A staple of The Sims franchise over the years has always been the different careers your sims can have. From doctor, lawyer, to style influencer, our complete career guide for The Sims 4 has everything you need to know!
Just like in real life, sims need jobs to earn money and survive. Your sim can choose from several part time jobs, temporary gigs, or they can dive headfirst into a full career. Some pay more than others!
Each job and career requires your sim to build a specific set of skills. Whatever you choose for your sim, it will surely affect their story and the way you play the game.
Of course, you can always cheat your way to the top with these Sims 4 career cheats.
How to Get a Job in The Sims 4
There are a few different ways to give your sims a job in the game. You can select the “Find a Job” option in the phone or a computer.
Find a Job by Phone
- Click the phone icon.
2. Click the Business icon
3. Click “Find a Job”
Find a Job by Computer
- Click the computer on your lot and click “Career”.
2. Click “Find a Job”
Whether you choose to find a job using the phone or the computer, both options will bring up the entire list of careers in the game including interactive careers as well as part time jobs. It will look like the screenshot below.
Here you can read each career’s description as well as what position your sim can start in, the hourly pay, and the hours and days they will work. This is different for every career and some careers pay more while others pay less. For example, a sim in the acting career will earn more than a barista. However, the barista will work less hours. It’s all about finding what works for your sim’s lifestyle!
Active Careers
Active careers came to the game with The Sims 4: Get to Work. Currently, there are 4 active careers in the game: Actor/Actress, Doctor, Scientist, and Detective. In an active career, you will have the option to join your sim at work or send them alone.
When you choose to join your sim, you will have a performance bar with number of tasks to complete underneath it in order to move the performance bar along. The further you move the performance bar, the better day your sims will have. This counts towards the overall career progress which indicates how close your sim is to a promotion.
A neat feature of the active careers is you have the option to stay late each day if you still need time to max out the performance bar. As long as you continually max out the performance bar or at least get close then you will be earning promotions in no time!
Work From Home
If you have The Sims 4: City Living installed, sims will have the option to work from home for most careers that are not part time or active. To do this is simple. About 2 hours before sims are supposed to leave for work, their phone will ring and a popup will show that gives you 3 options: send your sim to work, work from home, or use a vacation day.
When you choose to work from home, you will be give a few tasks to complete in order to have a successful work day. Be sure to complete these tasks each day in order to earn your full wage and to make progress towards a promotion.
Change How You’re Working
When your sims are away at work, you still have some say in how they perform. By default, sims will start each day by working normally. Their fun need will decrease at a normal rate and their mood will be rather plain.
There are 3 other options for how sims work: work hard, take it easy, socialize. Working hard will increase their career performance slightly faster while decreasing their fun need at a faster rate. Taking it easy won’t improve their performance, but their fun need will increase. If you choose to socialize, your sim’s social need will increase and they’ll meet new sims.
How to Get Promoted
Getting promoted in The Sims 4 takes work, but as long you do your best at work each day and complete your daily tasks and career level tasks, you’ll be climbing the career ladder in no time!
Each career has required skill levels you’ll need to reach in addition to daily tasks that you’ll need to complete. Do your best to achieve each skill level in addition to completing the daily tasks to increase your career performance quickly.
Complete List of Full Time Careers in The Sims 4
The number of careers in The Sims 4 grows with every expansion pack and we have the complete and most up to date list of Sims 4 careers right here for you to check out. We’ve listed the careers in alphabetical order.
Actor/Actress
The spotlight calls, the cameras are focused, and you are ready for your closeup. It is up to you to breathe energy into the words of the script and really make the characters come alive.
The acting career is an active one meaning you have the option to actively participate in the career each day or simply send your sim off to work.
To successfully work as an actor/actress in The Sims 4, you first need to join a talent agency. Once you join an agency, you will have the opportunity to select gigs to audition for. If you pass the audition, you will be able to work the gig, complete tasks, and get paid!
Astronaut
Who doesn’t dream of going to space? Become an astronaut and the galaxy will be your playground.
Career Branches: Space Ranger and Interstellar Smuggler
Skills: Fitness, Rocket Science
Daily Task: Play Chess or Workout
Your daily task will be to do a space mission. That’s right – a space mission every day so be sure to purchase a rocket ship for your lot.
Your sim will work more hours as an Interstellar Smuggler but they will also earn more simoleons!
Athlete
An athlete requires physical strength, speed, endurance, and intelligence. Start a career where enthusiastic fans will shout your name, wear your jersey, and remember your feats forever.
Career Branches: Professional Athlete and Bodybuilder
Skills: Fitness, Charisma
Daily Task: Workout
You can safely assume that your sim will need to work on their fitness skill for this career. Your sim will also need to work on their charisma skill in order to be promoted in the athlete career.
Your daily tasks will be to workout which can be done a number of ways including jogging and using exercise equipment.
Business Career
Synergy! Efficiency! Planfulness! If the mere sound of these industry buzzwords gets you buzzing, then a career in business might just be the right fit for you!
Career Branches: Management and Investor
The business career can be mundane, but it pays decently! Your sims will need to Fill Out Reports on the computer each day to stay in good standing. To get promoted, you will need to build up your sim’s charisma and logic skills.
Once you get promoted from level 4, you will have two career branches to choose from: management and investor. Your daily task in the management branch will be to make business calls from your sim’s cell phone. The daily task for the investor branch is to research stocks on the computer.
Both branches will require you to build up your sim’s logic skill and charisma skill in order to get promoted further.
Civil Designer
As a Civil Designer, get involved in planning and designing solutions to all kinds of environmental problems, and chat to your fellow Sims about how to make their world a better place to live.
Career Branches: Green Technician and Civic Planner
Included in The Sims 4: Eco Lifestyle, the Civil Designer career is a wonderful job for the sim that wants to have a direct impact on their world.
Skills: Handiness and Logic
Daily Task: Interview homeowners about utilities
Green Technician Branch
Be sure to develop the fabrication skill in order to be promoted in this branch. It will come naturally if you do your daily task of fabricating an eco-upgrade part each day. This can be done on the fabricating machine.
Civic Planner
Gain influence points each day to remain in good standing. To get promoted, your sim will need to work on their charisma and logic skill.
Conservationist
You’ve watched every nature documentary out there, and you know just how much the planet is in danger. From educating the public to performing research expeditions, you want to truly make a difference. Change won’t happen overnight, but keep at it and your hard work can lead to thriving ecosystems!
Career Branches: Environmental Manager and Marine Biologist
Introduced in The Sims 4: Island Living, the Conservationist career is a great way to make a positive impact on the world of Sulani.
Skill: Logic
Daily Task: Spread conservation awareness
As you progress through the Conservationist career, you will start to see the world of Sulani improve through more vibrant foliage and cleaner beaches and water!
Criminal
Not every Sim wants to play by the rules. You can make tons of Simoleons and have fun, too, as an outlaw.
Career Branches: Boss and Oracle
Skills: Mischief
Daily Task: Perform mischief interactions
As you can imagine, sims who have a bit of a dark side and enjoy being mischievous will do well as a career criminal! You will, of course, need to gain the mischief skill to get promoted in this career.
Once you reach level 6 of the criminal career, you’ll have the choice between Boss or Oracle. The boss branch requires the handiness skill in addition to mischief. The Oracle branch requires the programming skill on top of your already developing mischief skill.
Critic
Everyone has an opinion. But not everyone is paid to have it! Sims who feel they have superior judgement can enter the Critic Career. Whether it’s the foods or the arts, your Sim will have something to say about it, and others WILL listen.
Career Branches: Arts Critic and Food Critic
Skills: Writing
Daily Task: Writing
Introduced with The Sims 4: City Living, the Critic career has the option to work from home. Your sim can complete various tasks at home to earn their simoleons rather than leaving for the day.
As your progress up the ladder, you can choose between being an art critic or a food critic. The art critic branch will require the painting skill while the food critic branch requires the cooking and gourmet cooking skill.
Culinary
Anyone can make dinner or mix a drink at home. The Culinary career is for those who want to take it to another level and make money doing it.
Career Branches: Chef and Mixologist
Skills: Mixology, Cooking
Daily Task: Prepare food or mix drinks
Your sim can either choose to pursue the chef branch or become a professional mixologist. The chef branch is exciting because once you reach level 8 of the career you can start writing your own cook books! On the other hand, the mixologist branch will require you to also gain the charisma skill.
Detective
Do you want to be the type of cop who’s never really off-duty? If so, this job’s for you and we’ve got the rewards to support that unhealthy lifestyle! Unlock outfits like your Police Uniform to wear as pajamas. Teach your teen a valuable lesson for that C+ by dressing them in Prisoner Coveralls and transforming their bedroom into a virtual jail cell complete with Prison Bar Walls and a decorative Security Camera. As a bonus, you can keep an eye on them with your very own One-Way Mirror.
Included in The Sims 4: Get to Work, the Detective career is an active career and we have found it to be super fun! You’ll meet many sims, get to travel to different worlds and neighborhoods investigating crime scenes, interviewing sims, and searching for suspects.
Doctor
Who doesn’t want to be held responsible for another Sim’s health and well-being? A Doctor who can advance in the medical ranks will find themselves rewarded with objects like a Standing Surgical Light and a Full-Sized Skeleton to brighten up the home nursery. To make the deal extra sweet, you’ll be able to unlock your very own Hospital Scrubs and Patient Gowns so you can play Doctor at home!
Also included in The Sims 4: Get to Work, the Doctor career is an active career meaning you can go to work with your sim each day, if you choose to, and treat patients, give shots, and perform surgeries. A neat perk of the doctor career is once you reach level 6, you’ll be able to determine the gender of a pregnant sim’s baby!
Education
Shape tomorrow’s minds with a career in Education. Though, at times, challenging, there are few jobs quite as rewarding.
Career Branches: Administrator and Professor
Skills: Logic, Research and Debate, Charisma
Daily Task: Grade Homework
Introduced in The Sims 4: Discover University, the education career is great for sims that are interested in molding the minds of young sims!
Engineer
There are many problems in the world that require modern and creative solutions. Take your love of technology and pursue a career in engineering to solve the world’s problems with computers and mechanical gadgetry!
Career Branches: Computer Engineer and Mechanical Engineer
Skills: Robotics, Programming, Handiness
Daily Task: Tinker at Robotics Station
Also added with The Sims 4: Discover University, the Engineer career requires lots of work at the robotics station.
Entertainer
You’ve wanted your name in lights from the time you could spell it, maybe even before. Answer your calling and claim your fame as a professional entertainer, either making the audience laugh with you or melting their hearts with your melodies.
Career Branches: Musician and Comedian
Skills: Guitar, Violin, or Piano, Comedy
Daily Task: Write Jokes or Practice Music
If your sim has the Musical Genius or Joke Star aspiration then this is the career for them! Building up your sim’s comedy or music skills will not only help their career, but it will also help them gain satisfaction points and boost their mood!
Freelancer
Available Trades: Crafter, Digital Artist, Paranormal Investigator, Programmer, Writer
Be your own boss! Set your own work schedule! Sounds good, right? If you’re both self-disciplined and determined, a career as a freelancer may be the right path for you. Multiple trades available to work within; agencies are standing by to connect you with eager clients today!
Perhaps the most unique career option in The Sims 4, the Freelancer career lets your sims exclusively work from home and make their own schedule. Once you choose the Freelancer career, you can choose which trade to pursue from the list above. It’s up to you to choose which gigs to take and how often to take them. The Freelancer career is truly what you make it!
Gardener
You’ve always had a green thumb, but now you think you can earn some green with it. You’ll start by doing a lot of planting and gardening, but keep at it, and you can find success in the science, or art, in doing so.
Career Branches: Botanist and Floral Designer
Skills: Gardening
Daily Task: Harvest Harvestables
Introduced in The Sims 4: Seasons, the gardener career allows you to choose between going to work every day or working from home. You will need to have a garden at home as the daily task is to harvest each day. Having a producing garden will also help your sim make lots of extra simoleons!
Interior Decorator
Being an Interior Decorator is about two things:
- Having a good eye for design
- Building relationships with Clients.
Having people skills and some artistic vision will lead to a bright future and possible recognition. You may start small with some simple home renovations, but eventually with enough hard work, bigger Clients and buildings could get you the recognition you deserve!
The Interior Decorator career is the only career to be added to the game via a game pack – The Sims 4: Dream Home Decorator. Similar to the Acting career, the Interior Decorator career is dependent on you choosing gigs to work in order to make money. You will have the option to accompany your sims or send them on the gig alone.
As you successfully fulfill your clients desires, your reputation as a designer will improve and you will have more high paying gigs to choose from!
Law
Sims who pursue a career in law are in a unique position to help others with their legal problems, champion causes, and further the public good (or not). That fancy pavcheck doesn’t hurt either!
Career Branches: Judge and Private Attorney
Skills: Charisma, Research and Debate
Daily Task: File Legal Documents
Added with The Sims 4: Discover University, the law career allows your sim to either go to work each day or work from home. You will spend lots of time working on your Research and Debate skill so if you’d like your sim to pursue a career in law, get them started early!
Military
Physical fitness and discipline will be the keys to success in the Military career. Rising through the ranks will not come easy unless you can demonstrate your physical prowess as well as your ability to recruit and be a leader. Will you pursue the path of a Grand Marshal, or will you follow a more secretive path to uncover what others might be hiding?
Career Branches: Officer and Covert Operator
Skills: Fitness
Daily Task: Workout, Spar with Other Sims
Added with The Sims 4: Strangerville, the military career gives your sims the option to work from home. As you can imagine, sims will need to work on their fitness skill and depending on what branch they choose they will also need to build their logic or charisma skill.
Painter
Create your own world with a few strokes of a brush! Make a place for ourself in the art world with hyperreal masterpieces or abstract works of unsettling beauty.
Career Branches: Master of the Real and Patron of the Arts
Skills: Painting
Daily Task: Paint paintings
To become a successful painter you’re going to need to paint, of course! The Master of the Real branch will require your sim to also build their logic skill while the Patron of the Arts branch will require sims to build their charisma skill.
Politician
Join a life of public service! From protesting against the unjust, to gathering donations for good causes, or even collecting the occasional bribe as a “means to an end”, Politics is always interesting.
Career Branches: Politician and Charity Organizer
Skills: Charisma
Daily Task: Successfully promote a cause
Included in The Sims 4: City Living, the Politician career gives you the option to work from home. As in real life, your sims will need to build a strong charisma skill to succeed in this career.
Salaryperson
Dedicating your life to the Farseer Data Corporation and putting its needs above all else is just the first step for a Salaryperson. Stability, respect, and endless hours of work are in your future. Advance to be a Supervisor or a Expert in your field all while enjoying morning commutes and evening Karaoke.
Career Branches: Expert and Supervisor
Added in The Sims 4: Snowy Escape, the Salaryperson career is great for sims that crave a stable life. Your sim will work long hours, but make decent pay.
Scientist
Calling all brains! Are you the nerdy type who aspires to one day wear tin foil on your head and decorate your studio with huge bubbly tanks? A Scientist who proves they’ve got the gray matter to change the world as we know it can unlock new outfits like the UFO hunter or objects like a swanky Chemistry Lab for concocting new inventions and serums.
The Scientist career is another active career that came with The Sims 4: Get to Work expansion pack. Your sims will spend lots of time analyzing chemicals and inventing things. The Scientist career is interesting because you will actually be able to use the items you invent on the job so be sure to try this career out for yourself!
Secret Agent
Live life unnoticed as a covert operative. From infiltrating enemy headquarters to the art of interrogation, the more you learn, the less you’ll be known.
Career Branches: Diamond Agent and Villain
Skills: Charisma, Logic
Daily Task: Browse Intelligence on Computer, Perform Friendly Interactions
Who doesn’t want to be a secret agent? Sims that join this career will need to be be well-connected and smart. Once they reach the Diamond Agent level, you will need to maintain romantic relationships in addition to building your charisma and logic skills. On the other hand, the Villain branch is pretty self-explanatory. As you can imagine, you will need to build your mischief skill by performing mischief interactions.
Social Media
What’s trending? Where’s the best food in town? Who’s the most interesting celebrity?
Start a career in Social Media to be the person that answers these questions for their followers. Blog and check-in at venues to keep followers coming back for more.
Career Branches: Internet Personality and Public Relations
Skills: Charisma, Comedy or Mischief
Daily Task: Update Social Media Profile
The Social Media career was introduced with The Sims 4: City Living. In this career, you have the option to work from home which is super convenient since most of the tasks you will need to complete can be done on your phone or computer.
Once you reach 100 followers, you’ll have the choice between becoming an Internet Personality or pursuing a career in Public Relations. The Internet Personality branch requires you to continue growing your following while the Public Relations branch requires you to write and build your charisma skill.
Style Influencer
By identifying the right colors, the trendy patterns, the unseen ensemble pairings, and identifying the right person to act as a vehicle for such insight, the Style Influencer can twist the world towards a more cohesive end.
Career Branches: Trend Setter and Stylist
Skills: Charisma, Writing, Painting, Photography
Daily Task: Discuss Outfits or Discuss Fashion
Added to the base game with a patch update, The Style Influencer career allows you to send your sim off to work or they can work from home. You have the potential to earn a pretty great living at this career if you still with it! It’s great for sims with creative aspirations as you will need to build creative skills like painting and photography.
Tech Guru
Who needs college with programming skills like yours? Opportunity is out there, ripe for the picking, and you and your big brain are ready to pluck away.
Career Branches: eSport Gamer and Start-up Entrepreneur
Skills: Programming, Video Gaming
Daily Task: Practice Programming or Play Video Games
You can earn a great living with a career as a Tech Guru. You will, of course, need to build your programming skill which offers you a few ways to earn income on the side which can be very lucrative.
Writer
Get paid to express your ideas with beautiful turns of phrase, and words-wonderful
Career Branches: Author and Journalist
Skills: Writing
Daily Task: Read Books, Write Books
The writing career can be very rewarding. Not only will you make money each day from your job, but if you write and publish books on the side then the royalties your sim will be paid can easily exceed your salary. I’ve even had sims build wealth by just writing and publishing books rather than having a formal career.
Part Time Jobs in The Sims 4
For sims that need extra cash or the sim that only needs to work a few hours a week, a part time job is a great option! You can see which jobs are part time by the double briefcase icon next to the career when choosing which career to join.
The hourly rate is decent, but sims will only be working a few hours per week. So, part time jobs are great for high school and college kids, as well as adults or retirees looking for a little extra cash without the big commitment.
Babysitter
Get paid to play with kids-and keep them safe and all that. You get to be in charge….
Offered as a part time career, being a baby sitter allows you to choose your hours. You can work in the mornings or evenings. The babysitter career is also exclusively a weekend job which makes it great for sims looking to earn a little extra income.
Barista
If you love hanging out at the coffee house and already know all the fancy drink names, why not get paid for it?
Skills: Mixology
The Barista career allows sims to only work 2 hours each morning Monday through Friday. This is great for students that are less focused on partying!
Diver
Grab your snorkel and get to work! Being a diver is all about exploring the depths of the ocean floor.
Included with The Sims 4: Island Living, the part time Diver job pays really well for a weekend gig! This is great for students living on the island.
Fast Food Employee
Earn a little spending money serving food to people you know. And wiping up after them, for a while.
As a fast food employee sims can either choose to work from 6am-10am or 5pm-9pm. You will need to build your cooking and charisma skill in order to be promoted.
Fisherman
Relax by the water and let the fish come to you. It’s all about how you catch’em (hook, line, and sinker) when you’re a Fisherman!
Skills: Fishing
Introduced in The Sims 4: Island Living, your sims will be working Monday-Friday and earning decent pay starting at $33/hour.
Lifeguard
Sunscreen, whistles, and the occasional shark are all part of everyday life as a Lifeguard. Love swimming, safety, and yelling at rambunctious children trying to drown each other? This is the part-time career for you!
Another great part time career added with The Sims 4: Island Living, sims will need to work on their fitness skill in order to be promoted as a Lifeguard.
Manual Laborer
Do you find muscles appealing? How about money? Pursue a part-time career as a Manual Laborer and you can create, get paid, and become buff (all at the same time)!
A great option for teenage and adult sims, the Manual Laborer career pays pretty well for a part time job. To be promoted sims will need to build up their gardening skill.
Retail Employee
Set your sights on the future by launching your career in sales. From creating displays to disarming customers, you’re on your way to perks, discounts and sweet Simoleons.
As a Retail Employee, sims will be working more hours than most other part time careers. They will also need to build up their charisma skill in order to be promoted and earn more simoleons.
Simfluencer
Got a webcam? Got a hint of personality? Be a Simfluencer and big companies will search you out to help shill their latest wares.
To start making reviews, find Lifestyle objects such as Chess Board, Painting Easel, etc.
Added with The Sims 4: High School Years, the Simfluencer part time career is great for students because it doesn’t conflict with school hours or after school activities. With 3 career levels, this is a great option for students looking to save up for university.
Video Game Streamer
Playing video games for fun and profit! Be a Video Game Streamer where slick moves and comedy basics combine and you are the star of the (virtual) show!
The Video Game Streamer career is the second part time job added with The Sims 4: High School Years. Like the Simfluencer career, it doesn’t interfere with a teenage sim’s school schedule or after school activities.
How to Quit a Job in The Sims 4
Sometimes you may not want your sims to work any longer or you may want them to pursue another career, a less stressful part time job, or take their sidehustle full time. Nevertheless, the way sims quit their job is the same.
Select the sim who’s career you’d like to quit. Click on the phone and go to the career panel. You will see an option to “Quit Job”. When you click it a window will pop up asking if you’re sure. If you are, click yes. Viola! Your sim is now unemployed.
How to Retire in The Sims 4
Retiring a sim is similar to quitting their job. However, a sim must be an Elder in order to retire.
Select the sim who you’d like to retire. Click the phone and go to the career panel. You will see an option to “Retire”. Once you click yes in the pop up window, your sim has successfully retired! Retired sims receive a small portion of their previous pay each day similar to a royalty. It’s not much but it will be higher if they retire at a higher career level.
Conclusion
Working in The Sims 4 is essential to building wealth in the game. Unless, you use money cheats. From active careers, work from home jobs, and part time careers, there are many options when it comes to choosing a career for your sims. This complete guide to careers in The Sims 4 will help you choose which career is best for your sims.
