Semi-professional jobs require less education and experience than full professions, and often have lower pay and less responsibility. Examples include paralegals, dental hygienists, and teaching assistants. The distinction between professions and semi-professions can be controversial, and is often based on education, training, income, and authority levels.
Jobs that fall under the category of “profession” typically include lawyers, teachers, doctors, accountants, and similar professions. A semi-professional is a job that is very similar to what is considered a profession, but typically requires less education or experience. It also usually carries less responsibility than the full profession it is attached to and will likely have a lower payout rate.
Many professions have one or more associated semi-professions. For example, by law, a lawyer would generally be considered a professional and a paralegal would be considered a semi-professional. Similarly, a dentist would be considered a professional, while a dental hygienist would probably be considered a semi-professional.
The term “semi-profession” has become controversial in some areas, particularly when applied to teaching and medicine. In teaching, a certified teacher would be considered a professional, while assistants and other specialists are often classified as semi-professional. In many places, the term “paraprofessional,” or “parapro,” has evolved to describe those who hold a semi-profession in the educational arena. This term, however, does not apply to higher education, where professors are still considered professionals and teaching assistants and lecturers are generally considered semi-professionals.
The lines between profession and semi-profession are often quite blurred within the medical community. Doctors, pharmacists and veterinarians are generally classified as full-fledged professionals. Assistants, however, including physician assistants, are regarded by some as fully-fledged professionals and by others as semi-professionals. Nursing is generally recognized as a full profession in most of the United States and Europe, but is still considered a semi-profession in some parts of the world.
A semi-profession generally requires fewer years of education than a full profession. For example, an accountant or actuary may require both an advanced diploma and a national certification. An assistant accountant, on the other hand, may only require a two-year diploma or even some training and likely won’t need to be certified.
Several additional factors are generally accepted as differentiating a semi-profession from a full profession. In training, fully-fledged professionals often spend much more time studying theoretical aspects of their fields, while semi-professional training usually focuses almost exclusively on practical aspects of the field. A semi-professional will likely have more general and less specialized knowledge and skills in the industry.
Income and authority levels are generally higher in a full profession than in a semi-profession. All professionals can be afforded more respect in the industry. Semi-professionals, on the other hand, tend to be more closely managed.
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