Job vs. Career

When I was at the WCPA Conference earlier in the fall semester, I attended a program that Peter Brooks put on called "Orbiting the Giant Hairball". The program focused mostly on inefficiencies found in many of our administrative processes. Near the end of the program, he talked about something that really stuck with me. It was the idea that career and job can be different things.

When thinking about being a music teacher, it would have been my job and career. When I got out of graduate school, I viewed being a residence hall director as being my job and career. Much of what I did during my day had to do with my Residence Hall Director position. Being in my 4th year as a Residence Hall Director, I see things differently. I feel established in a community. I am getting married in less than six months. I feel a call to a different profession. I have passions in areas outside of housing.

I am starting to realize that being a Residence Hall Director is a job. It is a job that I enjoy very much, but it is a job. It is not my career. My career lies on another path, one I continue to explore and refine. It doesn't mean I view my RHD job any less, it just means it is one part of me, it is not all of me. I have appreciated feeling more well-rounded and well-balanced when I can put my energy into many areas.