 Difference between job, work, and career from EspressoEnglish.net A job is a regular and official activity that you do and receive money, a salary. It is also called a profession or an occupation. You can have a full-time job, 40 hours per week, or a part-time job, around 25 hours per week. When someone is looking for a job, this is sometimes called the job hunt or a job search. If you have a friend who's looking for a job, you can ask them, how's the job hunt going? To find a job, you can check the job listings online or in the newspaper. These are small advertisements about job openings, job opportunities. The process of trying to get a specific job when you send your resume or CV to a company is called applying for a job. If the company offers you the job and you say yes, then you have gotten the job. To describe a person's job, you can say it is a demanding job. That means it requires a lot of effort. A fulfilling or rewarding job. That means it makes you feel good. An entry-level job is a job that can be done by someone who is just beginning their career. It doesn't require much experience or many skills. A dead-end job is a job that has no opportunities for advancement or promotions. A high-powered job is a dynamic and important job, and a lucrative job is a job where you earn a lot of money. The word job is a countable noun. For example, Terry has had seven jobs in the past five years. Work. The word work is more general than job. Job is a specific occupation or profession, but work refers to general efforts and activities done to accomplish a goal. Work can be done both inside an official job and outside a job. You can say you work at or for a company. For example, I work at Espresso English. You can say you're working on a project or a task. For example, I'm working on a market analysis, or I'm working on improving customer satisfaction. You can say you work with people or objects. I work with special needs children, or I work with hazardous chemicals. Here are some other collocations with the word work. We say I start work at 7 a.m. Not I start my job at 7 a.m. And at the end of the day, I finish work or leave work at 4.30. An informal way to say leave work is get off work. I get off work at 4.30. We also say go to work. We go to work by car. I went to the bar with some friends from work. I can't access Facebook while I'm at work. Again, we say at work and not at my job. Work is an uncountable noun, so it cannot be plural. I have three works to do this week is incorrect. The correct sentence is I have three projects or three things or three tasks to do this week. Career. Your career is the total progression of your professional life. It can include many different jobs over the years. You can have a career in a field. For example, a career in politics, journalism, teaching or finance. Here are a few more collocations with career. To embark on a career means to begin your career. To pursue a career means to make an effort to have a particular career. A promising career is a career with good future potential. And a varied career is a career with jobs in many different areas. You can talk about career prospects. That means career opportunities. If you switch your career, that means you change it. If your career takes off, that means it starts to become very successful. If you're at the height or at the peak of your career, that means you're at the most successful point in your career. Finally, if something ruins your career, it destroys your career. Now take the quiz at the bottom of this lesson. And to learn practical English that you can use in your job and career, take the Business English course at espressoenglish.net.