仕事 vs 職業
JLPT N5 vocabulary · what is the difference?
仕事 is the work you do — your job, and also the individual tasks piled on your desk. 職業 is your occupation as a category, the word on a form next to a blank you fill in with doctor or teacher. If you can count it, finish it, or be busy with it, it is 仕事.
When to use each
仕事
しごと
Use 仕事 for work in general, for your job, and for the concrete tasks that make it up. It goes with verbs of daily life — 仕事をする, 仕事に行く, 仕事が忙しい — where 職業 never appears.
今日は仕事が多くて大変です。
きょうはしごとがおおくてたいへんです。
I have a lot of work today; it's tough.
七時に仕事が終わります。
しちじにしごとがおわります。
I finish work at seven.
職業
しょくぎょう
Use 職業 when naming an occupation as a type: on an application form, in a survey, in a discussion of careers. It is a classification, not an activity, so you cannot do it or go to it.
この用紙に職業をご記入ください。
このようしにしょくぎょうをごきにゅうください。
Please write your occupation on this form.
将来の職業について考えています。
しょうらいのしょくぎょうについてかんがえています。
I'm thinking about what career to go into.
Sentences where only one works
職業は何ですか。
しょくぎょうはなんですか。
What is your occupation?
Asking for a category, typical of forms and officials. Friends ask お仕事は何ですか instead.
明日は仕事を休みます。
あしたはしごとをやすみます。
I'm taking tomorrow off work.
You take a day off from the activity, so 仕事. 職業を休む is impossible.
この仕事は三時までに終わらせます。
このしごとはさんじまでにおわらせます。
I'll finish this task by three.
A single countable task — a meaning 職業 does not have at all.
医者という職業に興味があります。
いしゃというしょくぎょうにきょうみがあります。
I'm interested in the profession of medicine.
Naming a profession as a category calls for 職業.
Common mistakes
毎日職業をしています。
毎日仕事をしています。
職業 is a label, not an activity, so it cannot take をする. Daily work is always 仕事をする.
職業が忙しいです。
仕事が忙しいです。
Being busy is about the work in front of you, not about your occupational category.
あなたの職業は何ですか。
お仕事は何ですか。
Grammatically fine, but to a new acquaintance it sounds like an official interviewing you. Casual conversation uses お仕事は.
Frequently asked questions
Which one do I say when someone asks what I do?
Answer with 仕事: 仕事は先生です, or simply 先生です. Save 職業 for written forms.
Can 仕事 mean a single task?
Yes, and this is a common use — この仕事 can be one report on your desk. 職業 can never be counted this way.
What about 職 and 職場?
職 alone is a post or position, as in 職を探す, to look for a job. 職場 is your workplace, the physical place and the people in it.