What is the difference between a "job" and a "careers"?

The terms job and career are sometimes used for the same reason but. The difference between the two has as much to do with attitude as it does anything else. If you say you have a career that implies that you have conscientiously chosen this field of work and that each job you take helps you advance to higher and higher levels. Careers involve long-range planning (and often education).

Rewarding careers don’t miraculously happen. They are a result of planning, and putting together the building block jobs that eventually become a career.

A career is something that you build during your lifetime. Career planning is the ability to look ahead and think about where you are going and what steps you need to get there. A career is something that excites you, that uses your best skills and talents, and that fits with your lifestyle.

Jobs on the other hand, are often a means to an end. You need to help pay for your way through college, so you find a part-time job. Or you take on a summer job to earn some extra money. Or maybe you take on temporary agency work to help pay the bills.

People often apply for jobs as a part of their long term careers plan. Working and studying has become the “norm”

This page was last updated on the 18th of February 2008 and is scheduled for review on or before the 18th of February 2009