The difference between a job and career is sometimes underestimated. It’s easy to think your job will turn into a fulfilling career someday, but you have to understand the difference between a job and a career — and where each leads.
A job can be part of your career plan, but more commonly, it leads nowhere and only ends up keeping you trapped in a career you weren’t planning on entering. Don’t lose all hope, however — there are ways to keep a job from taking over your career plans. Look for opportunities to advance in the field you’re working in, as this can both make your working life more tolerable for the short-term and help you out in the long-term by adding valuable management experience to your resume. If you discover that you really enjoy this career path, you can always change your plans, but don’t simply get stuck in the job and stop trying to find a job in your ideal career!
If you just have a job, you probably don’t really care much about how you perform at work and you are always looking at the clock. You can’t really get the motivation up to buy into the company’s values, and you look forward to payday more than any other day of the week. On the other hand, your job might have turned into a career if you really care about what you’re doing and why, how well you do it, and how you can improve.
After all, a career is more than just a job — a career is your long-term plan for a fulfilling work life. A job will pay the bills, but a career will make you happy and anxious to get up and go to work every day.
So, which should you be looking for, a job or a career? Well, that all depends on your circumstances. Some people, like students, are just looking for a little extra money or enough to help them pay tuition. Others need to pay the rent until they find a more satisfying job. And there’s nothing wrong with this!
But in the long-term, you need to keep an eye on where you are relative to where you want to go. The things we spend the most amount of time doing is what we’ll end up doing in five or ten years from now. If you are making an effort to get to where you want to be, your job will be a helpful step in getting there. If you just live to work each day, you might find yourself there in five years! Try to keep some plan, either written or mental, of where you are and where you want to be and refer to this frequently to make sure you’re on the right track.
No matter whether you’re looking for a job or a career, keep in mind the differences between the two, and regularly review your career plan to see whether you’re on-track, or if you’ve found a more satisfying career that requires a revision of your long-term plan.