Difference Between Job and Career

Edited by Diffzy | Updated on: April 30, 2023

       

Difference Between Job and Career

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Introduction

A job and a career are done to earn a livelihood. Both are concepts to get something from life. A job is a work a person does to earn a livelihood. However, a career is a journey set up by a person to find the meaning of life. It involves different things.

Jobs and a career sometimes even overlap each other. Jobs can even be considered as a subset of their career. Because, in due course, building a successful career, a person starts doing the job. A career is defined only after the entry of a job.

Job vs. Career

A career is a long journey of the progress of a person's life. It starts from learning and ends with a lot of experiences. It involves education, higher education, specialized courses, multiple pieces of training, job search, job changing, retirements, and further plans. A person does and learns a lot of things in his career.

A job is a work a person does to earn a livelihood. It can be anything depending on one's choice. It is a collection of tasks that a person does to get money. It involves going to a specific special and spending a fixed hour working on different tasks. The wages are fixed that may increase with time.

Difference between job and career in tabular form

Parameters of comparison job career
Definition A job is a combination of work a person does to earn money A career is a series of tasks that a person does to make his life meaningful
Duration Short-term achievement Long-term achievement
Purpose To earn money To give meaning to the life
Method Working on something Doing innovative works, specialized courses
Focus on Earning money Innovations, learning new skills

What is a job?

A job is a trip to earn money for a livelihood. In simple terms, a job is a collection of tasks that a person does to get money. The work is fixed. The person has prior knowledge of the work and the amount of money he will get after doing the job. It may continue for a lifetime. However, if the person wants, he can change or leave the job midway.

A job has a fixed time for working in which an employee has to come to a given place, do work for a specific period, and go back home. It continues every day for a month. The job has provisions for holidays as well.

The word job might have a different meaning. For example, a job means any work done by a person. For instance, he did a great job. It means changes with change in situations.

According to the definition of a job given in the oxford dictionary, a job is work done by a person to earn money. The completion of the work is the responsibility of the person. And, the person is dedicated to the job to achieve a successful career in life.

Types of a job

This world is full of different types of jobs. Some are paid while others are unpaid jobs. A few examples of such works are homemakers, mothers, fathers, etc. They do not ask for any salary for doing these jobs. Others are paid work. A job is simply a synonym for the paid ones.

There are lacs of types of jobs. They all can be divided into two parts. They are trade and professional work.

Trade jobs

Trade jobs do need specific skills, not any professional degree. A person can do a simple course to do trade jobs. Examples of trade jobs are barber, carpenter, baker, shoe polisher, goldsmith, farmer, blacksmith, etc. They all need a simple course and are ready to start their work.

Professional jobs

Next are professional workers who have a university degree. They do different types of work that need proficiency. Examples of such jobs are teachers, doctors, engineers, civil servants, railway drivers, professors, principals, peons, managers, etc. They all first complete their elementary education. Then, do some specialized course to get the job.

Pay is higher in professional jobs when compared to trade jobs because they need hard work and professional skills that only a few possess.

Vocation or job

the concept of a vocation started after jobs. Earlier, it was only for religious purposes, but later it was established for all types of jobs.

A vocation means doing a job not for money but also for satisfaction. For example, an entrepreneur takes free evening classes for poor children, or a nurse provides free nursing at her home for wounded people. They do not charge any fees for them.

Duration of jobs

Jobs have different durations for the work. For example, some jobs are for fixed hours while others depend on people's moods. Some are done at night, which is known as night shift jobs, while others that are done during the day are known as day shift jobs. Some are part-time jobs, while others are full-time jobs.

Part-time jobs are done only for a few hours. It is done by students, women, entrepreneurs, senior citizens, etc. The pay is lower than the full-time job, and the workload is also less. A student can carry out a part-time job with his studies to meet his expenses.

Full-time jobs are for those who want to establish their career and focus on the future. A person puts his whole attention on his career building. He works on a 10 am to 5 pm job. The workload and pay are high.

Unemployment

Unemployment is one of the biggest concerns of the nations of the whole world. The population is increasing every day, and so is the workforce. But the employment opportunities in companies are limited. It has resulted in increased competition as well as unemployment. Youths are not getting jobs even after working hard. Various nations have launched government policies to eradicate this problem. However, it still exists and is increasing every day.

What is a career?

A career is a journey with numerous halts. People start their journey of career since they get the power of thinking. With slow but progressive growth, people continue on the path of their careers. They learn new skills, do special training, choose a job, change their work, the quest for the meaning of life, do what they say to do, and in the end, retire from the search of life.

A career also symbolizes the work done by a person to earn a livelihood or their lifetime work. To achieve this lifetime goal, people do hard work and change several types of jobs to reach their ultimate goal. A career can be anything in the life of people. Some examples are the education career, the political career, the criminal career, etc.

With the change in time, the options to choose a career diversified. A person or a student can change their whole career as per their will. In recent years, people even started to opt for multiple career options. It goes either simultaneously or sequentially as per the will of the person.

  • Choosing a career

The selection of a career depends on various things. It is not something that can be decided in a day or a month. Instead, it takes rigorous searches and analysis to reach the career goal. Different people have different goals and expectations in their life. Accordingly, their choice of a career also changes.

Factors that affect the choice of a career can be categorized into three parts

  • Objective factors

The selection of a career depends on objective factors like the fruitfulness of the job. This decision is taken by keeping the mind rational. Then, objective factors like salary, facilities, holidays, work hours, location, career opportunities, and further advancements are checked out.

  • Subjective factors

After looking at the objective factors of the job, subjective factors. Subjective factors are related to the morals and ethics of the job. The factors that affect the subjectivity of the job are

  • the status of the job
  • the reputation of the company in the market
  • the social and ethical importance of the job, etc.

Critical factors

Critical factors are advanced factors that test the working environment and other factors related to the company. It depends on the observation of the people when they enter the company. Some primary checkouts are the behavior of the employees, the method of the company to communicate with the employee, the friendly working environment, etc.

Apart from this, certain factors related to the persons' life also play an advanced role. In this world, getting a job is not that easy. Competitions and lack of opportunities have increased the stress on seekers.

The selection of a career depends on various factors like competition, the capacity of the person, work style, interest, social interaction, work-life balance, time, etc. Sometimes people can not find the best possible career for themselves in one go. In this case, they have to roam again and again on this path to find the best option. They change their job again and again to find their lifetime work.

Changing the career

A career is one of the most vital parts of life a person. Changing it needs a lot of analysis and searching. The world is changing every day, and so are the people. The demand for change jobs is also increasing accordingly.

Various factors work behind changing a job. These factors also keep on changing. Whether it is the issue of low salary or unfriendly work environment, lack of challenge and opportunity in the works, or something else. When it comes to changing the job, new challenges and opportunities arise. The person needs to start from the starting point of the journey.

Changing a career is not like changing a job. A person can change their career even after remaining in the same work. For example, if a person starts a side-earning method, then it will be a change in a career, not a job change. Next, even if a person changes the job, a career need not change. For example, when a person gets a new job with the same designation but higher pay, it is a change in a job, not a career.

Career management is one of the vital aspects of a career. It depends on factors, such as career selection, career-changing, taking special training as an option, etc. A person chooses their career depending on their strength and weaknesses. After then, a person may or may not think about changing their path. A career change may need to acquire new skills.

Difference between job and career in points

  • A job is a collection of work done to earn money. However, a career is a journey to do something satisfying in life.
  • The job is done by searching for it and then working on it for a fixed interval. However, a career starts from learning. A few people believe in customizing the career path at an early age. Hence, they have a whole way of their life.
  • A job is a short-term achievement, whereas a career is a long-term achievement.
  • The purpose of a job is to earn money. However, the task of a career is to give meaning to life.

Conclusion

A job and a career are similar to a trip and a journey. A trip is only for a short period, while the journey continues for a lifetime. A career is like a journey. It starts from studies, continues in our training, riches the height in jobs and starts declining in the retirement. The main focus of a person in his life is his career. A person works hard day and night to reach the highest point of their career.

A job is a work a person does to earn a livelihood. It can be anything like a trade or a professional job, a part-time or a full-time job. It covers up a smaller area as compared to the career.

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"Difference Between Job and Career." Diffzy.com, 2024. Fri. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.diffzy.com/article/difference-between-job-and-career-120>.



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