Careers vs jobs: following your passion

Have you ever had a career? Or have you only ever held jobs?
If your answer is that you’ve held both career and job, congratulations. You’re part of the minority. The rest of us are career-minded people who hold jobs in order to pay our bills but don’t let it get in the way of following our passions. Career vs job People tend to think about career and jobs differently, although they’re not all that different: A career is a long-term commitment whereas a job is short-term
But if we were to take things in terms of hard work, career = many hours put into training and studying; job = much less time spent on training and studying In the end though, it’s just semantics : career and job are both career but they can be used interchangeably
“What the heck is a career vs a job!” you say? Well, let’s take a look at the main differences:     Career     Job Something that you commit to over time (1-3 years) Something that you don’t commit to over time The career focuses on becoming an expert The career focuses on gaining experience A career has more room for growth A career is often organized into ladders of sorts You gain “experience points” as part of your career When it rains, it pours; when its sunny, it shines. It’s just like life in general. There will be ups and downs along the way Whether or not things match up with your career/job, you don’t lose or gain career points. It’s more a matter of experience and exposure When you get career points in a job, it’s during an ideal scenario that we all dream about      Career Vs Job: following your passion
In the U.S., people have this mindset to do what they love and “follow their passion”. And while I agree with this notion, I think there is some confusion as to how its carried out. For example, if someone graduated from college and they want to go into graphic design (something they love), here is kind of how it usually works out: -They land their first job at [some company] doing something else -They spend years working hard until one day they get employee of the month, and then they receive a career point which allows them to change career paths. -They eventually work on the graphic designs for that company and become an expert at it -After 5–10 years (depending on how successful they are), they become a senior designer or even lead design manager within the same company. Now before you think about how awesome this person’s career path is, consider these points:
For one, I don’t blame them at all. The traditional career system may be flawed but what do people really have to lose from doing it? They have no kids to support yet; this is why I think most millennials are like this. But in my opinion, there should be more emphasis placed on passion during career planning.
Writing this article is actually a long time coming, but I wanted to gather more data before doing so, and I am glad that the recent online career debate has provided me with enough ammunition to back up my points.
The career system in Singapore today teaches students to be career-focused from young — they are told by their teachers, parents or even career counsellors about how important it is to have a career path at such an early age. Apparently career planning starts as early as polytechnic! However many people not only forget the most important part of any career, which is passion-driven work , but also despise non-traditional career paths because of the perception that these are less secure than careers. (Yes there will be people who will accuse me of career-shaming now).
I believe that career advice should be career and passion-driven (not just career) because no single career path is for everyone. For example, a proper career plan would require young adults to know what kind of career they want before deciding on their university degree. As a result, many end up having second thoughts about the careers they pursuer after graduation — most especially when they are not satisfied with their current jobs — and it’s too late then!
As someone who has worked in both the corporate sector and an industry job (the latter as part of my graduation project!), I can say from personal experience that both types of jobs have differences. While working in the corporate was a career and a career path, heading off to our own business ventures meant starting working on our career paths.
With that in mind, perhaps one of the main reasons behind not being able to follow your passion is because you are still exploring which career you want and would like to pursue. Unless you have this sorted out already, it might be time for you to rethink again about what kind of career or job will suit you — we’ll help with that!
Know what career gets you excited? What job can’t wait for each day? Many people know themselves well enough but find it difficult knowing which career path would get them closer to their dreams or goals . This might be the case when they do know their personality type , life values interests , career interests , career clusters , career fields and career interest codes (i.e., values, personality type, goals & job requirements all put into consideration). The way career counseling helps clients is to identify career options that best fit each individual client’s needs and wants, maximize their strengths, skills and abilities .
Career counseling serves a two-fold purpose: 1) to provide individuals with the opportunity to discover what their talents are so they can find satisfying work; 2) to help them develop realistic career plans for reaching personal career goals. Based on these two purposes of career planning, career counselors use the following techniques during sessions:
1) Career assessment tools/tests – So you can determine your career values or how well suited you for a career.
2) Career interest inventories – Helps you to determine your career interests, which can help educators/counselors learn about career options that would potentially interest the client.
3) Job analyses – To analyze career fields and jobs based on criteria like working conditions, educational requirements, job duties and location. This is called career exploration . In career planning this is done before people choose a career or major so they can see how their desired career fits into the bigger picture of careers available in today’s job market.
4) Resume writing skills – Helps clients write resumes to match occupational competencies for a particular job . Or even if someone wishes to change their career field completely, this skill will be helpful for them .
5) Interviewing skills – Helps clients prepare for an interview and make a good first impression to the employer.  This can also be used as career guidance or career development.  
6) Career counseling – A career counselor will help clients identify their career goals, which is basically self-discovery. This skill will help the client figure out what career fields they should enter based on their own interests, needs, competencies and strengths.
7) Job search skills – this is very related to career planning because job search includes career exploration which we have already talked about in career planning. The difference between job search and career planning is that once you have found your desired career field, then you can start using these skills to look for a job to apply in that career.
8) Job Search Strategy and Tactics – these skills will teach you how to find jobs where you want to enter, prepare for interviews and present yourself.
9) Technology Tools – This skill is still a must-have even if you are planning career on this career guide because nowadays most of the applications used by career professionals uses technology tools as part of their work. So it’s very important that career seekers also learn about the different technology tools available and how they can use effectively.