How many times have you seen companies go on about jobs and careers on their websites? A friend of mine made a reference to his job earlier this week, and I started thinking. Now mind you, this is a very talented individual who strives for success and regularly receives recruiting calls due to his particular skills and experience. Then a few days later, I was speaking with a firm who told me, “Come here if you want a career, not a job.” But as I looked through the company’s website, I could only find the term job. Curious…So, what’s the difference between a job and a career? What connotations do these terms carry? Naturally, I chose Wikipedia as my first stop. “A job is a regular activity performed in exchange for payment,” but a career is “a person’s course or progress through life (or a distinct portion of life). It is usually considered to pertain to remunerative work (and sometimes also formal education).”
The omnipotent Google declares that employees who have a job see their work as simply a means to an end, and the employees’ real concern is strictly a regular paycheck. However, a career is aligned to personal preferences and education. The individual is more concerned with satisfaction, success, and succession as opposed to simply a paycheck. 
Yale psychologist, Amy Wrzesnieqski studies mental conceptions and performance and has done some research on the topic. She suggests a third category, calling, which consists of individuals who view work as a means to utilizing their strengths, as well as contributing to a greater good. Amy’s findings indicate that those who consider their 9-5 a calling, work harder and longer, and they are more likely to get ahead and be successful.
As an HR professional, this has me thinking. Why don’t organizations just get a little creative and talk about career callings? Certainly, organizations want individuals who are aligned with their strengths and focus on their performance and success? Why do I keep seeing so many references to jobs as organizations must be seeking the latter of the two? How many firms talk about careers but publish copy about jobs? How many promote jobs yet have succession plans and learning and development programs?
Do you remember when managers (or as my friend says, bosses) became leaders? Perhaps it’s time for the tide to turn? Or, is a job a stepping stone to a career?
