I think you have received many great answers to your question. A career is doing something for a lifetime that you want to do and a job makes money, but you plan to move on to another job in the future many times soon, but could be a longer period of time. I have had many jobs some several years like milking cows and farming, but teaching was the reason I attended college. It was very rewarding to make a difference in a young child's life.
@Bluedoll (16773)
• Canada
2 Sep 11
Yes, I agree you have some very good answers. The oxford dictionary defines a career as a "course or progress through life". Although career might well pertain to formal educcation I personally think the distinction can be very closely related. What I mean it is something like a resume or a CV (Latin for resume) though different in structure both are records of ones activities. The point being however here is that if a person makes a life out of farming it well might be considered a career. Even housekeeping could be considered career orientated with the distinction being that there is progress. While a job may be a portion of our lie activity that performs one specific function like paying those nasty little bills.
@butterscotsh (1012)
• Philippines
26 Oct 11
The first response said it well.
I think the job is you're just doing it
for earning money and sustaining your needs.
A career is something like a job and you enjoy doing it,
it's something you've been preparing to do your whole life.
It's like the job you've always wanted.
@cripfemme (7698)
• United States
1 Sep 11
A job is something you did to make money and not because you like it, a career is something you do it's what you do. People are more passionate about their careers than their jobs.
@maximax8 (31046)
• United Kingdom
2 Sep 11
A career is like a ladder of progress over many years. A graduate can start a career like teaching. A job is more casual I believe. Although sometimes on a form it says Job Title.
Hairdresser, secretary, office junior, children's nanny, nursery school helper
These would be jobs.
Degree for four years, teach year one, teach year 2, teach years 1 and 2
This would be a teaching career.
@hardworkinggurl (37063)
• United States
1 Sep 11
In my opinion a job is something one does to earn money and not necessarily something they like and or wanted to do with their life. A career is something they worked very hard to achieve and have wanted to this this for their whole lives. Best way to describe it would be a doctor who always wanted and wants to be a doctor and does it well to the best of his ability.
There are some doctors that although they worked hard to be their and it is their life's work, they perhaps only did so because of influence of family footsteps and not necessarily because this is what they opted to do, just as an example. They may at some point opt to do something else because it is not what they wanted to do.
