Defining work terms – know the difference
Sometimes people use words like "career", "occupation" or "job" to talk about the same thing. However, each of these terms means something different:
Career is a sequence of occupations and other life roles that express a person's commitment to work and reflects a pattern of self-development. Each person has one lifelong career that may include many occupations and jobs.
Occupation is a grouping of jobs with common tasks that require similar skills.
Job is a paid position with specific duties, tasks and responsibilities in a particular place of work.
EXAMPLE
Smita's friend Sita spent her entire career in the health care industry. When she first started out she chose nursing as her occupation and got a job as an emergency room attendant at the local hospital.
Kumar spent his entire career in the petroleum industry. When he first started out he chose refining as his occupation and got a job as a shift engineer in the gasoline distillation section at CPCL, Chennai.
