Almost no non-STEM degrees will get you jobs based on the degrees alone. So History is not that different from that — if you are getting a humanities degree, you are already going to have to hustle or get more schooling once you graduate. (And even many STEM careers require postgraduate work.)

As for "anything you can do with such a degree" — a History degree should really be thought of as something in between Social Science and Humanities. It is a generalist degree in non-fictional topics. For non-fiction topics, you learn how to write persuasively and analytically, read both deeply and quickly, and research topics in depth. You learn how the world fits together, which can mean regular forays into topics that touch on all areas of human knowledge. (Including, but not limited to, literature, philosophy, science, technology, sociology, political science, economics, war... the list is literally all-encompassing, because all human activity falls under History, and it is just a question of what you decide to focus on.)

Like all degrees, you will get out of it what you put into it. The degree will not get you a job, by itself. Use it as a vehicle for bettering yourself, for learning a lot, for pursuing your passions and deepening your quality of thought, and you will have a powerful tool for continuing through life. "You majored in History, did you?," asks the job interviewer, skeptically. "Oh yes indeed," you reply, "and let me tell you what that means..."

Like most non-STEM degrees (and many STEM degrees), full-fledged degree-based professions will require postgraduate training. I do not think a History degree will set you back in any of this unless you really want to be an engineer or a doctor or something like that (which I presume you don't if you are thinking about a History degree). History is a fine subject to study before pursuing a legal or business career if you want to keep those options open.

A History degree will not give you a clear and obvious career path. If that is unappealing to you at this stage in your life, I understand — it is an uncertain world out there, and in many ways a nastier economic prospect (with loans and debt and a contracted global economy) than it was when I chose to get a History degree. But a History degree, earnestly pursued and taken to its limits, will give you a depth of thought and skill-set that is broadly applicable, pairs well with all other sorts of skills you might want to pick up.

Much of the same could be said of other Humanities and Social Science majors — an English degree will have nobody throwing job offers your way, nor Sociology, nor Anthropology — but personally, and I am quite biased at this, I think History is really the king of the non-science disciplines, because it is methodologically pluralistic (you can learn what all of the other disciplines do, and pick and choose whatever is useful for you) while still being based in the land of empirical facts (as opposed to, say, Literature), but at the same time explicitly encourages a creative turn of mind (the writing of history is a thoroughly creative endeavor). And it is nearly limitless in its possible scope, for everything becomes History, eventually!

(I will belatedly also give Philosophy a shout-out. It gets a bad rep — philosopher barristas and all that — but it is seriously difficult to do well in, and the people who succeed in it generally turn out to be very sharp, and are very able at applying their sharpness. It promotes a clarity of thought and writing that is hard to match in any other field. I learned a lot from hanging around my philosophy-studying friends in college, and if it were up to me, all History majors would be required to dabble a bit in some serious philosophy as well! I was/am specifically a historian of science, which means that I dabble quite a lot in epistemology and so forth as it is, arguably more than your average historian.)

But if you are looking for a degree that will easily give you obvious job options at the end of your four years, History is not one of these. But neither, really, is probably any of the non-technical degrees, these days.

This is the first time I've ever been qualified to answer a question in this sub. If you're not trying to teach or write a book then you need to think of what you'll get good at as a history major. Critical writing, objective thinking and things of that sort. I got a job at a company because when I feel like it I can write words pretty good. If that's not your thing then there's always a masters degree. Honestly my history degree was a foot in the door, proving that I'm competent enough to go through a decent college and have them admit that I did it.

If teaching isn't your thing, there's always editing, publishing, journalism, broadcasting, museum work (like a curator), archaeologist, etc. There's quite a few options and I'd recommend http://public.careercruising.com if you want to explore more with a degree/job requirements.

You can work at the musea, as advisor (such as in government, need a specialty degree though, such as military historian), work at tv programs, advise at movies or theatres, you name it. However, going to find such job is almost impossible these days and you are quite certain to fall back on writing a book or teaaching... Im studying for history teacher at the moment and although the chances are very small i am getting a job, I want to get my degree. That's smart? Nope, but we'll see.

There's definitely things that you can do with a history degree if you pair it with other work, go about it in a focused way, and are willing to follow up with post-BA education.

However, there's very little you can do with a history degree if you just show up to classes, get your B.A., and then graduate, regardless of how well you do in those classes.

You don't need to figure out a time period so much as you need to figure out a career path. Museum curation? Archives? Government advising? Parks service? Whichever one you pick is going to be much easier to get into if you tailor your undergraduate career toward that path, get experience through internships, and prepare for any graduate work that's needed.

I did Chinese history, and am currently working in a company outsourcing IT operations from Europe to Asia. I'm very glad I studied what I studied, and with what I learned I'm much better placed to continuously pursue my interest in history.

My focus was on Russian history. All of my History major friends became teachers. I became an academic advisor to Engineering students. Can confirm that it's tough to get a job using that History degree (museum, law, library, etc) without an additional degree or certification. If you're willing to work as an admin assistant or something similar it's a little easier, but not by much.

Archiving, law and library science are some fields beyond simply teaching and researching. I worked for a professor where I archived his articles into a database for awhile (even though full on archiving at museum level requires post-baccalaureate education). I'm currently the associate editor for a local newspaper where my History degree certainly doesn't hurt (though I also majored in English).

I got a bachelor's in history; I currently work at a small historic house/museum. I do a lot of tours, help school groups, assist the curator from time to time, and am currently being trained by the programs officer to help him in his work.

If you go to an Ivy, you can still do anything with a history degree. If not, you gotta do what the rest of us do and go to law school.