Leading the Way - June 2009
Job vs. Career
by Julie Abernathy, PP, PLS, NALS President 2009-10
We have
all heard someone say “Oh, this is just a job – it’s not my career.” I
know you have heard it mentioned time and time again. Do you consider
your employment as a legal professional a “job” or a “career?”
When I was
a teenager in high school and knowing that I needed to decide on what I wanted
to be “when I grew up,” my mother told me to think about what I wanted to
do for the rest of my life. My mother came from the generation where the
wives were expected to stay home, have children, and raise the children. I,
however, came from the new generation that wanted freedom, peace, independence,
harmony, and not having to rely on a husband to take care of me. Maybe
that comes from the fact that I am second oldest of six children, and the oldest
daughter. I was always intrigued about being a school teacher. But
by the time I was 16, I had changed my mind. I am sure it had to do with
some of the classes I took in high school. I also realized during those
formative teenage years, that in order to have a career versus a job, I needed
to go to college. While I did not obtain a bachelor’s degree, I did pursue
a legal career, which allowed me to go to college for 2 years and earn an associate
degree. That was in 1975. Today, most paralegal professionals
will go to college for four years to earn a bachelor’s degree, or go to a
technical school and get a certificate as a “legal assistant” or “paralegal.”
What exactly
then makes a career NOT a job? Webster defines a job as a regular activity
performed in exchange for payment; a position in which one is employed; a task
that must be done. A job can also be described as an employment position
tolerated principally for financial gain, but otherwise largely unrewarding
or unsatisfying.
How then
does this differ from a career? Webster’s definition of a career is a
chosen pursuit, a profession or occupation; the general course or progression
of one’s working life; a path or course, as of the sun through the heavens. A
career can also be described as something you would do for nothing but for
which, amazingly, somebody pays you.
To narrow this down even more, a job’s main function is to provide income. A career’s main function is to provide satisfaction.
- A job keeps you from enjoying life. A career makes life enjoyable.
- A job offers stability. A career offers flexibility.
- A job is “safe.” A career encourages risk-taking.
- Jobs tend to be responsive, routine, low risk and stable. Careers tend to give you responsibility, flexibility, risk, and opportunity.
I dug
further and found that “job” is, humorously, an Old English word that means
“a lump.” As much as it may seem to apply to the knocks we take from
our bosses from time to time, the reference is to a quantity rather than
to a physical harm. A job, in general, is a “lump” of work. As
it applies to our topic, it is one distinct and generally unrelated period
of employment in a series.
“Career” on the other hand, comes from Middle French and stems from an earlier
word for “car” – obviously a pre-motorized one. From there it became
“street.” The term “career path,” therefore, is redundant. A
career is a path.
Does the word “career” sound much more exciting and fulfilling than the
word job? Are you looking for a string of jobs, each unrelated to the others,
or a series of jobs that are steps along a specific path? Neither is
more valid than the other. Would you rather have a path or course as
of the sun through the heavens, or a task that must be done? I don’t
know about you, but I would hate to be chained to my desk doing the same
menial tasks day in and day out.
Is the idea
of a career a myth? Is it all in your perception? We all technically
do the same tasks. It’s all about our attitudes that determines whether
we have a job or a career. Often times your career materializes from
various or numerous jobs. It comes from experience, skills set, hands
on job training, etc. It also comes from interactions with other professionals,
including attorneys, and our clients or business people in our community. Some
people prefer to choose a single vocation, and they seek an education that
allows them to break into it. When I speak to people I first meet, I
proudly let them know that I have a career as a legal professional. Not
a job as a legal secretary. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I am proud of the
fact that I am a legal secretary. But, I am even more proud of the
fact that my peers consider me a professional in the legal field.
We have
been programmed from an early age to get the job working for someone else,
so we can toil away for them, with the reward being some food, shelter, and
credit card debt. Sound familiar? When you have a job that you
don’t love, everything else in life feels like a job too. When your
job stinks, it is hard to get motivated to exercise and eat right.
A career
on the other hand changes everything. When you decide to break free of
the same old same old, you become responsible. You decide to set the
pace for tasks assigned to you. You make decisions on the best way to
get the project accomplished. You are the master of your domain (your
desk). People who consider their job a career can’t wait to get out of
bed, get to work and tackle their assignments. They take pride in the
work product they turn out during the day. They accomplish more, get
more tasks done in a timely manner, and then realize they have time left
over to enjoy life.
To be known
as a “professional” in the legal field doesn’t necessarily mean you have
to have your certification. While certification does help tremendously,
and I highly recommend that you pursue a certification through NALS, to be
known as a professional again comes from your attitude. And I emphasize
YOUR attitude, not attitudes of others.
Every job you take is crucial to the development of your career. Until the day your job blossoms into the love of your life – your career, I think it behooves us to treat every job as THE ONE. As the old adage goes, Love the one you are with.