To not actually understand what constitutes a "professional job"?

[BakerStreetSaxRift]

Hello, this could be a stupid question, but I did try googling it and couldn't get a straight answer.

Could someone please explain what the criteria are for having a professional job? I'm trying to work out if I have one.

I've read various things that say doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers, electricians, train/bus drivers (or anything you need a licence for), engineers etc are all professional jobs. But that seems a bit like any job can be described as professional. Would it be easier to work out which ones aren't?

Thanks in advance!

teachers have to be registered with the GTC and can be struck off.

Speaking with a group of fellow academic science-y types after a few pints and we decided that we didn't want to be professionals (registered, regulated). Science works best when random people do it in their garages.

A SAHM at the school told me recently that she was doing a teaching assistant course as she hadn't worked since having children and wanted to get herself a proper profession.

I didn't argue, but couldn't see where she'd got that idea from!

So I have managed to glean from this thread that pretty much any job fits the current definition of "professional" if you stretch it enough!

Most jobs these days have some sort of study and exams if you need to qualify/progress, and so nearly everyone would say that makes them a professional.

I guess part of the problem is 50% of people have degrees of some sort, and they would all say they are professional, and any exams /studying they do afterwards is post-grad study.

There's also being 'professional' in your job, ie, taking it seriously and doing things properly and by the book, or being A 'professional' with a profession!

It's "a professional" that I was looking to clarify, but it's evidently been diluted with the fact that most jobs would say they are "professional".

I don't think that the unemployed doctor in a cake shop theory really works. I qualified a solicitor, but left my job and got a job in a book shop. One of my colleagues there was a former teacher. We were both booksellers, not a
lawyer and a teacher.

The problem is that it's a pretty old-fashioned term now. Profession used to constitute a job that you needed to be educated to do and it required a specific qualification that you couldn't do the job without. The professions were highly regarded in society, hence being able to sign passports etc.

Now, any job that you get paid for could be considered a professional-a professional soldier/ballroom dancer etc. On the flip side, you can be an unqualified teacher!

It's probably as difficult as trying to define the term 'social class' with as many grey areas ;)

I suppose my job would be described as professional. I'm an internal auditor. Although I don't have a degree, to do my job I had to sit 9 exams and complete a 3 year log book of all my work which documented how I had achieved a range of requirements which had to be signed off by someone senior in my organisation and my professional body and then I had to meet a separate checklist of HM Treasury requirements as I work in the civil service. Without these I cannot do my job in the public sector.

I am a chartered member of my professional organisation, which is recognised worldwide, and my qualification is equivalent to a post-grad diploma according to UCAS. To upgrade it to an MSc I would need to do a dissertation with a recognised provider but am not sure at the moment that I can be bothered. I really don't think it would make a great deal of difference. I would have more letters after my name but I don't think it would make me better at my job.

But my DP, who left school with one O Level in art, has worked his way up in his company and is one of their leading engineers. He has no qualifications in his expert area, just years of experience. To me he is a professional as his job saves lives and makes huge differences to people's working environments. Mine not so much! Although saving tax payers' money is very important obviously, his job has far greater consequences if he gets it wrong than mine.