What is a good way to find a career in history (with a B.A.) without necessarily continuing onto graduate school?

by nickcooper1991

Hello,

I'm currently trying to find a job, but careers interested in history majors with little skills outside the field are scant. However, I'm not quite sure if grad school is the way to go for me either. Any suggestions?

Da_Jibblies

Let me say this:

You have to understand, that jobs in history in general are scarce. To be frank without a graduate degree you put yourself at a significant disadvantage in terms of hiring for more professional avenues of history. There are countless historians with graduate degrees applying for jobs in public history and within academies and libraries, so with just an undergrad your resume will appear under qualified in comparison to those other applicants.

There is nothing stopping you from undertaking in what would be considered "amateur" history and attempting to publish your own historical research and analysis. Also, you could work on the ground level within a museum or with tour company. However outside of this there isn't much, and in order to advance in the field you will need to eventually go into graduate studies, whether that be a M.A in public history or a Phd in you area of interest.

Simply put if you want a career (the next 20-30 years of your life) in history, there is no reason why you should not at the very least apply to a graduate program and see what happens. Being a historian is a long road, and if you are unwilling to do graduate work in order to be involved in historical study in the long run, perhaps you should consider another career field.