A professional is a member of a vocation founded upon specialised educational training.

The word professional traditionally means a person who has obtained a professional (doctoral) level degree. The term professional is used more generally to denote a white collar working person, or a person who performs commercially in a field typically reserved for hobbyists or amateurs.

In western nations, such as the United States, the term commonly describes highly educated, mostly salaried workers, who enjoy considerable work autonomy, economic security, a comfortable salary, and are commonly engaged in creative and intellectually challenging work..^[1][2][3][4] Less technically, it may also refer to a person having impressive competence in a particular activity.^[5]

Work

Definition

Main criteria for professional include the following:

1. Academic qualifications - a doctoral or law degree - i.e., university college/institute.
2. Expert and specialised knowledge in field which one is practising professionally.^[6]
3. Excellent manual/practical and literary skills in relation to profession.^[7]
4. High quality work in (examples): creations, products, services, presentations, consultancy, primary/other research, administrative, marketing or other work endeavours.
5. A high standard of professional ethics, behaviour and work activities while carrying out one's profession (as an employee, self-employed person, career, enterprise, business, company, or partnership/associate/colleague, etc).
6. Reasonable work moral and motivation. Having interest and desire to do a job well as well as holding positive attitude towards the profession are important elements in attaining a high level of professionalism.^[8]

In Britain and elsewhere, professionalism is often designated by Royal Charter A royal charter is a charter granted by a Sovereign to create institutions or other forms of incorporated bodies (such as a city, company, or university). In the British legal tradition a royal charter is in the form of letters patent. Historically, royal charters were granted as an exercise of the royal prerogative, and were generally used to.

Trades

In narrow usage, not all expertise is considered a profession. Although sometimes referred to as professions, such occupations as skilled construction work are more generally thought of as trades A trade is an occupation that requires some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Medieval history and earlier, the term is usually applied towards people occupied in most kinds of crafts and small-scale production of goods or crafts. The completion of an apprenticeship is generally associated with skilled labor or trades such as carpenter Carpenter is a surname. Its use as a forename or middle name is rare. Within the United States, it is ranked as the 189th-most common surname, electrician An electrician is a tradesman specializing in electrical wiring of buildings and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance and repair of existing electrical infrastructure, plumber The word plumber dates from the Roman Empire. In Roman times, some roofs were made of lead, or plumbum in Latin . Lead roofs were waterproof, and the workers on such roofs were what are now called "plumbers". Roman baths later used lead for piping and for the main baths. Thus, a person with expertise in working with lead was known as a, bricklayer and other similar occupations. A related (though not always valid) distinction would be that a professional does mainly mental There are many theories of the mind and its function. The earliest recorded works on the mind are by Zarathushtra, the Buddha, Plato, Aristotle, Adi Shankara and other ancient Greek, Indian and Islamic philosophers. Pre-scientific theories, based in theology, concentrated on the relationship between the mind and the soul, the supernatural, divine or administrative In business, administration consists of the performance or management of business operations and thus the making or implementing of major decisions. Administration can be defined as the universal process of organizing people and resources efficiently so as to direct activities toward common goals and objectives work, as opposed to engaging in physical work. Many companies include the word professional in their company name to signify the quality of their workmanship or service.

Sports

In sports, a professional is someone who participates for money. The opposite is amateur An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science, without formal training or pay. Although they sometimes can be very highly skilled, an amateur differs from an expert that is a person with extensive knowledge, ability, and/or training in a particular area of study, while a professional is someone who, meaning a person who does not play for money, but in an academic (e.g. college football) or other private setting. The term "professional" is commonly used incorrectly when referring to sports, as the distinction simply refers to how the athlete is funded, and not necessarily competitions or achievements.

Sometimes the professional status of an activity is controversial; for example, there is debate as to whether professionals Professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, are those in which athletes receive payment for their performance. While men have competed as professional athletes throughout much of modern history, only recently has it become common for women to have the opportunity to become professional athletes. Professional athleticism has come to the fore should be allowed to compete in the Olympic Games The Olympic Games are an international event of summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes compete in a wide variety of events. The Games are currently held every two years, with Summer and Winter Olympic Games alternating. Originally, the ancient Olympic Games were held in Olympia, Greece, from the 8th century BC to the 5th century. The motivation for money (either in rewards, salaries or advertising revenue) is sometimes seen as a corrupting influence, tainting a sport.

It has been suggested that the crude, all or nothing categories, of professional or amateur should be reconsidered. A historical shift is occurring with the rise of Pro-Ams Professional amateurs is a conceptual term to describe a blurring between the separate distinctions of professional and amateur within any endeavor or attainable skill that could be labeled professional, whether it is in the field of writing, sports, computer programming, music, film, etc, a new category of people that are pursuing amateur activities to professional standards.

Professional gaming is another form of professional sport.

See also

• List of occupations Contents: Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z · See also · External links
• Profession "A profession is a vocation founded upon specialised educational training, the purpose of which is to supply disinterested counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from expectation of other business gain"
  • Practice-based professional learning Practice-based professional learning is best understood in contrast to 'classroom-' or 'theory-based' learning. It is kindred to terms such as 'work-based', 'workplace' or 'work-centred' learning. Distinctive, though, are a concern for professional learning, and the preference for 'practice' rather than 'work'. While it does not disdain
  • Professional development Professional development refers to skills and knowledge attained for both personal development and career advancement. Professional development encompasses all types of facilitated learning opportunities, ranging from college degrees to formal coursework, conferences and informal learning opportunities situated in practice. It has been described
  • First professional degree A first professional degree is an academic degree that prepares the holder for a particular profession by emphasizing competency skills along with theory and analysis. These professions are typically licensed or otherwise regulated by a governmental or government-approved body. Areas such as nursing, architecture, forestry, law, medicine,
• Professional sport Professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, are those in which athletes receive payment for their performance. While men have competed as professional athletes throughout much of modern history, only recently has it become common for women to have the opportunity to become professional athletes. Professional athleticism has come to the fore
  • Professional amateurs Professional amateurs is a conceptual term to describe a blurring between the separate distinctions of professional and amateur within any endeavor or attainable skill that could be labeled professional, whether it is in the field of writing, sports, computer programming, music, film, etc
• Paraprofessional Paraprofessional is a job title given to people in various occupational fields, such as education, healthcare, engineering and law, that have obtained a certificate by passing an exam, enabling them to perform a task requiring significant knowledge, but without having the occupational license to perform at the professional level in the field. This

References

1. ^ Gilbert, D. (1998). The American class structure: In an age of growing inequality. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Press.
2. ^ Beeghley, L. (2004). The structure of social stratification in the United States. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
3. ^ Eichar, D. (1989). Occupation and class conciousness in America. Wesport, CT: Greewood Press.
4. ^ Ehrenreich, B. (1989). Fear of falling: The inner life of the middle class. New York: Harper Prennial.
5. ^ http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/professional?view=uk
6. ^ [1]
7. ^ [2]
8. ^ [3]

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