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Professional experience is paid work experience that is relevant to a specific role or industry. Mostly, professional experience applies to those who have accrued experience through full-time work in a field where related education is a requirement or in a field where an individual must have a professional license.
Professional experience can also refer to experience gained that is unpaid, such as volunteer work, research projects in college, and a few other examples. However, most of the time professional experience applies to paid work experience in a specific field.
Professional experience points to hard skills, soft skills, and knowledge that is required to execute a specific job or position. Some common skills that relate to professional experience include:
Problem-solving abilities
Attention-to-detail
Critical thinking
Team collaboration
Leadership abilities
Communication
Conflict resolution
Having professional experience is almost always mandatory in career advancement situations. The more professional experience an individual has, the more likely they will be promoted or be able to take a new position at a different company that comes with a more senior job title, higher salary, and better employee benefits.

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