職務 and 任務: Assigned Duties and Receiving a Mission
Compare fulfilled job duties and knowledge learned in training with receiving a bridge-guarding mission and returning after completing a mission. Separate assignment from completion.
Job duties and the knowledge needed for them
職務 (しょくむ) means duties or responsibilities. 「職員は自分の職務を最後まで果たした。」 — “The employee fulfilled their duty to the end.” The employee fulfilled their duties to the end, a reported past performance.
「職務に必要な知識を研修で学んだ。」 — “We learned the knowledge required for our jobs in training.” The knowledge needed for the job was learned in training. Learning that knowledge does not by itself establish completion of all the duties.
A mission received and a return after completion
任務 (にんむ) means a mission or duty. 「隊員は夜明けまで橋を守る任務を受けた。」 — “The team member was assigned to guard the bridge until dawn.” Guarding the bridge until dawn is the assigned task. Receiving the mission does not establish that it was completed.
「無事に任務を終えた一行が基地へ戻った。」 — “The group returned to base after completing its mission safely.” This sentence reports the group's return after completing a mission safely. It is a separate example from the bridge assignment.
Overlapping duties and different stages
職務 focuses here on assigned job duties and the knowledge needed for them. 任務 focuses on a particular mission and its completion. Their scopes can overlap rather than forming mutually exclusive categories.
Receiving 任務 and finishing 任務 report different stages. Keep the bridge-guarding setting of the example without limiting every use of the word to military activity.
Does receiving the 任務 of guarding a bridge until dawn mean the mission is already complete?
Show the answer and why
No. That sentence reports an assignment. The separate 任務を終えた example reports a return after completion, so assignment and completed performance must remain distinct.