It's a field I'm currently trying to break into at the moment. My advice is to go through the Postgrad ranks - do your MA and then apply for a PhD - and if you haven't completely burned out after 5-6 years of academia, start looking for postdoc researcher roles.

At some point during your PhD and postdoc, you should be able to start postgrad teaching, usually on undergrad basics classes to start with, and from there you can advance.

Important questions to ask - it's great that you're thinking ahead towards your future career. I'm currently working towards my PhD in History, so I'll give you a reflection on what I wish that I'd done as an undergraduate history major. First off as many of us need jobs to support us through our studies - I'd recommend looking for jobs in your university that are history and/or research related. Often times it is easier to get a job in the field within your own university through student employment versus having a BA and being on the job market after you finish your degree. So, if there is a university archive or special collections in your school library - keep an eye out for open student positions. This will give you hands on history training in terms of applied skills as well as an opportunity to network with professionals across the field, so you can see the various types of jobs and degree paths towards history work. Are there student positions in your history department? This is a great opportunity to network with faculty and ask them these vary same questions. Any research opportunities to be a research assistant, work on a project, or even get a job at a research help desk (if your university library has one) are all great for your resume and for building your skills as a researcher. Keep in mind the research opportunity does not have to be history related, but I've noted that researching in other fields helps me become a better historian. History doesn't all happen in the college classroom and as the tenure track professor jobs can be limited, thinking about other history careers is important. Museums, archives, local history centers, libraries, and many more places are great places for historians to work both with and without a PhD.

Second, if you do have the ability and time to either get an internship or volunteer at a local history center, an archive, a museum - take the time and the opportunity. Volunteering is a great option - even if you can only put in a couple of hours one day a week or only volunteer for a summer. This can give you more applied training in the field of history and offers a great learning/networking experience for an aspiring historian. I didn't start volunteering in a local history center's archive until the end of my undergraduate career. I ended up stumbling upon an oral history collection that became the primary source material and inspiration for the work I completed during my master's.

The National Council on Public History has some fantastic resources for students on careers and grad school that are applicable to all history students and not just those who are interested in public history - so I recommend checking out their website.

On the point about getting into grad school I'll give PhD application advice in particular - the most important recommendation that I have is to be realistic about what you want to get out of your grad school experience. What do you want to do, what type of historians do you want to work with, and are there enough faculty to support your research - especially because you never know when a faculty member might leave the university or if a faculty member isn't taking on new grad students to advise. Applying to graduate school (whether a combined MA/PhD or a PhD after an MA) is all about fit. Meeting the criteria for a school's program via GPA, GRE scores, etc. only gets your application on the table for consideration. It's really about fit - don't apply to schools because of rank or prestige, apply because there are faculty that you believe can support your historical research would be interested in working with you, and that conduct research that is exciting to you. A bonus is if the department specializes in your area of study, or has a center related to your area. For example if you are interested in public history - apply to schools with centers for public history or the ability to have subject field in public history or even a PhD in public history. If its medieval studies - look at universities that are known for having a strong medieval studies program, host any type of institute or conference related to medieval studies.

Personally I identified three faculty at each university I applied to that I wanted to work with, named them in my personal statements, and identified ways that their work intrigued/inspired me. I ended up with multiple fully funded offers and was able to pick the right fit for me after completing campus visits.