Job, Career, or Vocation?

            Some people have a  job or two, but not a career.  Some have a career but not a vocation, or vice-versa.  Some have none of these, and some blessed souls have all three at the same time.

            Your job is what you’re being paid to do (for example, selling tires).  Your career is the type of job you have most of your life (e.g., salesman).  Your vocation is your calling, from within, or maybe from God.  It’s what you’re most gifted and motivated to do, which can be entirely different from your career (e.g., teaching). 

            Richard Bolles’ classic book, What Color is Your Parachute? reveals that half the people now in college will end up doing jobs that have not yet been invented.  The new Kentucky Almanac tells us that next year fully half the working people in Jefferson County will be substantially self-employed—working for lots of people at once, and arranging for their own retirement and benefits.  All this makes finding the right job a very creative process, and organizing health care solutions quite a challenge.

            Some folks know what they’re called to do, but can’t get there.  Others have a good job, but don’t have their hearts in it.  Or they may know their vocation, do lots of unrelated jobs throughout their life, and never have a defined career.

            If you want to find your vocation, and a path to bring your job in line with it, one way is to take a vocational interest test from a psychologist.  The best way is to buy Bolles’ Parachute book.  A new version comes out every year with fresh resources listed (internet sites, 800 numbers, etc.). 

            Parachute teaches you how to review your life, and to describe your unique gifts and talents in your own words.  Better still, it tells you how to make phone calls, knock on doors, make a totally unique resume, talk with people who are doing what you want to do, and then find and land the very job that is tailor made for you.  May you find your vocation in the next year, and in it, your job.