Profession

Profession

A firefighter responding to an emergency

Profession (also known as active career) is an aspect of career which players have to direct Sims to do their work instead of the basic careers where Sims only enter a rabbit hole or off-world and gain performance based on several factors. This feature is first introduced in The Sims 3: Ambitions, and is the main theme of the expansion pack. Further expansion packs also provide more unique professions. Professions were re-introduced with The Sims 4: Get to Work, which included three new professions. The Sims 4: City Living introduces semi-active careers, where players can choose Sims to work at home.

The Sims 3

Sims can find a profession from newspaper and computer but some professions can be found in other ways. Sims can go to the fire station to work as a Firefighter, the salon or ask a stylist to work in the Stylist profession, the city hall to work as an Architectural Designer, the science lab to work in the Ghost Hunter profession, the police station to work in the Investigator profession, or ask a proprietor to work in performer professions. The only way to be employed in Daycare is from the newspaper or computer.

The major point of profession is that players must direct Sims to perform certain tasks. They no longer go to rabbit holes, and instead, players can actually see what Sims do at work. Professions aren't usually tied to a workplace. Sims earn weekly stipend every Sunday. Professional Simoleon Booster lifetime reward enables Sims to earn more weekly stipend. Additionally, Sims will earn bonuses after finishing their task (such as extinguishing fire, completing a renovation, performing on stages, etc.) or performing for tips. Sims can also earn raise if they work hard enough.

List of professions

Profession	Workdays	Workplace	EP
Acrobat	Open work hours	None
Architectural Designer	Monday - Friday	None
Daycare	Monday - Thursday	At home
Firefighter	Monday - Friday	Fire station
Ghost Hunter	Monday - Friday	None
Investigator	Open work hours	None
Magician	Open work hours	None
Singer	Open work hours	None
Stylist	Tuesday - Saturday	Salon
Lifeguard	Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday	Beach

Responsibilities and job experience

Job experience panel

Sims have broader and more flexible ways to earn performance. Professions aren't provided with work performance; Sims will earn job experience instead, based on their completion of responsibilities. Most professions aren't attached to certain skills, though high skills might help Sims with their job.

Every time Sims perform any of the responsibilities, such as doing a stakeout in Investigator profession, Sims will earn some experience. Once Sims gain enough experience, they will instantly get promoted. This is a flexible way to be promoted, since Sims don't necessarily have to attend their workplace for a promotion.

Differences between profession and career

Career	Profession
Sims enter rabbit hole and have career tones (Business as Usual, Work Hard, etc.)	Sims perform actions and must complete tasks
Sims must go to work regularly	Some professions have open work hours, which means Sims can perform their work at any time
Sims get salary per hour, which can only be earned if they go to work	Sims earn weekly stipend and some bonus if they complete their task
There are up to 4 performance factors that range from horrible to excellent, which will determine how fast the performance bar increase or decrease	There are 3 performance responsibilities. Anytime they're performed, the experience bar will increase.
Sims will get promoted or demoted based on their career performance	Sims' career performance never decreases, so it's impossible for a Sim to get demoted

Semi-active careers

Several careers have some elements from professions, which make them semi-active careers. This adds a variation to the careers so they have special tasks outside the rabbit holes.

• If Ambitions is installed, Medical career has an expanded feature which enables doctors to perform medical checkup over patients. They will sometimes get a task to perform while on the work hour such as vaccination clinics at park.
• In Late Night, Film career also has tasks around the neighborhood while on the work hour, such as promoting the movie at the bars.

As Sims complete their task, they have to go back to work again. Otherwise, they'll be considered missing work.

The Sims 4

Professions return in The Sims 4: Get to Work as active careers. Sims can find an active career from their own cellphones or computer (as pretty much other careers). The difference between active careers and normal careers is, that in active careers player have the option to follow their Sims to work. There are three active careers in Get to Work: Detective, Doctor and Scientist.

When being followed to work, there are bunch of tasks for Sims to complete in order to gain a promotion and are always special to the career their given in. In the detective career, Sims must solve crimes by going to a crime scene and collecting clues, in order to catch the suspect, with finally interrogating them and putting to jail. In the Doctor career, Sims must cure patients that are gathering up in the lobby by making tests, making a diagnosis after collecting enough evidence of an illness, and later up in the career performing surgeries. In the Scientist career, Sims can create crazy potions, gadgets, and even a wormhole generator that Sims can use to explore Sixam.

List of active careers

Profession	Workdays	Workplace	EP
Detective	Varies on rank of job	Civic Center
Doctor	Varies on rank of job	Civic Center
Scientist	Varies on rank of job	Scientist Neighborhood

Differences between active careers and normal careers

Career	Active Career
Sims disappear from the lot and have career tones (Business as Usual, Work Hard, etc.)	Players can follow their Sims to work and must complete tasks
Sims get paid based on their rank in the career	Sims get paid based on how well they've worked
Sims can't stay at work late	Sims can stay at work late if wanted
After being promoted enough, Sims can choose two work branches to follow	Sims don't have two work branches to choose from

Semi-active careers

The Sims 4: City Living introduces semi-active careers, where instead of following Sims to work, the player can choose Sims to work at home. There are three new semi-active careers in City Living: Critic, Politician, and Social Media. Each career track has two career branches. The Sims 4: Seasons includes another semi-active career, Gardening, and a future update for The Sims 4 will add a Style Influencer career.

If a Sim works in one these three careers, an hour before the Sim is going to work, an alarm notification will appear on the phone. There the player can choose to either "Go to Work", "Work from Home" or "Take the Day Off".

If the player chooses to work from home, the game will generate two randomized tasks for the Sim to complete, in order to gain boost to their job performance that is added to the payment received when the day is over. If these tasks are not done by the Sim they were assigned to, the boss will be disappointed and job performance will be lost.

List of semi-active careers

Profession	Workdays	EP
Style Influencer	Varies on rank of job
Critic	Varies on rank of job
Politician	Varies on rank of job
Social Media	Varies on rank of job
Gardening	Varies on rank of job