Use the Profession template to write about jobs, volunteer positions, and other occupations. From clerks and librarians to adventurers and monster hunters, this template is perfect to describe the type of activities people in your world spend time with!
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What should I use this template for?
A profession is an activity someone does for profit. On World Anvil, the template can be used for any occupation someone can do, including volunteering, religious activities, and more!
This template has a lot of overlap with the Title template, as both are related to what people do. However, Profession is about the occupation itself, while a Title is about a specific position a person can hold. For example, "Chancellor of the Exchequer" is a title in the UK government, but their profession is basically "accountant". A single title can also include multiple professions; the title "Queen" in an absolute monarchy might include many professions, including diplomat, politician, military strategist, and more.
Template walkthrough
Remember that all prompts are optional! In fact, because there are so many types of profession, some prompts might not be relevant to you. As always, there's a free-writing section at the top (which we call vignette) and the prompts are under the "+ Prompts" button in the bottom toolbar. In the Profession template, the prompts are organized into four sections:
- Career: Here you can describe the skills someone needs to get this job, as well as the usual career path associated with this profession.
- Perception: Some jobs are associated with negative or positive ideas, such as garbage collection being seen as a dirty job, or priests being seen as holy. Use this tab to write about everything that surrounds the jobs that isn't part of the job itself.
- Operations: Here you can get into the nitty-gritty of how to actually do the job, from the tools to the legal regulations around it. Keep in mind the scope of your setting here! If this profession doesn't play a large role in your story, you probably want to keep this pretty minimal.
- Relations: Finally, this tab has a collection of drop-downs that you can use to link it to other articles in your world.
Feature recommendations for professions
Here are some ideas on how to use other features with professions:
- Content trees: If this profession exists within a hierarchy (such as a company or a knightly order), you can use a content tree to show the profession's position within the hierarchy. Check the guide to Content trees.
Step-by-step guide to writing a profession
Here are some quick steps you can follow to create a profession:
- What's this job for? Think about the purpose of the profession in the world; but most importantly, within the story or setting you're creating. Think about how it relates to other professions too, as well as which characters will hold it, and which organization and locations will this profession be related to.
- How detailed does it need to be? Your world probably has thousands of jobs in it, but obviously you shouldn't create an article for every one of them! Think about how important this profession is to your setting or story, which will help you decide how much in-depth you should write.
- Connect it to the world! Making your worldbuilding tightly connected is really important in general, but even more with things like professions! How does the job fit in the companies and countries you've created? Is it specific of a certain place or culture? How does it affect the economy of the world? The "Relations" tab in the template expanded prompts will help you find points of connection.
Need more help? Check our guide for creating fantasy jobs!
Community examples for inspiration
Need some inspiration? Here are some profession articles written by our amazing community!
