self-employed home security guard

In all seriousness, it depends on your avenue of focus. Some history majors manage to make it into business. For instance, Carly Fiorina, was a senior business executive, rising to be the CEO of Hewlett-Packard, and she was a medieval studies major. Which makes sense, given Hewlett-Packard

Other people may work as a consultant for international development firms, who typically work with governments and local organizations in developing countries. This is especially for those with a regional focus, such as Africa or Central Asia or Latin America. If you have a deep passion for Thailand, but you have say an electrical engineer background, this might still be something you can do.

There's also work possibilities in the government. Again, if you have a regional focus, the Department of State, USAID, and the intelligence agencies look for people with a history specialization, especially if its in an area of interest (and given that most historians also have a language background in their area of study, this is a double plus good).

All in all, there are many opportunities for unemployment for history majors outside of academia. Just not that many

History continues to be a popular undergrad degree for lawyers, as it has many transferable skills such as distilling multiple "primary sources" (cases) into a coherent written argument.

If you're really out of options you can always be the president. ;)

Government or private firms employ a number of history majors in a variety of different analyst positions. Almost every think tank or policy advocate will employ someone with some sort of historical background to assist with policy writings, and quite a few NGO's in my area have hired recent history grads.

The issue with history, as well as the rest of the Humanities, is that there aren't cookie cutter jobs open to them outside of graduation. Furthermore, academia, the obvious choice for many humanities graduates, is incredibly difficult and competitive. The humanities, more so than many other majors besides maybe the social sciences, educates you not just in your field, ie History or English Lit., but also in writing, analysis, comprehension, etc. The job of the humanities graduate is that he/she has to actively pursue jobs and not just send out a carpet resume to your top 15 firms.

On your last point, I don't know. Honestly, I can't see how you'd quantify a "deep personal interest" in history. How do you present that to a potential employer? How is that useful to them? If it is useful to them why would they employ you over an actual history grad?

Hope this helps in some way and my apologies for my rambling. It is way to damn early.

Started career as a Museum Director / Curator and ended up as a City Manager. Did federal and state speech and grant writing in between.

I was a music history major, and spent 25 years in the music industry as a sales manager for classical/ jazz/world music/ blues/ children's music for a major record company. Besides dealing with the classical, etc. buyers of major record chains, most of whom were also very knowledgeable about music, I also wrote liner notes, proof-read liner notes by others, participated in A&R meetings, etc. I called on my musical history knowledge every day, although I had to supplement my formal education about music in general with a specialized knowledge of recordings as well, which was the really fun part for me. At one time, I was one of the experts in the world on classical recordings, and was perfectly comfortable talking with world-class recording producers and musical artists at the highest levels about the most precise details of the classical recording process from conception to recording to editing to packaging to distribution to sales to marketing to Grammys.

Alas, the music industry imploded, and there are almost no record stores anymore, so now I own an ice cream shop. I don't use my musical history education much anymore (other than to answer music related questions on this and a couple of other subreddits), but I have a 200 disc CD player in my shop with all kinds of CDs in it on shuffle play, so you'll hear a crazy random mix of music when you visit.

It has also rubbed off on my son, who is a talented teenage singer and actor. While his friends are all into the "pop" musicals like Wicked and Andrew Lloyd Webber, he's into studying Sondheim, Gershwin, and the classic musicals.

Despite the fact that I no longer make my living in history, I still use my training every day. After I got out of college, I realized that my music history education prepared me to understand historical scholarship in other areas as well, and so history in general, and especially war history, has become a fascinating area for me, although only as a hobby. I read a lot, and tend to alternate a fictional novel with a historical book. The next history book on my agenda is Anthony Beevor's "Berlin." Studying history has also made me far more politically active, and I feel my opinions have more value because they evolve from a sense of historical knowledge rather than current ideology or propaganda.

History student (joint honours with International Relations) at St Andrews here - when I was applying to universities a few of years ago, I was told that the most common destination for history graduates is accountancy - I'm not sure this is still the case, but it highlights the transferrable skills that history degrees provide.

As has been previously mentioned, analyst positions are a good fit, since source analysis is a huge part of the degree, along with being hardworking and the ability to manage your time well. The last one is important, I only have 4 hours of contact time a week, the rest is self-study. This type of teaching, while no means exclusive to history, breeds motivated graduates, since there's no one to push you except yourself.

I'm personally looking to go into academia, at least for a few years, with the goal of getting a PhD, which will probably entail me tutoring undergrads. From there, I'd like to go into the diplomatic or civil service, both of which recruit from the humanities. The intelligence agencies (in an analyst capacity) would also be a good fit, but I've expressed views on the internet that probably lean too far to the left for me to get in there.

History degrees are also a good base degree to have - one of my housemates is doing history to degree level, but hopefully going on to do a postgraduate law conversion. While he's always wanted to be a lawyer, it is a safer bet to do history first, because of the transferrable skills I mentioned. This trumps your average law degree in the UK, since the bottleneck for jobs comes after uni - so if he doesn't land a job in law, he's got a solid all-round degree to fall back on.

I also volunteer with the National Trust when I'm not studying, and I started that when I was 15, without any formal history qualifications, other than a GCSE in a totally unrelated era (I studied the 1800s and the blitz, the house I volunteer at is Tudor). While it is volunteering, and thus unpaid, they simply look for people with a passion for history.

So, to summarise, History is a good all-round degree because of the skills you pick up along the way. In terms of actual career opportunities, there are a wide range of options, just not in the current job market. A strong (first/2:1) history degree from a top university is as good a position as any. ^I ^hope...

You might be surprised where history majors find themselves, the answer is pretty much everywhere. I did do some work in local museums but it's typically very hard to break into that profession for a paying gig. It usually requires some sort of museum certification post-bachelor, which I may still get.

It was a very different path from history but I am a Visual Data Specialist for Google Maps. Even though I would argue that nobody really needs history for that sort of job, I never would have developed a love for maps if it wasn't for my major. And I feel like my major has taught me enough about political and physical maps, data points and vertices, reading lat/long, so the only learning curve for me was translating this knowledge into technical ability.

I think that it's less about history insomuch as it's about the passion that's ignited while studying it. Do you love talking about history with your friends? You might like teaching. Hands-on work? Museums. Maps? GIS. Foreign studies? Peace corps. Writing? Law. History is kind of a spring board for what you're passionate about and what you want to make a living doing.

I work for a multinational bank, in a role that has nothing to do with history. My current boss has a history degree too, although he's not the guy who hired me so it's not a case of historians sticking together. But when work is quiet we'll discuss historical topics.

So basically, a history degree can be just another liberal arts degree which can get you a variety of office jobs.

I would note it took me a year of joblessness and another year as a temp to land the career-track bank position, though.

I have a Bachelors in History, with a concentration in Medieval Europe. I currently work as a network engineer for an automotive parts supplier. I also worked for $tech bench in $Big Box store for a couple years while I was in college.

As many others have pointed out, a degree in History is great to have if you are going to continue your education.

Many jobs I have applied to wanted a Bachelors; they didn't care what it was in.

I have a BFA in Historic Preservation, currently working as an Architectural Historian for a consulting firm. I work mostly with energy companies (natural gas, transmission lines, wind energy).

I have dual BAs in History and Political Science. I went a state school in my home state after attending community college my first two years (so no glorious school credentials), but they run such a stellar program at the final college I attended that it helped my life greatly. I had to write an undergrad thesis and some courses involved going out and interviewing people for living history etc. I relayed all that into a job as a reporter at a local newspaper within months of my graduation. This job was terrible and started at $9.50 per hour (capped at $10!), but I worked it for two years, got nominated for some journalism awards (never won, sadly) and acquired some valuable experience.

I then began looking for jobs at universities because I no longer wanted to work in the private sector, and after much searching I found a job that matched my skill set in fundraising research at my old college, applied and got it with both my historical research experience and journalism background! This was 7 years ago now. The job entails researching and compiling reports (mostly via online databases, but paper records on rare occasion) on individual, foundation and corporate donors for the college. I also do predictive modelling based on internal database info we have to find what groups of people are the likely next best donors.

While working this job, I went back to college and got my master's degree in history, just passed my thesis defense last month! I intend to go on and get a PhD in history eventually, but I'm not sure if I will become a professor. It is really hard to get a tenure track post these days, and I learned, via casual mention of my major professor last month, that I only make a few thousand less than she does as a tenure track professor! It's a sad state of affairs that someone with as much skill, knowledge and experience as she has is not getting a higher order of pay.

Edit: Should add, my wife (who I met in a US history class 11 years ago now) also has a BA in history. She went on to get a master's in library science and now works as an academic librarian at a private college. So that's another avenue.

My grandfather is an architect who worked for the National Parks Service. When he was in the middle east doing restorative projects, he worked with several historians who were also employed by the NPS. So, there's that.

Overall, I think non-academic careers for individuals with grad degrees in history tend to be very personalized since they draw on skills and interest that the person has cultivated outside of their academic studies. In short, one tends to gain a career in spite of rather than because of having a grad degree in history. I recently completed my PhD and am currently looking at switching to a non-academic career and have friends doing similar things. Personally, I'm looking at jobs in university administration.

Well, I work in conference organising; and not just for history but in about any field imaginable (or at least the ones with the requisite funds). Academic services seems to me to be a growing industry, though mainly publishing and conferences at the moment.

I heard that Game development teams are keen to take on History grads for developing a rich back-story for the game which would be a hell of a job!

Fantastic article on exactly this question.

https://chronicle.com/article/What-Doors-Does-a-PhD-in/135448/

At least some secretive government organisations employ historians because they discovered that when everything is secret, you can forget your own history pretty quickly. Even if much of the work can't be released to the public for many years (or even at all), they would rather have it recorded somewhere than lose it.

These positions would be hard to get, but pretty fascinating, I'm sure.

There are lots of interesting jobs in libraries and archives that allow a historian to work on preservation of documents, curating exhibits, organizing and facilitating the research of others. In the US, an LIS (library and information sciences) degree is usually needed.

MA here, I work at an antiquarian bookstore as book historian

I'd imagine it's a pretty hard position to get, but

http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/team/front_office.jsp?c_id=la

The Dodgers have a team historian...

A friend of mine has been a 'hired gun' for litigation to purposes. Largely to provide evidence for the historical/cultural importance of Dakota burial sites threatened by development.

Conversely, are there any similar career options for people who weren't educated formally in history but have a deep personal interest in a subject?

Book author. There are a lot of amateur / Pro-Am authors who do something during the day and write books on subjects they have an intense interest in on the side. If successful, it can lead to a career in writing. If not, well they've at least got a book out there that may help others study that particular topic.

I'm an IT consultant by day and have a degree in aviation maintenance management, but research as a hobby with 2-3 books in the works on historic US Navy ships. The work in having to study and understand complex organization structures and systems (US Military) has been a useful parallel to the work I do in understanding medium organizational structures of clients. The exacting nature of both aviation and information technology can make for a good foundation of being precise and thorough with history.

The subjects I'm writing on, such as USN WWII camouflage, are too niche to make a living off of, but are important ones where no really great work has been published, so it's "good" work and could lead to a good retirement activity and income, at least.

Slightly off-topic, but my friend in Amsterdam received her phd in art history, which many assume is a one-way ticket to the fryer at mcdonalds. But she now works as an assessor of belle epoque and art deco furnishings for a major auction house. Makes loads too.. as near as I can tell.

When I worked in Congress I dealt with historians several times a week. The Congressional Research Service is an arm of the Library of Congress which exists specifically to inform Members of Congress and their staffs.

Citizens do not have direct access to it, however if you have a problem with a legislative remedy, and you contact your representative about it, their staff will use CRS on your behalf in the event that the congressional office can't answer a related question through their own research. CRS are essentially historians on call, you send them a question and within a few days they will send you a detailed report about whatever it is you needed to know, ranging from judicial precedent or tax law to even something as mundane as the price of apples.

I have a BA in history and an MA in American studies. I work as a systems analyst in a government office. I frequently have to make written proposals for system changes, referencing the ever-changing federal and state regulations. I'm a bit of a computer geek so that helps the systems analyst side, but my academic background helps with writing proposals that can be understood by lay people.

My advice to people-- history, government, and humanities are great fields to study, but make sure you pick up other skills you can combine with your writing/research skills to make you even more marketable.

What level of schooling do you have in mind with this question?

With any field the more you narrow your expertise, the more you're going to narrow your job options. Staying interdisciplinary will help a bit in not locking you down, and will allow you to tap into fields you might not have thought about previously.

Say you're tremendously interested in the history of medicine. You can pair that with coursework in public health to put you in a place where consulting with an NGO is still very much on the table.

Or if your field requires you to be proficient in a foreign language (which I think you should expect from any PhD program) you can leverage your language skills and cultural competences for work outside of the academy.

They key to all of this isn't necessarily what your field of study teaches you, but that your field of study has given you the ability to learn and adapt to situations the market is going to put you in

I will continue to argue until I'm blue in the face about the usefulness of a Liberal Arts education, STEM folks might have it easier, but not by much.

Have not seen it mentioned yet, but if your interested in potential career paths for anyone with a history degree, a must read book is Public History: Essays From the Field. Basically the book discusses the practice of public history and the many forms it takes. The book should provide you with an idea of the type of work historians do from being manuscript curators to doing contract history. This work is great in my opinion because it accommodates varied perspectives and interests. The twenty-six essays that make up the book provide an introduction to the varieties of work in which public historians are engaged. I think this compilation could provide you with some great info, or if nothing else, a starting point for understanding how historical skills can be applied outside academia.

I have a history-major friend who works for public broadcasting as a producer. He organizes and orchestrates the creation of educational television material, much of it on American historical figures.

Got my undergrad in History in December, 2013 and I just got hired at an insurance company....so keep your options open.

Like people said, it depends on your focus. I double majored in History and Journalism, both really tied in well with my career in news. When I started out in the archives department at one of the major networks, we had to take a news test; questions included naming two significant events from each decade of the 20th century, 20th century American and foreign leaders, and political terms. Since moving up to production I've found myself dipping into material I learned in my American history courses among others.

A group of my friends in grad school put together their own company focussed on writing histories for local schools, companies and other institutions. The people in the company were a mix of History and English majors who all had MA degrees with at least some historical focus. They are actually doing pretty well for themselves, and have produced a number of histories, which end up being published books for fairly narrow interest groups.

So many great answers here. Like to add mine nevertheless (PhD in Medieval History, working as Webserver Security Expert)

As a historian you learn to look at incomplete and uncertain sources. You have to make judgements on unstable grounds. And the ability to live with uncertainty and build upon it is something what the hard sciences have a hard time coping with. But life in general is hardly ever black and white, information is always incomplete and your perspective is usually lacking. As a historian (or humanities scholar in general) you are built to work and thrive in such an environment.

In my case, I love working with people and I love working with computers. Very often, the engineers around me have a hard time communicating with the customers and when the customers talks to them, they have a hard time understanding the soft non-techie speak that is very much in the air and often very vague. I have been told I am an excellent translator because I am able to talk in both languages. Love that.

This post sort of begs the question as to what/who we define as a "historian". Is someone with a history major who works in a totally unrelated field still a historian? What if someone has a graduate degree in history but works in another field, is s/he a historian? Are you only a historian if your work directly requires a knowledge/application of historical research?

Depending on the state you live in, it is often necessary to have an historian on retainer to do certain remodel or construction jobs. I have, in the past, done some freelance work for a large real estate development firm that basically paid me to explain how historically insignificant certain buildings / statues / other structures were. My papers were then submitted to whatever planning board required.

CIA also hires historians quite a bit. If I had not been raised in a religious household and got my degree sooner, I might have tried a stint at the CIA. There are also military historian positions with the military.

I stopped doing real estate work because I fucking hated the idea that I was helping a large corporation destroy minor pieces of town history. I think the worst I felt was when I helped them destroy a 100 year old church.

That is all.

I dated a girl with a masters in history and she works as a researcher at a broadcasting/content creation company. I assume there are plenty of research-based positions outside of academia.

(I assume this question is exempt from the usually sources rule?)

historic preservation & historic reconstruction.

They had two ex-history students at the information event of my university. One of them was worked at the local theater and the other was working for the European Union.

These two, the professors and the personnel that were present at this event told me that most of the people who studied history probably won't get a job that really involves history. They will however use the skills they learned while studying history: critical thinking, analysis of sources, etc.

BA and MA in History, BS in Microbiology, now a Patent Agent practicing in a law firm. I still love studying history (and also literature - basically reading in general) but fell back on my stem background to make a living, since I wanted to get married and had big loans to pay back (all gone now!).

History has helped me by teaching me to read vast amounts and digest key points quickly - a skill that is very useful when digesting a stack of patents in a limited amount of time. Also being able to write quickly and to frame arguments in a lucid way is a huge plus in patent law.

I love history and would love to go for a PhD, but I struggle with languages mightily and my interests have changed significantly over time. Maybe if I can get German and French both mastered some day ...

I run into a decent number of historians working in politics. It's pretty useful to have a good knowledge of the history of a relevant policy area if you are making decisions about it, or trying to do research.

History Major here....work in Gov. Contracting as a Tech Writer. Life didn't go as planned. The economy and all...

History here (Australia), is studied initially as part of an Arts (humanities) bachelor degree. That's effectively the most basic degree you can get, and history is one of a large selection of subject areas offered within the degree. Doing an Arts degree is either about doing a basic degree to prepare for serious postgrad research degrees, or the degree to do to show you have a degree effectively. Those that go on to further research tend to end up working somewhere in the field, either teaching, research, archeology, curating, and I've known a couple to go into types of forensics as well etc.

The majority of people take these initial degrees and hit the workforce in one way or another, and their employers don't generally care what subjects were studied specifically, it's more just considered a sign that you are literate, somewhat intelligent, disciplined enough to complete a tertiary program, and adult enough to fit into a workplace culture. The public service here is a good example of that type of workplace, but equally business is just as common.

The number of people who end up using their history degrees in terms of doing work actually related to history is far lower than than those who don't. Personally I did my Arts degree, then a Law degree, then practiced for a while (I've literally never had anyone even look into the content of my Arts degree past checking my grades), then went back to do a Masters in education, and now I actually do teach history (and law) and am much happier in life.

I really dislike the whole 'humanities degrees are useless' thing reddit has going on generally. It has never been my experience to be the case. The number of people working in their selected field is generally lower than in a focused STEM degree, but that's not surprising given the different degree structure's and focal points. An Arts degree is as useful as a basic Science degree. In either case postgrad work is usually required to go on and actually work in your specific chosen field of interest, both are preparatory degrees designed to get you ready for that extra work, or to give you a recognised degree that is just going to tick the 'has a degree' box when looking for work.

I'm a history major currently working in the fiber arts industry. My father is an historian and was a museum director and, briefly, high school history teacher. Pro tip: you'll spend much more time dealing with high school students than actual history so you really need to love being an educator.

There are opportunities for people with curatorial backgrounds in auction houses and as appraisers or antiques dealers. Keep in mind, though, that from a preservationist point of view you may do some cringe-worthy things. (It's more profitable to cut up and frame pages from a lot of old books than it is to keep that book intact.)

A lot of museums can't afford to have staff working on everything that needs doing. The nature of most grants and a lot of large private donations is that they come with an expectation that a large gift will eventually translate into self-sufficiency. It's very rarely the case that a non-profit pays for itself through programs. In many cases, the changes it would need to make in order to do so would compromise an organization's mission. What this usually means is that it's easier to get funding for a sexy new project than it is to get the cash to keep the lights on and the staff paid. What does this mean for employment? Many institutions are far more likely to hire a contractor to take on a project than they are to hire another staff member. Restoration projects to buildings or collections, the creation of new interpretation materials, and even day-to-day curatorial work are very often the work of outside contractors. You need a proven track record, good connections, and the ability to market yourself well. Working in the trades doesn't hurt either, especially in masonry and finishing carpentry. Theoretically, those are skills that could me marketable outside of museums, too, especially in places with a lot of beautiful historic houses owned by wealthy folks who want to take care of them.

I'm a historian and I chose the prestigious career path of diner waitress. I'm applying to graduate school in historic preservation, though.

I have a history degree and am in the DC area working in the education field. I studied a critical language so that I could one day study history in the field, but decided on the non profit track instead. The ability to communicate well in writing and understand how different groups interact with each other are skills I developed while getting my degree and are the reason I have a job right now.

I mean a lot of history majors on the Hill and in a lot of different government agencies because the ability to communicate well is definitely something you'll need in whatever you do.

I'm at the annual meeting for the American Association for State and Local Historians right now. Every state, many towns and counties have historic preservation commissions or offices. This generates a need for people trained in history to make regulations, ensure compliance and develop policy related to preservation of local history, especially architecture or other built spaces.

I myself am an archaeologist, but my company also has some historians on staff. We do a lot of compliance work, for instance when a major corporation wants to develop an area protected by historic preservation rules. We do the background research and field inspections and are the experienced and well-informed middleman between the developer and the government history office, whatever level it might be at.

EDIT: I should add that in many states an advanced degree is necessary to sign off on these kinds of projects. An MA is often enough but I believe some states require a PhD for the head of the consulting firm.

Someone may have already mentioned it, but it should also be noted that it somewhat depends on what country your degree is from.

In the US (and most places....) it's most common to major in the field you wish to work. But when I studied abroad in Paris, I had some English friends who were double-majoring in French and English. The career paths they hoped for varied from marketing to social work to others.

So in other countries, getting an academic degree opens up a lot of possibilities.

I don't consider myself a historian as I'm only a high school teacher but, well, there's that. Education.

I'm surprised no one mentioned entertainment yet. I'm sure there are jobs for people in movies/tv. For producers/directors to reference to make sure their movies are historically accurate. Also that one guy probably keeps paid pretty well on the show "pawn stars"..

I've only got a masters in history.

I do IT work in higher education.

I get a bigger office than a professor would.

don't forget film and tv! most everything you've seen that takes place in the past has some form of expert consultant.

I'm a History Education major. It combines History and Education. I'll have a job teaching after I'm done.

I go to church with a guy who has a history degree.

He is an outside sales rep for a pharmaceutical company. Seriously.

One historian I know works for a city council (local government), another works in a library that has a large history programme, another four are full time writers who make extra money doing talks.

Well I'm in recruitment so there's that I guess....

I believe Schlumberger's previous CEO Andrew Gould was a history major.

Some guys that had no formal education in the field do quite well with podcasts. Jaime Jeffers was able to quit his job as an attorney and podcasts full time, using a subscription model to monetize on the podcast.

Here is the thing, if you can get a few thousand people subscribing at 5 bucks a pop, you are making a six figure living just chilling and podcasting.

I met the corporate historian for klipsch a while ago and I know Ameritech had one too. I didn't think they had formal history training though, they had just worked at those businesses a long while.

Classics major here. I'm a Latin teacher now, but most of my peers pursued medicine or law. Quite a few are in random, unrelated business, as well (one works for a company that does clinical trials). A liberal arts background is still viewed favorably by a lot of companies, so while it may be hard to find a directly applicable job outside of academia, there are jobs out there, and a lot of the skills you develop through a major such as history (analytical reasoning, writing skills, etc.) will translate into your work.

The founder of the oil company Chesapeake, Aubry McClendon had a history degree.

In my experience, if you get any kind of career work experience, more than just one internship, while you are in school, you can move into most industries with any kind of undergrad. Of course the exceptions are specialized fields or most trade skills.

Double major: Political Science and History. Now I'm a lawyer.

I worked in a government department with a legal focus. Full of historians.

I've moved on now, but studying history has proved extremely helpful. You have to think in terms of skills sets. Many, many jobs require the ability to analyze information, balance evidence, and present arguments clearly.

In Canada, some people with history PhD specializing in Aboriginal historys are hired by the Ministry of Indian Affairs.

Many many Historians make a living from their research

In Canada, I think that Land Claims investigation is a decent career for a historian.

One of my first career choices was history professor. Sadly i hate talking in front of people, so i kicked history out as a career choice due to that. I wish i would have known other things were available.

After getting a history degree, I entered into an M.Div program, went into candidacy for ordained ministry and am now part of the clergy.

Modern European History majors, where have you ended up? This seems the path I'm going down and I'm picking up a minor in education hoping to maybe stay in academia, but I'm just wondering how your careers progressed? I'm going into my junior year and while grades and the like are all going well, I seem to be at a loss of direction in terms of how to actually apply my degree in a way beyond knowing fun trivia.

I know some historians which work as government advisors in Native affair.

I work in a market research and polling firm. The job includes a lot of qualitative and quantitative data analysis and writing, which is a good fit for humanities/social science majors.

Of the dozen or so people who work here, three are history majors. We've also got two anthro, three sociology, an English major, and several econ majors. So think outside the box - there's definitely a demand in a variety of industries for well-educated people who know how to think critically.

it may be academia related, but I'm fairly certain some do fairly well with research and publishing books. I'm sure at some point before it went to hell, there were quite a few working for the History Channel, A&E, and other cable networks.

Some probably work in historical re-enactment (Renaissance Faire's, etc ), antique or specialty stores ( think: pawn stars 'buddies' ), etc?

The entertainment industry currently has a low demand for those with expertise in history. Film producers hire historians for contract work. I wouldn't depend on it being a regular gig, though.

I'm a gamer, and I feel like gaming in general has lacked professionalism in storytelling. For the longest time game developers relied on either no professional writer or they'd just go for a cheap script. That's slowly going out of style as professional writers are seen as an integral part of the game's narrative. I expect historians will have a place in this because ancient warfare is something of great interest in the gaming community. The historical accuracy of games such as the Total War series is important to the game's fans. I'm not ashamed to admit that I learned a lot by taking a few clues from the game and expanding my knowledge by reading Wikipedia articles.

My opinion, based on nearly thirty years of gaming, is that hiring more competitive writers with greater pay will become the norm, and next will be historical accuracy. There's a lot of armchair historians out there who think they can do their own research to get it right, but it's ultimately up to the gamers to decide if they'll accept this.

I'd like to see more historians working in the entertainment industry in general.

Off the top of my head, I know people with PhDs in some form of history who work for:

• the Department of State

• the Department of Defense

• banking/finance

• management consulting (e.g. McKinsey)

• independent high schools (e.g. high-end, expensive private schools)

• NPR

• a for-profit, non-academic history firm

There are probably others I am not thinking of at the moment, but there are some interesting options in there. A rough guess at the top three occupations I know of for people with degrees like mine are academia, management consulting, and independent high school teaching.

For BAs, as others have noted, there are an even wider subset of occupations. None of the above should be constrained as promoting the idea that getting a degree in history is a conservative choice for future employment. :-)

I'm doing income audit for large hotel as the accounting systems can be learned but they needed a suspicious bastard above all else.

White collar office job... I only have a pitiful bachelors though.