Have you ever reached crossroads and wondered if you made a good choice in your job or career? Following your passion, a job versus a career and thoughts of which way to go are common questions that many high school students, fresh graduates and people in their early years at work ask. Should you think with your heart and follow your passion? A job and a career are often used interchangeably. The fact is, they have different meanings. Okay, great to know, so who cares?
Well may be you should! in this article we will talk about following your passion, job versus career. Understanding the difference between a job and a career is a crucial component in understanding the need to follow your passion. A job and a career do not only have different meanings but they also ave major differences between them.
A job is any activity, short term or long term, through which you earn money. It involves filling a work position within an organization or business entity in exchange of payment. On the other hand, a career is a dedicated pursuit of a lifetime ambition or achievement.Let me share a quick example with you. Being a teacher would be considered a career, but working in a classroom as a cleaner would be considered a job. Makes sense?
You may not require any special training or a particular education to do a job but for a career, specialized training or some sort of education is required to accomplish a career task. A career may not necessarily mean stability of work as there are a lot of risks involved. You will find that the risks involved are often internal and unplanned. For a job, it is generally safe as the stability of income and work is abundant. However shifting priorities can abruptly change the demand for employees and lead to relocation.
Following your passion, Job versus Career
Which Way go?
When you have a job, your primary goal is to keep it. You aim to get your daily tasks on time and efficiently to keep your boss happy. All you really want at the end of the month is a paycheck and positive reviews from the boss. If you fail to complete your tasks as per the requirement, your boss will be mad at you or maybe miss your monthly income. Regardless of the significant emotional energy, you put into the job, you will still continue to receive the same amount of salary at the end of the month.
In a career, your goal is not only to accomplish a certain task but also to learn some skills, gain experience and built lifelong connections. You also aim to raise your demand and target promotions, salary increment and possibly more rewarding positions in other organizations.
In other words, you are supposed to invest more emotional energy into a career. Also, you should be looking for ways to gain experience, learn more skills, get promotions, get salary increment and build a network of connections. You should work hard until you get to the level of success that you want. This does not mean alienating or neglecting other components of your life but setting professional goals and finding the shortest route to get there.
You must have come across people who have strong career ambitions. While that is very good, I like to put a friendly note that it helps to craft your career around your passions. I love learning technologies, instructional design, training and people. I made a conscious choice taking into consideration that, that is my passion. So I am not necessarily earning a lot of money but I am super happy with what I do.
There are many great resources such as Finding Your Career Passion: A Key Career Planning Tool that can help you discover and make sense of your passions. While you might feel lost at some point, always keep in mind that discovering and following your path to a career can be fun and rewarding. Once you have a solid idea of what you love doing most, it can be a good starting point of turning your passion into a rewarding career. Here are four easy steps on how you can craft a career around your passions.
Following your passion, Job versus Career
Crafting your career around your passion
1. Talk to a Career Counselor
Career counselors can help you determine what you want to pursue for a living. They have insights, experience, and tools to help you discover things you love most. They also have viable ideas and tips on how to find a career that is in line with your passion. You will need to take advantage of their advice and resources.
2. Leverage Social Media
You can’t deny that you don’t live in a social world. Once you have identified what you love most, you will need to establish connections. Your connections should be a network of people who have and share the same interest as yours. The best place to find these people is through social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can also find these people through forums, blogs and offline.
3. Start Saving Money
Once you are contented that you are ready to hit the road towards achieving your career goals, start saving money to help you actualize those goals. The more money you have, the less scary it will be the moment you decide to quit your job.
4. Just Do It
It is well said than done. Simply, you won’t know what you really love to do most until you actually start doing it. Don’t just speculate instead give it a go. It doesn’t matter how small your steps are, just roll up your sleeves and hit the road towards achieving your goals. You will never know your potential until you try.
The Big Point
Working in a job that does not fulfill your goals can make you adapt to certain behaviors and beliefs that can impact your self-esteem and confidence. You will need to strip away these negative beliefs and behaviors and get to your truth. In fact, that is where your passion is.
”Remember that skills can be learned, but your passion is what defines who you are The naked truth is that you can do whatever you want to do if only you set your mind to do so. A good advice that career councilors give is that do whatever you love most, and the money will follow you. It may take some time to discover what you are truly meant to do, but if you love that thing most, your efforts and dedication will be a valuable investment and your future happiness” Noelah Bomani-Ntukamazina.
The Bottom Line
True success in life is much more than having fame or a lot of money. Enjoying the work you do is more important than having millions of dollars in your bank account. Plus, if you love your work, there is a high chance that you will perform better and get higher pay. If you’re thinking about continuing with your personal career or just starting your own business, you may need to figure out what you are passionate about. As career councilor would tell you that it is not easy, but the struggle will save that investment for your passions, your family or your career.
Reflecting back on following your passion, job versus career; for those who are employed, do you say you have a job or a career? I would love to hear your comments!
