"Carry on" vs. "go ahead"

I am confused about whether it is okay to say,

"Ok, carry on/go ahead with your job then."

Any help on this simple issue is highly appreciated.


As both John Lawler and Hellion note, either option are acceptable. There are some subtle differences between the two. From Hellion:

The only difference I can think of between the two is that carry on should only be used to indicate that a task should be resumed or continued, while go ahead can be used not only for those, but for a task's commencement as well.