By Debola Oni
(Is any job, the right job?”)
Have you said the above to anyone or heard anyone voice the demand? A lot of young people make the mistake of not differentiating between building a career and getting a job. Let us examine an on – line dictionary to establish the difference between the two.
A career is an occupation or profession, especially one requiring special training, followed as one’s life work, a person’s progress or general course of action through life or a phase of life, as in some profession or undertaking. The word was originally used in the 16th century to indicate a running course of a horse or a race course. The sense of it being the course of a working life did not start until the early 19th century. Pursuing a career is a process, like running a course. On the other hand, a job is a post of employment, full- time or part –time. A job is short term, whereas a career is long term.
The problem with a lot of young people is that they take short term decisions of securing a job, any job for that matter and leave long term decisions of their career to chance. It’s what I call survival or poverty mentality and will not serve much. The world has changed irreparably since the advent of the internet and the way of careers has changed with it. You cannot continue to shoot in the dark and take any job, just any job for survival. No matter the scale, we need to make strategic, well informed choices that will affect our career plan. Your career is for the long haul and you shouldn’t decide on the exigency of today. For instance you should ask yourself, where you will want to be in the next ten years in your career and take little steps in that direction not just any job.
We need to cultivate big picture thinking. Your career is a process, a journey, with many jobs as the landmark. You need to have an idea of where you are going ultimately. It’s been said that success is a journey and not a destination but you need to have a destination in mind. There’s no point turning off to the Benin – Ore road on the Lagos – Ibadan expressway when your destination is Ibadan. To extend the allegory, there’s no point hopping on a bus to Benin just because you are tired of staying at the bus stop when you are actually going to Ibadan.
Have you said the above to anyone or heard anyone voice the demand? A lot of young people make the mistake of not differentiating between building a career and getting a job. Let us examine an on – line dictionary to establish the difference between the two.
A career is an occupation or profession, especially one requiring special training, followed as one’s life work, a person’s progress or general course of action through life or a phase of life, as in some profession or undertaking. The word was originally used in the 16th century to indicate a running course of a horse or a race course. The sense of it being the course of a working life did not start until the early 19th century. Pursuing a career is a process, like running a course. On the other hand, a job is a post of employment, full- time or part –time. A job is short term, whereas a career is long term.
The problem with a lot of young people is that they take short term decisions of securing a job, any job for that matter and leave long term decisions of their career to chance. It’s what I call survival or poverty mentality and will not serve much. The world has changed irreparably since the advent of the internet and the way of careers has changed with it. You cannot continue to shoot in the dark and take any job, just any job for survival. No matter the scale, we need to make strategic, well informed choices that will affect our career plan. Your career is for the long haul and you shouldn’t decide on the exigency of today. For instance you should ask yourself, where you will want to be in the next ten years in your career and take little steps in that direction not just any job.
We need to cultivate big picture thinking. Your career is a process, a journey, with many jobs as the landmark. You need to have an idea of where you are going ultimately. It’s been said that success is a journey and not a destination but you need to have a destination in mind. There’s no point turning off to the Benin – Ore road on the Lagos – Ibadan expressway when your destination is Ibadan. To extend the allegory, there’s no point hopping on a bus to Benin just because you are tired of staying at the bus stop when you are actually going to Ibadan.
1 comment:
Hmmmmnnnn
This is really true...
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