Carl's Sims 3 Guide - Skills, Traits, Careers, Rewards, and Lifetime Wishes for Ambitions and World Adventures

The Sims 3 Careers

Jobs and Professions in TS3 and all Expansion Packs


The Sims 3 Careers
Career Paths A-LM-ZCareer TipsCareer TraitsMoney MakingPart Time Jobs List
Real EstateAcrobatActing/DirectorArchitectArt AppraiserAstronomer
Bot ArenaBusinessCriminalCulinaryDaycareFirefighter
Fortune TellerGhost HunterHorsemanInventorJournalismLaw Enforcement
LifeguardMagicianMedicalMilitaryMusicPolitical
Private InvestigatorProfessional SportsScienceSculptorSingerSports Agent
StylistTeacherVideo Game Developer

Our Sims 3 career guide was originally written for the PC and Mac versions of the game, but also will help owners of the console versions - PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii. Please remember some info or numbers may have changed with the adaptation from PC. Xbox 360 and PS3 owners should head here for their career cheats, PC and Mac career cheats are listed on this page.

Welcome to my Sims 3 Careers Guide. Here I'll list all careers in the Sims 3, its expansion packs, and provide info that will help you make a decision as to what track you want your Sim to pursue. This guide is helpful to both PC, Mac and Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 game owners. Console Simmers should take note that the ambitions professions aren't available in their version of the game, nor the Film Career Track offered with The Sims 3 Late Night. Another helpful feature is info about The Sims 3's career rewards, which are perks Sims make on their way up a career ladder, such as the MinusOne Kelvin Fridge for the Culinary Career Track or the Firefighter's reward to make their home a fire station.

Careers in The Sims 3 Into the Future Expansion PackThe Sims 3 Into the Future Career Additions
Into the Future adds two new Rabbithole-style Careers that Sims can take up while in the Future World of Oasis Landing. Here they are, along with links to the Career information for them:

  • Astronomy Career - Allows new object discoveries with the Observatory's powerful Telescope. You can choose to be an Astrophysicist and specialize in finding these Celestial Objects, or elect to become a Space Explorer who can travel to another Planet and collect Star Dust and Dark Matter, which have high sell values.
  • Bot Arena Career - Joining the Bot Arena Career will let you choose between becoming a Mechanic or Arena Promoter. Mechanics can perform Professional Tune-Ups on Plumbots and earn extra money, but make even more when the Oversee Competition Productions. An Arena Official's job is to Promote Upcoming Competitions to other Sims and Plumbots, and at level 10 Scout Plumbot Prospects to see how they'd fare in Competitions, earning some extra cash in the process.

The Sims 3 University Life Expansion PackThe Sims 3 University Life Career Additions
University Life adds a total of three new careers, each of which is unlocked by reaching the tenth level in their respective Social Groups. The new careers are:

   Art Appraiser - Rebel social group
   Sports Agent - Jock social group
   Video Game Developer - Nerd social group

Supernatural Career: Fortune Teller
Supernatural adds the Fortune Teller career to the list. You can also register as self-employed in Alchemy.

The Sims 3 Showtime Performer InformationThe Sims 3 Showtime Career Additions: Performers
The Sims 3 Showtime Expansion Pack gives players the chance to play three types of performer. These three new professions, like those introduced with Ambitions, all earn weekly stipends but get their primary income from their talents by doing shows. All can play for tips, but the gigs they can schedule are huge money-makers and make them really accessible careers. Here are guides for each of the three performer types:

Acrobat - Mime, Juggle, and perform great feats of agility on stage.
Magician - Perform magic tricks like pulling a coin from a Sim's ear and escaping a watery grave.
Singer - Complete sing-a-grams to train your Sim's voice for solo gigs.

The Sims 3 Pets Career InfoThe Sims 3 Pets: New Self-Employment Career
The only new career option in The Sims 3 Pets is the Horseman Self-Employment Career. They can make money from selling horses, racing and show jumps, but not before training their animals. This is not the only option for making money with Pets. Cats and Dogs can both hunt for collectibles, which can be very valuable.

The Sims 3 Generations Career/Profession Additions
The Sims 3 Generations expansion pack adds a lone profession, Day Care. That's not to say that it doesn't offer much for career-oriented Sims. Afterschool Activities can give your young Sims a head start in their chosen field, and the new Motive Mobile can help boost your Sim's Motives if you skip the car-pool and take it to work instead. We look forward to The Sims 3 Pets expansion and what it will bring to the table as far as careers and money-making. Pet breeding should be possible in the upcoming expansion.

Ambitions
The Sims 3 Ambitions expansion is all about adding new professions to the game. There are a total of 8 new jobs to take up. Additionally, every existing skill that is viable for self employment can now be registered as such. It's done at City Hall when you've gained level 1 in a skill. Take a class, gain level 1, then zip to register and your Sims are on their way to making money and earning honor trophies for their success.

After the patch that came with Ambitions (affecting the base game) players will notice a new ability to take leave without pay from work, accessible from the cell phone. This is a great way to get some time off without affecting your job performance meter, allowing your Sim to take care of growing children, or spend some time developing skills without feeling rushed. Not all requests for time off are given however, and may be affected by your Sim's relationship with the boss, how they've done at work in the past, or both.

While I can't give you info for everything in Ambitions just yet, as The Sims 3 Ambitions expansion is new, here are links to the help we can give, along with a list of all the Ambitions jobs.

Requires The Sims 3 Late NightThe Sims 3 Late Night expansion adds a lone career track, but it's a good one: Film. In this career, your Sim can pursue whether they want to be an Actor or Director. This career focuses heavily on the Sims 3 Late Night's Celebrity Star System.

Career Cheats
There are actually some powerful aviailabilities to Simmers looking to cheat their way to a certain job. This isn't a bad way to pick up level 10 rewards (at least those that stick). My Skill Cheats Page can be helpful with careers. Once you've used the testingcheats you can cheat and shift-click the mailbox to change the career to any available job for the active Sim. Yep, you can make them an astronaut instantly that way. Otherwise, you may want to snag the Multitasker Lifetime Reward which will boost career performance gain.

Many folks come here looking for anything about new jobs in World Adventures. I'm afraid there are none to be found. Thankfully, the expansion does add some additional content in the form of new opportunities. For example, a Sim in Law Enforcement may be tasked with taking up Martial Arts in China. There were several new additions for each career track, so it does tie in just doesn't provide any new career ladders to climb.

How This Guide Can Help
I've provided a handy comparison tool for choosing a career for your Sim. You'll find salary data for the level 10 jobs in the a-z list of all career paths, which should help with your decision-making. Keep in mind when reading the salary data that this does not include pay raises your Sim may have achieved from their various jobs on the way to the top, and will continue to receive after reaching the top job.

Individual career tracks can be viewed through the links above. Salary and promotion requirements for all jobs are provided. Job data for all careers in the list has now been put into tables. You'll see the skill, social and special requirements of each job in the career track. It can help with career selection and finding out what career rewards you want your Sims to hunt down.

Note that some career ladders have branches you can choose. The Music, Criminal, and Law Enforcement tracks all branch into one of two job selections. The special abilities and career rewards afforded by these branches can be quite different, so they almost function as separate careers.

I'm particularly pleased with the career rewards of the Science career track. Mad Scientist Sims can perform experiments on objects, which can give a positive boost to mood when they're around that object, or using it. I upgraded everything from my baby's crib to my Sim's desk chair to give a mood boost. Watch out, it can wreak havoc when an experiment goes horribly wrong. It's a bit odd getting a new car smell from the refrigerator.

You'll see that some career rewards stay with your Sim. For example, the police cruiser gained from reaching the fifth level of the law enforcement career track stays with you even if you change jobs!

On other pages you can learn career and job performance tips. They're general tips that work well for every type of career in the game, and are meant to be used in the conjunction with the career list to plan ahead. Look to see what skills your Sim's career track requires, and at what job level they begin needing them. After reading my tips, head over to the job list and pick the career track for your next Sim!

In the interest of helping players, I've also added a page about career traits that will help most Sims excel at their job. They'll help either directly, or indirectly, to boost job performance meter and help your Sim get promoted up their career ladder and earn raises and promotions faster.

The Sims 3 Careers
Career Paths A-LM-ZCareer TipsCareer TraitsMoney MakingPart Time Jobs List
Real EstateAcrobatActing/DirectorArchitectArt AppraiserAstronomer
Bot ArenaBusinessCriminalCulinaryDaycareFirefighter
Fortune TellerGhost HunterHorsemanInventorJournalismLaw Enforcement
LifeguardMagicianMedicalMilitaryMusicPolitical
Private InvestigatorProfessional SportsScienceSculptorSingerSports Agent
StylistTeacherVideo Game Developer


Share Tips and FAQs (32)

Our Sims Forum is the place to go for faster answers to questions and discussions about the game. Use the form below to share your own experiences and provide helpful tips to other readers.

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Rebecca says...
Which career makes the most money overall? I always assumed Medical, but I know now that that isn't necessarily true. I mean, I used to think business was a big money-maker, but when I checked I found out that, whoops, it only makes 993 simoleans a day, and you only work three days a week. So then, which one really is the biggest money-maker? Taking daily profit and days worked per week into account
2nd March 2014 2:13pm
charlotte says...
well I checked and it al depends on what part of the job you are at like level 6 or level 9 it all depends but level 10 u would earn the most out of that whole career
I hope I helped charlotte
2nd September 2015 8:01am
Playalot says...
We have a good thread with loads on info on this topic in the forum here: http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=302.0
22nd July 2017 9:12pm
Kelly says...
My sim reached level 7 in the film career but now for some reason I can't get them to go to work. Is this some kind of glitch & if so, how can I fix it?
20th March 2014 11:10pm
LK says...
I used to have this same problem. What worked for me was to change the career outfit.
26th June 2014 12:37am
Jo-Jo says...
i do not no i am cix
6th July 2014 8:52pm
Playalot says...
One way to fix this is to place down another rabbit hole studio and have your sim 'transfer to here' with their career into the new rabbit hole.
22nd July 2017 9:15pm
Pepa says...
Carl
how do we get pizza delieverier job
Admin:
Pizza delivery is done by an NPC and isn't actually a career choice. 
19th May 2013 5:31am
TragicClown says...
Is anyone still playing this game in 2018?

Anyway, you can get a high salary without cheats or glitches, just by using the restaurant chance card. I did this in the bistro in sunset valley.

There’s a chance (don’t know how high, guessing 10-30%) of this card appearing when you eat there. It says there’s a party with people singing and if you sing along you get a 25% raise. This can be done multiple times.

So what you need to do is go to the bistro when it opens at 11 and eat there for 12 hours straight, to try as many times as possible. This increases your salary very quickly. For example at level 10 of medical I can’t get more in raises than +$192/hour a week by just working, but the card gives me +$120/hour each time.

The card won’t appear if you don’t have a boss in your job (so it won’t work for a Master Thief or Mad Scientist). Also you’ll get very fat if you do this, but so will your paychecks. Right now I earn $3095/hour.
22nd August 2018 4:15am
Playalot says...
Great tip! Thanks! Judging by how many visitors we get to the guide every day I'm betting there are a lot of people still playing in 2018 :)
22nd August 2018 9:45pm
Floo says...
Can you tell me where to find info for the Dj secret skill ??
24th October 2013 8:16am
Playalot says...
If you don't mind using mods you could try this one that unlocks the info on the hidden skills:
http://modthesims.info/d/436732
22nd July 2017 9:18pm
Sophie says...
Will you make another website for the sims 4 or will you not and continue with the sims 3?
31st May 2014 3:11pm
RandomPerson says...
Okay so this happened to me a while back, still haven't solved it but, as soon as I got my sim to Superstar Athlete, he wouldn't go to work. He just stayed at home. I could get him to go to the stadium and watch games and stuff, but he wouldn't work. I had to delete the ENTIRE town to get rid of the bug. There has to be a way. Has anyone else experienced this?( This happened plain old original sims 3)
19th August 2017 3:45pm
Playalot says...
This bug is usually due to a corrupt work outfit.
Take your Sim to the dresser and give her a new work outfit. If the Sim already has more than one, delete the extra ones instead.
19th August 2017 7:03pm
chaoswolfling says...
You forgot Gardener in your list.
18th October 2015 8:29pm
Playalot says...
Carl covered the self-employed aspect of gardening here:
http://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/skills/gardening/
22nd July 2017 9:22pm
Cristina says...
The oldest son has a job and for some reason he doesn't go and I change his career he still doesn't work how can I fix that??
30th April 2014 10:03pm
Playalot says...
Try evicting your family and then replacing them.
22nd July 2017 9:23pm
Minakie says...
Can teenagers get a profession too or only young adults?
1st December 2013 4:24am
Rebecca says...
Only adults can have professions but your teenages can have part time jobs though! Hope this helps :)

I find the part time jobs tricky though if you have generations because you can then sign your sims up for afterschool activities and these clash with most of the careers you can only have the graveyard one :(
25th January 2014 1:11pm
sickwithsin says...
Teens can do the skill-based self-employment careers (painting, sculpting, etc).
12th July 2014 9:16pm
kimberly rosenbohm says...
hey sims players I need some user names that play sims 3 pets or sims 3 seasons for we can be friends on there
2nd August 2018 11:14am
Elisha Cooper says...
My username is GETITGIRL1,I'd love to be your friend on sims.
24th August 2018 5:41am
Christina says...
Have you tried the astronomy career yet? It gives an opportunity to build something to control time I think when you hit level ten. Unfortunately my game was glitchy so I never found out how. Was wondering if you had tried it yet.
30th October 2013 1:17pm
Playalot says...
22nd July 2017 9:25pm
Dial says...
Are there any criminal professions (not careers) in any of the expansions. I am envisioning something similar to the firefighter profession only where you can start off as a pick pocket and eventually break into houses or businesses disable the security (once you get god enough at the job)and rob them sneakily blind. with you in control. I am making a evil house hold and thought this would be an awesome profession but do not see it listed above and was not sure if there was an expansions or a mod that would let me try a game with this.
24th May 2019 2:37am
Playalot says...
You could maybe try the Private Investigator from the DLC Ambitions. It is not a criminal profession however if you made your sim an evil kleptomaniac s/he could pickpocket and steal as he legit breaks into his clients homes using the professions game mechanics. The PI can already steal/take items for evidence in this profession so perhaps your sim could double-down on this.
Guide to this profession here: https://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/careers/ambitions/privateinvestigator.php
24th May 2019 9:45pm
dial says...
OOOOHHH very cool idea. Thanks for the suggestion Playalot I am giddy to try this out. I appreciate the input.
25th May 2019 12:10am
amalia says...
Hi, which careers gives actual reward items you can keep?
26th September 2019 5:55pm
Playalot says...
Just about all of them but just take a quick look at the individual career guides listed and linked above at the top of this page and you'll learn all you need to know.
27th September 2019 8:11pm
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