Planning Ahead

Understanding the difference between a Job and a Career

Do you remember when you were a child and you watched your parents get ready to go to work? May be you were even able to tag along with each of them for a day. If so, depending on what kind of work your parent did, you might have been exposed to the differences between a job and a career early on, even though you didn’t know it.

Jobs are just that – they are work, a way for a person to make money. They generally do not require any lengthy training or formal education. Unfortunately, however the fact that they do not require a lot of training also means that the people who perform these jobs are commonly paid less than people who have careers. Think of the word “job” as an acronym for “Just over broke”, meaning that jobs can require a lot of hard work that does not really lead you anywhere.

Career on the other hand; lead you down a path that is created by you, your dreams and your goals. They usually require special training and allow you to build your skills and experience over time. The payoff is higher salary and benefits. In some cases, careers are also accompanied by greater security, flexibility and responsibility. Careers offer people the opportunity to challenge themselves, nurture their professional growth and feel they have made a difference in the world. A career creates a passion that gets you up in the morning and makes you happy at the end of the day. The difference in the pay rate between a job and a career is significant.

“People with goals succeed because they know where they are going…It’s as simple as that”