Job vs Career. What’s the difference?

What’s the real difference between a job and a career?

You should ask yourself; are you in it for the short term, or over the long run?

The difference behind a job or a career is not just semantics. What would you say your values are? How much do you really enjoy what you do? Do you consider what you do to be serious work if you drag yourself through a 9 to 5? Or do you consider what you do to be serious work if you consider the entire spectrum of skills and experience that come with it?

Job vs. Career

Simply put, a job is work that you perform in exchange for payment. It’s short-term and helps you to support your basic needs.

A career is a pursuit of your professional goals and ambitions which are based on your passions, skills, education and aspirations. It consists of a progression of work that contributes to your overall professional goals.

Remember, job satisfaction can reach its peak and decline but career development enables you to continuously learn and grow.

Discipline. Changing jobs frequently makes it more difficult to pursue a professional career path. Growth requires patience, the development of good relationships, introspection, challenging conversations, and a great deal of learning and relearning. For the benefit of yourself, you must be invested. In the end, your success depends on the success of your team.

While pondering on this question: “A job or career?”, you may consider the benefits they each have to offer. You may notice a job pays you with a salary. A career gives you experience. If you are looking for a better pay check, focusing on your career path development would get you there. When you do what you love, you will be intrinsically motivated and wouldn’t be so focused on your pay as opposed to seeing actual results from you and your team.

Always question the “why” in everything you do. Of course, there will be some terrible days, even in a career you genuinely adore. But the answer to the question above will generally make you leave work with a sense of purpose. Your daily life will be more fulfilling if you love what you do and are connected to “why” you do it.

I can personally vouch that on a Monday, I’m eager to kick-start my work than feeling not as excited during the beginning of a new week. The career mind-set will propel you forward; you will set long-term goals, ideas will come finding you, you will be transformative in any new role you undertake, you will align with your values and grow as a result. In the end, you wouldn’t be wasting time answering the question, “a job or a career?”, because for one, time flies when you’re doing something you’re passionately engaged in, and for another, a job is like a clock and its ticking but a career is a journey, your story, something to look back at, with a smile.

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