If there is one thing that most people are agreed upon, it is that there will be a lot more jobs available in India in the next few years. It's not manna from heaven; there will be a lot more people jostling for those jobs. But a larger number means greater choice. Finally, words like career, occupation, avocation and calling will creep out of the lexicon.

To the lay jobseeker they may all seem the same. But just like begin, start and commence there are subtle differences. (You can start your car but can you commence it?) Look at some very basic definitions:

A job is a specific position or work for which you get paid. It could be short term. Read What Colour is Your Parachute to know more. It's a book that comes out with an edition annually. If jobs are changing every year, it can't be more short term than that. An occupation is a category of jobs. A Salman Khan has the same occupation as a monkey in a circus, though it may not seem so. Before his thousands of fans go bananas, let me clarify that it only means they are both entertainers.

A career is a journey. It would normally consist of a number of jobs, each one reinforcing the other as you head up the corporate ladder. It also includes unpaid work or hobbies. For Vijay Mallya, driving fast cars is his hobby. But it is also a part of his career. A vocation is a lifetime assignment. It is something that is just right for you. You don't have to prepare for a vocation -- it comes naturally. You don't care what others think. That leaves us with calling. This has the air of an avocation. But avocation means an occupation outside your regular work or profession, while calling is all consuming. It has a spiritual air about it; the call comes only to a few. It takes you down a life of service and sacrifice. The call seems to always come when you are praying. Why not while sitting on the loo? "Your calling is your passion project, something you genuinely care about and of which you will never grow tired," says The Career Gateway. "When you are consumed with your calling, time and money do not apply. This is your happiness."

Let us leave calling out of the equation at the moment; for most of us it is an unnatural call of nature. What, then, should you be looking for when the job market opens up? India does not have much by way of career counselling. Some schools do hire "experts" to talk to students, but the students inevitably gravitate to the career of highest returns. So, when youngsters are ready to be unleashed on to the work world, there is a mismatch between what they would be best at doing and what they can get.

In the old days you went by a name. You joined an MNC; you wouldn't be left cooling your heels in marketing if your forte was HR. It applied to family-run concerns also; it helped if you were part of the lala's community. Today, you have to fend for yourself. Unless you are extremely lucky, you should forget about your career and get yourself a job. Stay there and look around. Don't start hopping from company to company as is the wont of this generation. Expand your knowledge base; do some part-time courses. Jump ship only when you are sure.

You might make a mistake. So you start looking for a job once again in the hope that it will be the start of a career. And, for all you know, you might get a call. Remember, Archimedes had a Eureka moment. History has sanitised it to say he was in the bath; the pot sounds more likely.

The difference between a job and a career

♦ A job is something you do to earn money; a career is a series of connected, employment opportunities.
♦  A job has minimal impact on your future work life, while a career provides experience and learning to fuel your future.
♦  A job offers few networking opportunities, but a career is loaded with them.
♦  When you work at a job, you should do the minimum without annoying the boss. When you’re in a career, you should go the extra mile, doing tasks beyond your minimum job description.

Source: www.thesimpledollar.com