You are probably at the point in life where you are thinking about choosing a job or better yet, choosing the right career. The question always comes up as to what really is the difference between a job and a career. Very strictly speaking, the definition of a career is a chosen pursuit, occupation or profession and the definition of a job is a task you get paid for. A job is something you do to earn money and basically to make ends meet. A career is made up of a series of jobs that are related and offer further advancement in your chosen career future. Choosing a career path often involves furthering your education or learning specific training skills. Having a job usually does not include any planning and people often get bored and weary over time because they are not utilizing their abilities or following their passion and interests.

When you hate your job it is often because you realize that the job offers no advancement and you are not building any skills for the future. You are just there to collect a regular paycheck. Jobs often have little impact on future resumés because they are unrelated to what you will be doing in the future. A career is made up of a series of stepping-stone-jobs that will always look good on a resumé because they point in one specific occupational direction.

It is often said that a job offers few networking opportunities because the people you meet there, be it coworkers or customers, will not be the people you'll know at your future dream job. Whereas a career related job offers much more networking opportunities because most of the people around you have similar interests and career aspirations. It is very possible that when a coworker moves on to a new and better job position, they will put in a good word for you and recommend you for a job when the opportunity arises.

Now with all that being said I think it should be pointed out that sometimes the differences between a job and a career are not so cut and dried and often it is difficult to distinguish between the two. Let's take for example the job as a landscaper, which generally involves mowing lawns, trimming bushes, raking leaves, etc. This would be considered a low skill job requiring physical stamina and working outdoors. A lot of workers would consider this merely a job to collect a paycheck and would do the minimum amount of work required. However, some other workers would consider this kind of work perfect for themselves because they love working outdoors, enjoy getting the physical exercise, like working with the mowing machinery, and even displaying their artistry in planting flowers and trimming bushes. They take their work seriously and on rainy days instead of not showing up for work they can be found fixing or cleaning the machinery or tools, learning the billing or business end of the job, and generally doing more than is asked. Quite often they will be promoted to foreman and will be the owners right hand man. Eventually, this kind of worker is destined to own their own landscaping business. Thus, a menial job has been transformed into a lucrative career because the worker had treated it as more than a job. He treated it as a stepping stone to a profession he loves to do.

Another thing to remember is to always do your absolute best no matter what kind of job you are working at. If you are a janitor, than be the best janitor the company ever had. If you are a taxi driver, then be the best taxi driver you can possibly be. Always do more than what is asked of you. If you use this work logic in all of your jobs, you will set yourself apart from your coworkers with management and customers eventually taking notice.

I stated earlier that it is often said that a job offers few networking opportunities whereas a career related job offers far more chances to network. Although there is a lot of truth to this it is not always the case. Take for example two college kids working at a car wash part time. Both fellows are taking up accounting in college and both have a strong work ethic, always doing their best and doing more than what is asked of them. One of the fellows gets a good job at a prestigious accounting firm upon graduating from college. A year later an entry level job opens up at this firm and the fellow at the job calls his car wash buddy and tells him he will vouch for him if he is interested. The reason being he knows his friend will not let him down and make him look bad because he worked with him side by side and knows his strong work attitude.

As you can see, every job can offer some degree of networking possibilities. The bottom line is somebody is always watching you and you never know when an opportunity or offer will come your way