Difference Between Profession and Job

Profession vs Job
 

Difference between profession and job may not seem to exist for many of us. In fact, employment, job, career, profession, etc. are some words that seem to be closely interrelated to each other. In fact, if you were to ask a layman the difference between a profession and a job, he might think of both being the same whereas there is a lot of difference between the two words that will be discussed in this article. A job is a small part that comes under a profession. A profession has more value than a job. Whatever the difference, always remember that these two terms are interrelated.

What is a Profession?

A profession indicates a broad field. A profession is something for which we have studied. It is something that needs educational qualifications, as well as training. For example, to be called a medical profession you should have a good knowledge in the field of medicine. As there are different fields even under medicine, such as doctoring and nursing, you need to have a good knowledge in one. You should also have training in the field. For having this formal qualifications and training, you are paid for your service when you provide your service to the patients.

What is a Job?

A job is a much narrower concept than a profession. A profession creates the place for a job. This is a position that is given to you by a company based on your qualifications. You can be a profession of something. Let us say education. You get a job as a nursery teacher. In the education profession, your job is a nursery teacher. So, a job is the way you actually use your qualifications and experience to earn a living while providing your services. Let us take a look at some other examples for both profession and job.

Let us take up the legal profession. There are many people directly or indirectly associated with this profession and are, in fact, doing jobs that have been assigned to them depending upon their educational qualifications and experience. If you have a friend who is an attorney, he is fighting the cases of his clients in a court of law to get justice for them. This is his job, which he is performing by virtue of being in the legal profession. Legal profession has many more jobs, and an attorney is just a part of the whole legal system.

Similarly, your uncle who is a doctor is in the medical profession. But, when you ask him about his job, he will take the name of the institution in which he is performing his duties or providing his services as a doctor. Thus, it is clear that a profession is larger than a job and contains many jobs that are performed by different people having different qualifications. For example, in a medical profession, there are not just doctors, but also nurses, lab technicians, and many more. All people holding these jobs are a part of the medical profession.

When you receive a professional or academic degree, you are free to do any job, and often people switch jobs until they find a profession which is to their liking. Once they find a profession they like, then they stick to it and spend the rest of their working life in that profession. It is easier to switch jobs but harder to change professions. However, there are instances when people get a degree in engineering but ends up doing a business of their own totally unrelated to their field of study.

What is the difference between Profession and Job?

• The field in which a person works is referred to as his profession while the role he is performing relates to his job.

• Thus, a person who has received a degree in law performs the job of a lawyer being in the legal profession.

• A profession is bigger than a job, which a person can keep on changing. You can change your profession too, but that is not easy as changing your job. That is because changing the profession means you have to learn something that is completely new.

• A profession has many jobs, and a job is only a part of a profession.

These are the differences between profession and job. Once you understand that a job is something that comes under a profession, then the confusion between profession and job will disappear.

Images Courtesy: Medical professionals in action and doctor via Wikicommons (Public Domain)