Many people have used the two terms “career” and “job” so interchangeably in their daily lives that the two concepts have blended into one absolute notion that only means “work”. In fact, a career is so much more than a job. A job is a means to achieve the end of a satisfying and intellectually stimulating career. In light of this, we should even change our understanding of what a job seeker is and what a career seeker should be. A job seeker looks for the temporary, the next stepping-stone, whereas a career seeker is a true seeker of future prospects, growth and professional recognition.
All that being said, it is of course much harder to find the right career, and some people take years looking for one, changing from one to another before they are finally set in their path, if ever. The first and most important factor in finding a career is to find something that truly makes you happy. The best way to do that is to find a job that you would wake up every morning to do even if you weren’t being paid. Not that money isn’t an important issue of course; it’s an essential factor to consider because it rules our practical lives. However, a true career is one that runs in parallel to financial compensation and is not determined by it. Salary is a critical component of any job, because it is the only way to monetize people’s appreciation of our work and it is the means to build a better life. Therefore it may be one of the most important factors to consider, but it is by no means the only factor to consider. Don’t make the mistake of allocating greater weight than necessary to short-term financial gain, because you may be missing out on long-term professional and financial success.
This means that you would need to look at other issues in addition to salary when looking for a career. One of the most important things to realize is that on your first job interview with a specific company, it is not only you who is being interviewed; the company is as well. Let the interviewer ask you all the questions they want, but if you initially like the company and want to work there, don’t forget to ask the interviewer lots of questions too. Questions about the company culture, promotion and career prospects, atmosphere and even seeing the desk you would work at are all good examples. Remember that the company may be interviewing you for a job, but you are interviewing them for a career. And when interviewing a company for a career, you need to know where that company is going and where it will take you. You need to know things like your boss’ management style and how that fits in with how you like to be managed. And after all that, it is also helpful to talk to and ask your future co-workers about the company.
Now all this is great, but there is one big problem in all this, what if you don’t know what you want? It’s not such a simple problem to solve, because most people end up working in a lot of jobs that they end up hating, and all that they get out of the experience is the knowledge of what they don’t want rather than what they do want. That knowledge is invaluable, however, career seekers need more than that. They need to be able to recognize the right career and jump right into it, in addition to identifying the wrong job.
