Careers

Students/Teachers/Career Professionals - are you studying for (or preparing your charges for) a CAREER or a VOCATION?

There's much in a word -- "career" for example (sayeth Merriam Webster's Online Dictionary) originates from medieval jousting tournaments, with carriere referring to short gallops at high speed (sort of like someone you know's resume?). Following suit, "career" is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as an individual's "course or progress through life (or a distinct portion of life)".

To that etymology, from Wiki: "A career is traditionally seen as a course of successive situations that make up a person's worklife. One can have a sporting career or a musical career without being a professional athlete or musician, but most frequently "career" in the 20th century referenced the series of jobs or positions by which one earned one's money. It tended to look only at the past. As the idea of personal choice and self direction picks up in the 21st century, aided by the power of the Internet and the increased acceptance of people having multiple kinds of work, the idea of a career is shifting from a closed set of achievements, like a chronological résumé of past jobs, to a defined set of pursuits looking forward. In its broadest sense, career refers to an individual’s work and life roles over their lifespan...."

"Vocation" on the other hand is a little more abstract. It stems from vocare, Latin for "calling" - originally, to a soul's purpose; later, after Martin Luther turned the tables on Mother Church, towards the occupational emphasis we know it for today. Thus the convergence/confusion with "career."

The Career vs. Vocation question is primarily a product of our frenetic times. The issue is summed up beautifully by Henri Nouwen in his book Compassion, stating ". . .our vocation might require us to pursue a certain career...As soon as we think that our careers are our vocation, we are in danger of returning to the ordinary and proper places governed by human competition and of using our talents more to separate ourselves from others than to unite ourselves with them in common life. A career disconnected from a vocation divides; a career that expresses obedience to our vocation is the concrete way of making our unique talents available to the community. Therefore, it is not our careers, but our vocation, that should guide our lives."

Well said, mon ami! Very few high school and college students know what their various careers are going to be, not to mention having any idea how the path connecting these might unfold. Vocation, however, is like our "mission statement" - those principles, aspirations, services and functions that we will perform to the betterment of ourselves and others. With a little introspection -- aided by the tutelage of inquiry -- this process can be encouraged at any age.

In an academic system that trains people "how to do" rather than "how to think" -- and in an occupational grist mill that's ever more specialized -- taking time to ponder this essential question will reap dividends, not only in the personal fulfillment of millions of students-cum-employees, but in the productivity of a better functioning society.