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[TS3] or off-world[TS4] 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 are re-introduced with The Sims 4: Get to Work, which includes three new professions. The Sims 4: City Living introduces semi-active careers, where players can choose to have Sims work at home or off-world.
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[TS3:ST]. Sims can also earn raise if they work hard enough.
List of professions[]
| Profession | Workdays | Workplace | Pack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acrobat | Open work hours | None |
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| Architectural designer | Monday - Friday | Clients' homes |
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| Daycare | Monday - Thursday | At home |
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| Firefighter | Monday - Friday | Fire station |
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| Ghost hunter | Monday - Friday | None |
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| Investigator | Open work hours | None |
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| Lifeguard | Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday | Any beach |
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| Magician | Open work hours | None |
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| Singer | Open work hours | None |
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| Stylist | Tuesday - Saturday | Salon |
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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 the 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 professions and normal careers[]
| 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 The Sims 3: Ambitions is installed, the 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 The Sims 3: Late Night, the 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, players have the option to follow their Sims to work. There are three active careers in Get to Work: detective, doctor and scientist. The Sims 4: Get Famous and The Sims 4: Dream Home Decorator add two more active careers, respectively, actor and interior decorator, while The Sims 4: High School Years adds the ability to follow teens to high school.
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. In the actor career, Sims must attend auditions and perform acting gigs, alongside getting their costume fitted, hair styled, and practicing lines.
List of active careers[]
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 they wish (in some cases) |
| 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 the concept of semi-active careers, where instead of following Sims to work, the player can decide for Sims to work at home. With the exception of the freelancer career, where Sims work entirely from home, almost all non-active careers that were added after City Living are semi-active, including the style influencer career added to the base game in Patch 73, but excluding the salaryperson career from The Sims 4: Snowy Escape. There are two part-time semi-active careers that were introduced with The Sims 4: High School Years, simfluencer and video game streamer, both of which are available to teen sims.
If a Sim works in one these 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[]
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