three types of work in the world

©Copyright H Steel 2013

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Three Types of Work In The World

The Answer to Career Decisions

Helena Steel www.Careerguru.com.au [email protected] 1300 848 785


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Three Types of Work In the World! - The answer to career decisions ~ by Helena Steel According to the research I have read, and after so many years within Human Resources, Career Development and Coaching, I have come to the conclusion, that there are only three (3) types of work in the world. After working with so many coaching clients, I can prove this, too. I believe this is the answer to all career decisions. These are the three types of work in the world:

• One is a job • The second is a career • The third is a calling

These three types of work can best be illustrated by looking at the model below:


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Three Spheres The three types of work are best represented by three different spheres. These spheres interact with each other, and the central area that is the intersection of the three of them represents the common elements of each of the different types of work. These elements form the heart of your identity, which is comprised of your talents, skills, abilities, personality, values and interests. Whether you are working in a job, a career or a calling, your identity influences the approach you have to your working life, which is what is important. Your identity is the common factor in all the jobs and careers you have had, and it determines your calling in life. What is important to learn is how to identify which type of work was a job, a career or a possible calling. A Job A job is usually defined as short term, although it can be long term, too! How to know that it’s only a job is to understand that there is no prospect of progression from one level to another. Jobs are often dead-end positions that are mundane and repetitive, lacking in depth and opportunities. However, there can be meaningful jobs, too. Some can continue for years, or a lifetime. Jobs really started in the 18th century when people moved off the land into the cities to work in trades and manufacturing.


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For most people a job starts at around 15 years of age. They progress through different short-term jobs until they commence a career. A career feels different. It feels like a step up, an advancement. A job, on the other hand, is the same day in day out, with few challenges and basic reward. Many people, however, are happy with just jobs. Think about your first job in the world of work. What were you asked to do? How much did you get paid? How did you get the job? Did it lead to any promotion? If it did, it was more than a job; if it didn’t, it was just a job. A Career A career is more than a job. It could have started out as a job, but a path of progression would need to have occurred for it to have developed into a career. For example, starting a job as a kitchen hand could lead to becoming a supervisor to eventually managing the kitchen. This progression shows the transition from working in a job as a kitchen hand into having a career as a kitchen manager. This is often typical of how a first career develops. Many people have had early careers in the food industry and progressed this way but have never considered this a career at all. What is clear about a career is that it is shaped by your identity. It may or may not reflect the jobs you have held but your unique talents, skills, abilities, personality, values and interests have been instrumental in your career development.


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Current research in 2013 suggests graduates today should expect to have between seven and eight careers in their lifetimes. Most baby boomers expected to have two to three careers, but have actually had many more. How may have you had so far? A Calling A calling, on the other hand, may have been a job in the past, or a career. It may be work that keeps coming up in your life, or it may be totally new. With a calling and purpose you do not need to look for it... because it comes to you. That’s why it is called a calling! It could be a hobby, a talent, a skill or an interest. However, whatever it may be, a calling in life can also be annoying; it just keeps bugging you. There is a trend today in the 21st century career model that suggests that callings are coming earlier in life. Many people from Generation X (38 to 49 year olds in 2013) and Generation Y (25 to 38 year olds in 2013) are looking for more meaning and purpose in their relatively young lives, and often consider this a quest for a calling. So it’s not necessarily true that you start in jobs, then move into a career, followed by a calling – maybe at retirement. In fact, with some people a calling is evident from birth. Their talent and uniqueness is immediately apparent, which defines their purpose and role in life. With these people, they are clearly born to their calling. However, the majority of us work in a type of “apprenticeship”; only falling into careers or jobs that prepare us for something else. This eventually becomes our calling.


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Some people believe we do not have a calling. Many people have never considered what their calling in life is until a career transition hits them. This transition could come from constant job dissatisfaction, job loss or redundancy. Some people believe a calling is just an amalgam of careers we really enjoyed. However it may happen, I believe a calling comes to you. I believe that it is also all about timing. For some reason, you may or may not be ready for your calling, so this is why timing of the calling is important. I believe you have to be open enough to see it when it comes to you, which is all about timing, too! So, either you are born to your calling or are prepared for it via jobs and careers. At some point you will be ready for it. It seems that a calling not evident from birth is foreshadowed by a period of career transition where you have experienced some major type of change. This change is evident to you, and it presents an opportunity for some deep, reflective thinking on your future, which sometimes will be confusing and at other times totally clear. However, you will know when you have discovered your calling when your future direction appears obvious, it feels comfortable and fills you with a sense of excitement and purpose. It’s happened because all your talents, skills, abilities, personality, values and interests that make up your identity have come together. As you head down the path of your calling it will become easy and enjoyable because you are a natural at it. A calling is all a matter of timing. What to do? So if you need career help to move forward, you should do the following exercise:


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1. I suggest you list all the jobs that you have had in your whole

working life. By looking at the "Three Types of Work” model, use the table below to record your findings in the correct sections. Consider all the work you have done, and review whether it was a job, a career with progression, or a possible calling.

2. Once you have listed them all, look for the common themes

between them. Where are the links – the identity aspect to them all? What are the characteristics of that ‘heart’ – the intersection of the three spheres?

3. Consider the themes that keep recurring and consider the

timing of NOW! Were you born to a calling you have been ignoring? Or is your calling finally clear from this exercise?

Take my example

In my career, my first job was in sales (themes were: people, influencing skills, selling products, travelling around etc.) then I moved to Personnel (themes were: people, helping, business, jobs). Personnel became my first career, which was renamed Human Resources not long after I started. I spent 20 years working in that sector, but that time can be divided into different careers and progressions; one was a career in industrial relations, the other in training and development. I became a consultant early in life, as well as a business owner, executive coach, life coach and career coach, (Themes were: people, helping, resources, jobs, change, speaking). Today, I consider my calling in life is entrepreneurship, speaking and education. (Themes are: influencing, teaching, people, change management, business.)


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You will notice the common themes associated with my working life, qualities that served me well in my ‘apprenticeship’ careers and now validate my calling in life, my purpose!

If you are seeking career advice, making career choices, starting a career, wanting career help or changing careers, you need to consider all of this before you move forward.

Job, Career or Calling - Exercise Jobs I have had Careers I have had Themes from them

Possible Calling in life


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What work you should do now is dependent on understanding the “The Three Types Of Work” model, your identity and the application of it to the NOW frame.

The NOW Frame - Exercise So ask yourself what are...

Your skills and attributes NOW?

Your unique talents NOW?

Your experience and background NOW?

Your desires and needs NOW?


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Your work values NOW?

The trends in your city, your state, your country and the worldwide trends NOW for your area of work? Your answers to these questions will help you clarify your career decision right now, and whether you pursue a job, career or calling.

All good career development, career coaching and career help requires a review of the two exercises. This is about your identity - your purpose, your calling. “Identity is crucial to career success,” said Carol Brown, the immediate past President of the Career Development Association of Australia (CDAA).


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So now that you know there are five (5) key elements that comprise your identity – namely talents, skills and abilities, personality, values and interests – and have completed and reviewed the Job, Career or Calling and NOW Frame exercises, you are in a position to recognise and define your unique identity. You may have now received all the career guidance and life coaching you need, as you realise the answers are within you. Your career decision and future direction is now yours to embrace! I hope success and joy flow... and maybe that calling in life, too! If not call me…. and or get some help from a qualified career practitioner.

Helena Steel www.Careerguru.com.au [email protected] 1300 848 785

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