After my Sim reached level 10 in the Ghost Hunter profession* I noticed that his Job Experience bar reset, and began filling up again as he continued to perform his professional duties.  I couldn't help wondering: now what?  

Traditionally, no Sim job has ever had more than 10 levels since the earliest version of the game.  So why was the game encouraging me to maintain his job performance?  What would happen the next time he maxed out his Job Experience bar?

When my Ghost Hunter Sim hit level 10, he was awarded the Key to the City.  This is a silly little decorative item that was given to him by the mayor, who held a ceremony in his honor.  (You may remember this from my last post on the Ghost Hunter career track.)

The next time he maxed out his Job Experience bar, the mayor once again announced that she was holding a ceremony to honor him.  I woke him up from a sound sleep (curse those night shift hours, why can't ghosts haunt during the day?) and sent him down to see what the deal was.

Just like last time, random townie Sims had gathered in celebration. Some threw confetti, while others held up signs with the "ghost" icon on them.  He knelt, and the mayor bestowed upon him the "Paranormal Memento."  (He also got the "Neighborhood Hero" moodlet, which is +50 to mood for a whopping 4 days!)

This turned out to be a fairly large… diorama… thingie.  It's pictured above on the kitchen counter so that you can see the size.  (I obviously need to work out some kind of system for displaying stuff like this!)

The Paranormal Memento is useless, but kinda neat.  It's a spooky miniature graveyard, complete with miniature mausoleum, miniature spooky dead tree, and some miniature gravestones.  And it has actual moving fog effects, which is pretty cool!  

These little tchochkes seem to be analogous to the Talent Badge system from The Sims 2, except with actual things you can put in your house, instead of a dumb badge that only lives on your Sim's info panel.  Technically I suppose they fall into the same category as career rewards.  But unlike the actual career rewards in The Sims 2, these career rewards are a lot harder to obtain, and they don't actually do anything.  

(I miss the career rewards from The Sims 2, which you could get when you were only at level 5.  I especially miss the Cow Plant, which exists in The Sims 3 only as a small decorative item.)

My Sim's Job Experience bar reset again, but I'll tell you the truth, I'm getting pretty bored with hunting ghosts.  Although I suppose I need to suck it up and at least hunt one bar's worth more of ghosts, in the name of research!

* To recap the difference between a Career and a Profession: a Career involves a rabbit hole, so you can only manage your Sim using the drop-down menu on their queue action.  Professions are interactive, and were introduced with the Ambitions expansion pack.