Job vs. Career... What's the difference anyway?

I've had jobs. I've got a career. Let me tell you what the difference between a job and a career is from my own personal perspective.

When I was 15 years old, I was lucky enough to get my first "job". I worked as a nursery attendant and my task was to monitor the hygiene of the little babies and toddlers. In other words, if a diaper got "poopy and droopy", I changed it. If a nose got runny, I wiped it. If a pair of little hands got sticky after snacktime, I wiped them off. If a kid had any kind of cleanliness issue, it was my job to watch for it and take care of it. I guess I was pretty good at it, because the next summer I got hired again by the same people, but this time I was a playground supervisor. I got to wear a whistle around my neck and conduct kickball games with the older kids there, and I got to head up the "arts and crafts" and help them learn to play board games if it was rainy and the kids couldn't play outside in the sunshine. It was a pretty good "job". It was fun and I learned from it. Some of the things I learned help me now in my career as a teacher and some of the things I learned helped me a great deal as a young mother.

Jobs are important. I don't discount the value of having several jobs in your life, because you can take a great deal from these jobs and formulate what you want to find in a career. I didn't have a career until after college. I had several jobs before and during college. What I did as a job, some people make into their career. For instance, I was a waitress during college. I know that for some people, waiting tables is a career. See, part of what goes into whether something is "just a job" or if it is a career choice is PASSION. If you develop a passion for something, it may develop into a career. For me, it was art. Later in my art career, it changed to teaching. I have had two careers in my life. The job list is much longer, and some of those jobs led me to find my career.

It is estimated that a person might have as many as 14 jobs on average during a working lifetime. It is not a bad thing to change jobs. Doing so is a big part of the process of self awareness. After all, a job is really simply performing a task in exchange for payment. A career is one's chosen profession. It is long-term and results in the satisfaction that you find in your professional life. Jobs usually lead one down the path to a career, and some jobs teach you precisely what you do not want in a career. I was once a library assistant. There is certainly nothing wrong with that job for many people. For many, working in a library is a fine career. I knew early on that it didn't suit me. I found the repetitive work was counter to my need to think creatively. I was shelving books and checking in books the same way day after day after day. I knew from that job that it was an absolute requirement for me to have a job that was not the same tomorrow that it had been today. I needed a job with creative flow, constant change, and where there was an element of the unexpected. My careers in art/design and teaching have certainly provided me with that.

Explore many jobs and allow them to lead you to the career that you deserve.