How would you define a “career”?

[Summeriscomin]

Compared to a job which isn’t a career?

Is it about pay, responsibility, progression, opportunities etc?

When people talk about a career I genuinely don’t know if I have one or not!

I went to uni and got a graduate job but left to have a baby, spent a couple of years out of work then came back to work into a similar role as the graduate job.

It’s average pay, above minimum wage but pretty average.

There’s no clear route for progression but I’m pretty sure opportunities will arise if I stick with it.

Doesn’t sound like a career to me but that may be just how you describe it. I think a career is independent of a single job. One job in retail, one in admin, one in hospitality is a series of jobs but three jobs in one of those sectors with either increasing responsibility or diversity of experience is more of a career.

I’m a graduate,in a job which uses my degree. I’m now at the top of my pay band, been here for 15 years. I don’t know either, feels like a job I suppose. If I’d move up to the next pay band-taken on more responsibility, then it’d feel more like a career but there’s no option to do that. I enjoy the job, it ticks all the boxes for me, that’s what matters really.

I teach this and make my students debate the concept of career in their first week of the course.
We generally come up with something that is sustained over a relatively long period of time and has opportunities for progression. The idea that it involves some sort of expertise, training and qualifications also gets mentioned.

I think a career is where there is progression.

Where I work now there are team leaders. For some it is a job and for some it is one step in their career.

I’m so glad you asked this (because I was thinking it after a recent thread).

I have a job that requires a degree to do, has training along the way, decent salary and benefits (70k-ish at middle management), I’ve been doing it for 8 years, getting steadily more senior, but I don’t consider it a career because I just don’t care about it at all. To me it’s just a job.

I'd say any job that you would willingly think about & read about outside work hours... is a career. Otherwise it's just a job for you.