Title vs. profession

             Sometimes my Chinese friends contact me asking specific questions about English.  Samantha (not my granddaughter Samantha) asked, “Would you mind clarifying the difference between title and profession. I've already looked up the two words in a Merriam Webster's dictionary, but I still dont get it. For example, like secretary and CEO; which one is a title and which one is a profession?”

            A person’s job title is the name of their specific job.  I like to joke a little about my last job with the U. S. Forest Service.  I say, “I had a very strange job title.  It was:

            ‘Biologist: Appeals and Litigation Specialist for the Biological and Physical Resources Unit.’” 

            Let’s use that as an example.  (Note the correct use of a “quote within a quote” in that last sentence).

            In reality, my real job title was:

            ‘Biologist: Appeals and Litigation Specialist’ and I worked for the Biological and Physical Resources Unit of the Southern Region of the United States Forest Service, a branch of the United States Department of Agriculture.  Do you get the feeling that government agencies like complex names?

            Let’s look at that in more detail.

                        Government department: Agriculture

                        Agency within that department: Forest Service

                        Office of that agency: Southern Region, in Atlanta, Georgia

                        Unit within that office: Biological and Physical Resources

                        My job title: Biologist, Appeals and Litigation Specialist

                        My profession: Biologist.

            So, here’s the answer to Samantha’s question.  You can have two types of job titles, a general title and a formal title. 

                        General title: biologist

                        Formal title: Biologist: Appeals and Litigation Specialist

            Here are some other examples:

                        General title: secretary

                        Formal title: Office Assistant

            General title: unit director

            Formal title: Director for Biological and Physical Resources

                        General title: biologist

                        Formal title: Biologist: Threatened and Endangered Species Specialist

            General title: fisheries biologist

            Formal title: Regional Fisheries Biologist

                        General title: soil scientists

                        Formal title: Regional Soil Science Specialist

            So, a job title can be informal or formal.  What does all this have to do with one’s profession?  My opinion on this varies slightly, because I believe anyone with a job is a professional.  That is, I am served by professional bus drivers, professional garbage collectors, and professional cooks and dishwashers.  I’ve had some of those jobs myself and I considered myself “professional.”

            Other people regard “professionals” as society’s elite, such as doctors, lawyers, and politicians.  For example, teachers want to be professionals but some people do not consider teachers to be true professionals. 

            My point is simple.  Your profession is your job and they type of job you do.  So, a professional secretary works for a professional CEO (chief executive officer).  To me, both are equally professional.  In general, your profession is a broad group of people who do the same type of job you do.

            Professions: doctors, lawyers, teachers, biologists, cooks, bakers, carpenters, etc.

            Job titles for doctors: pediatricians, cardiologists, internists.

            Job titles for lawyers: CEO, president, full partner, junior partner.

            Job titles for biologists: ecologist, fisheries biologist, endangered species specialist.

            Job titles for cooks: baker, head cook, short order cook, etc.

            Job titles for carpenters: form carpenter, lead carpenter, laborer.

            By now you may be getting the feeling for this.  Professions tend to be broad categories like builder or teacher.  Job titles are more specific to a particular job of company such as home remodeling contractor or high school math teacher.  Formal job titles are even more specific such as Biologist: Appeals and Litigation Specialist.

 

            What’s my current job title?  I’m a freelance writer and editor, and since I don’t work for any one company, I don’t give myself a formal title.  I work for many individuals and several foreign companies (including Chinese companies, which are “foreign” from where I sit.  After all, when my Chinese friends ask me, “Are you a foreigner?” I say, “No” because I’ve never left the U. S.  How can I be a foreigner when I’ve never left my home country?