A profession is a field of work that has been successfully professionalized. It can be defined as a disciplined group of individuals, professionals, who adhere to ethical standards and who hold themselves out as, and are accepted by the public as possessing special knowledge and skills in a widely recognised body of learning derived from research, education and training at a high level, and who are prepared to apply this knowledge and exercise these skills in the interest of others.
A profession arises through the process of professionalization when any trade or occupation transforms itself:
"...[through] the development of formal qualifications based upon education, apprenticeship, and examinations, the emergence of regulatory bodies with powers to admit and discipline members, and some degree of monopoly rights."
Major milestones which may mark an occupation being identified as a profession include: 1. an occupation becomes a full-time occupation 2. the establishment of a training school 3. the establishment of a university school 4. the establishment of a local association 5. the establishment of a national association of professional ethics 6. the establishment of state licensing laws
