What is a Profession?

When practitioners join together to support a code of ethics and standards of practice, they can establish a profession. Based on the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the U.S. Department of Labor, there are five characteristics of a profession (Hale, 2002):

• An organization that speaks with a unified voice for members and fosters development of the field.

• A code of ethics that identifies standards of behavior, such as fairness, justice , truthfulness, and social responsibility.

• The existence of applied research related to the field.

• A defined body of knowledge, such as the CPT standards.

• Credentialing based on professional standards.