Profession & Career

What is Profession?

According to Merriem Webster:

Profession:

Pronunciation:

\prə-ˈfe-shən\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

Middle English professioun, from Anglo-French profession, from Late Latin & Latin; Late Latin profession-, professio, from Latin, public declaration, from profitēri

Date:

13th century

1: the act of taking the vows of a religious community2: an act of openly declaring or publicly claiming a belief, faith, or opinion : protestation3: an avowed religious faith4 a: a calling requiring specialized knowledge and often long and intensive academic preparation b: a principal calling, vocation, or employment c: the whole body of persons engaged in a calling

Meanwhile from Yahoo! Education, profession mean:

NOUN:

1. An occupation or career: "One of the highest compliments a child can pay a parent is to choose his or her profession" (Joan Nathan).
2. An occupation, such as law, medicine, or engineering, that requires considerable training and specialized study.
3. The body of qualified persons in an occupation or field: members of the teaching profession.
2. An act or instance of professing; a declaration.
3. An avowal of faith or belief.
4. A faith or belief: believers of various professions.

From WordNet Dictionary Definition:

1. [n] an occupation requiring special education (especially in the liberal arts or sciences)
2. [n] affirmation of acceptance of some religion or faith; "a profession of Christianity"
3. [n] an open avowal (true or false) of some belief or opinion; "a profession of disagreement"
4. [n] the body of people in a learned occupation; "the news spread rapidly through the medical community"

Synonyms: community, professing See Also: affirmation, architecture, avouchment, avowal, bar, business, business community, businessmen, community of scholars, economics profession, education, engineering, health profession, job, journalism, learned profession, legal community, legal profession, line, line of work, literature, occupation, occupational group, politics, priesthood, technology, vocation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A profession is an occupation, vocation or career where specialized knowledge of a subject, field, or science is applied.^[1] It is usually applied to occupations that involve prolonged academic training and a formal qualification. It is axiomatic that "professional activity involves systematic knowledge and proficiency."^[2] Professions are usually regulated by professional bodies that may set examinations of competence, act as a licensing authority for practitioners, and enforce adherence to an ethical code of practice.

Examples of the professions:

Professions include, for example: Doctors/Surgeons, Lawyers, Engineers, Logisticians, Librarians, Judges, Pharmacists, Environmental Health Officers, Nurses, Police Officers, Military Officers, Professors, Bishops, priests, Dentists, Architects, Surveyors, Accountants, and most other specialised technical occupations. "Doctors, nurses, lawyers, psychologists, and public accountants are some examples of professions." "Some occupations that usually would be described as “professions”: dentist...architect, teacher"

Formation of a profession

A profession arises when any trade or occupation transforms itself through "the development of formal qualifications based upon education and examinations, the emergence of regulatory bodies with powers to admit and discipline members, and some degree of monopoly rights."

The process by which a profession arises from a trade or occupation is often termed professionalization and has been described as one, "starting with the establishment of the activity as a full-time occupation, progressing through the establishment of training schools and university links, the formation of a professional organization, and the struggle to gain legal support for exclusion, and culminating with the formation of a formal code of ethics."^[5]

An important example of a profession is teaching.

From The American Heritage dictionaries,

Profession (n)

1.

1. An occupation or career: “One of the highest compliments a child can pay a parent is to choose his or her profession” (Joan Nathan).
2. An occupation, such as law, medicine, or engineering, that requires considerable training and specialized study.
3. The body of qualified persons in an occupation or field: members of the teaching profession.
1. An act or instance of professing; a declaration.
2. An avowal of faith or belief.
3. A faith or belief: believers of various professions.

What is Career?

Acording to The American Heritage dictionaries, career is:

Career (n)

1. chosen pursuit; a profession or occupation.
2. The general course or progression of one's working life or one's professional achievements: an officer with a distinguished career; a teacher in the midst of a long career.
1. A path or course, as of the sun through the heavens.
2. Speed: “My hasting days fly on with full career” (John Milton).

adj.

Doing what one does as a permanent occupation or lifework: career diplomats; a career criminal\

From the Houghton Mifflin Company, career is

noun

Activity pursued as a livelihood: art, business, calling, craft, employment, job, line, métier, occupation, profession, pursuit, trade, vocation, work. Slang racket. Archaic employ. See action/inaction.

From Wikipedia encyclopedia, career is a term defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as an individual's "course or progress through life (or a distinct portion of life)". It usually is considered to pertain to remunerative work (and sometimes also formal education).

A career is traditionally seen as a course of successive situations that make up a person's worklife. One can have a sporting career or a musical career without being a professional athlete or musician, but most frequently "career" in the 20th century referenced the series of jobs or positions by which one earned one's money. It tended to look only at the past.

As the idea of personal choice and self direction picks up in the 21st century, aided by the power of the Internet and the increased acceptance of people having multiple kinds of work, the idea of a career is shifting from a closed set of achievements, like a chronological résumé of past jobs, to a defined set of pursuits looking forward. In its broadest sense, career refers to an individual’s work and life roles over their lifespan.

In the relatively static societies before modernism, many workers would often inherit or take up a single lifelong position (a place or role) in the workforce, and the concept of an unfolding career had little or no meaning. With the spread during the Enlightenment of the idea of progress and of the habits of individualist self-betterment, careers became possible, if not expected.

Career Assessments are tests that come in a variety of forms and rely on both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Career Assessments can help individuals identify and better articulate their unique interests, values, and skills. Career counselors, executive coaches, career development centers, and outplacement companies often administer career assessments to help individuals focus their search on careers that closely match their unique personal profile.

Career counseling advisors assess people's interests, personality, values and skills, and also help them explore career options and research graduate and professional schools. Career counseling provides one-on-one or group professional assistance in exploration and decision making tasks related to choosing a major/occupation, transitioning into the world of work or further professional training. The field is vast and includes career placement, career planning, learning strategies and student development.

By the late 20th century a plethora of choices (especially in the range of potential professions) and more widespread education had allowed it to become fashionable to plan (or design) a career: in this respect the careers of the career counsellor and of the career advisor have grown up. It is also not uncommon for adults in the late 20th/early 21st centuries to have dual or multiple careers, either sequentially or concurrently. Thus, professional identities have become hyphenated or hybridized to reflect this shift in work ethic. Economist Richard Florida notes this trend generally and more specifically among the "creative class."