Common Mistakes : Career

noun

.BAD: After ten years as a taxi driver, he decided it was time to change his career
GOOD: After ten years as a taxi driver, he decided it was time to change his job/occupation

JOB / DO / OCCUPATION / POST/POSITION / CAREER / TRADE / PROFESSION

:Job Your job is what you do to earn your living
.You’ll never get a job if you don’t have any qualifications
.She’d like to change her job but can’t find anything better

:Your job is also the particular type of work that you do
.John’s new job sounds really interesting
.I know she works for the BBC but I’m not sure what job she does

:(A job may be full-time or part-time (NOT half-time or half-day
All she could get was a part-time job at a petrol station

Do (for a living) When you want to know about the type of work that someone does, the usual questions are What do you do? What does she do for a living? etc
?What does your father do
.He’s a police inspector

Occupation and job have similar meanings. However, occupation is far less common than job and is used mainly in formal and official styles
.Please give brief details of your employment history and present occupation
.People in manual occupations seem to suffer less from stress

Post/position The particular job that you have in a company or organization is your post or position
.She’s been appointed to the post of deputy principal
.He’s applied for the position of sales manager

Post and position are used mainly in formal styles and often refer to jobs which have a lot of responsibility

Career Your career is your working life, or the series of jobs that you have during your working life
.The scandal brought his career in politics to a sudden end
.Later on in his career, he became first secretary at the British Embassy in Washington

Your career is also the particular kind of work for which you are trained and that you intend to do for a long time
.I wanted to find out more about careers in publishing

:Trade A trade is a type of work in which you do or make things with your hands
.Most of the men had worked in skilled trades such as carpentry or printing
.My grandfather was a bricklayer by trade

Profession A profession is a type of work such as medicine, teaching, or law which requires a high level of training or education
.Until recently, medicine has been a male-dominated profession
.She entered the teaching profession in 1987

.BAD: I’d like to be a doctor or something related to that career
.GOOD: I’d like to be a doctor or something related to that profession