I can respond to this at least on the "employed outside academia" side of your question. As a matter of fact, there is private sector for-profit employment for historians, if this is what you mean.

In the case of Canada and the United States, you have businesses whose job is to support the legal sector, most notably. Things like aboriginal land claims, trade disputes or institutional litigation often call for those businesses to help lawyers build a case. Providing not just research but going through archives and providing historical analyses to law firms. That also includes work like finding relevant data, going through older censuses (?), contextualising something that happened in the past, and so on.

It is not some type of one historian doing it as a consultant type of stuff neither; businesses with 10 to 50 employees in Canada and the US do this work. They can also be involved in policy work to once again provide historical analysis to show some type of continuity or frame arguments in which history matters (like older treaties, etc.)

Hope that responds to your question (at least somewhat). I am not sure how I would source this however but since it is Meta, I assumed that wouldn't be an issue.

There is of course the more typical stuff you'd expect like museums, education/tourist organisations or archives but I presumed you were looking for something a bit less obvious and where being an historian with all the methodology and credentials was essential to the job.

Edit: I know of two firms in Canada doing this type of work: CDCI and Public History but I know there are others in North America although I do not know their names.

Hi! I have a Master's in history and work in the private sector for a consulting firm in the US. If a construction or development project receives any sort of federal funds, the developer is required by law to understand its affect on historic or cultural properties. Developers then hire historians and archaeologists like to me to survey, research, and report on ways the development will impact historic or cultural sites. This field is called Cultural Resource Mamagement. Other places of employment for historians are within historic preservation, museums, National Park Service and many other federal agencies.

I asked my history professors about this. Museums, Zoos, Aquariums, and the like are the more obvious ones.

Most history degrees instill exceptionally good writing and communication skills while teaching established methods of critical thinking. This opens up many writing, editing, and correspondence positions that may not be obvious.

Also, many history professors have published books (not necessarily pertaining to history). Authorship is a potential path for any degree, though.

One of the great skills of a historian is research and analysis. There are a lot of industries that require someone to tease out information and present it in an easy to digest manner.

What I've seen is market research for investment firms. Analyse a product, a company, an industry, etc. They want someone who can jump from topic to topic.

It is harder to find these positions but they do exist.

I am a music history buff (not all genres, but some). I had a job at a very large Hollywood movie studios in the music dept. I had to source music from various periods of history, like jazz that was released only in the first half of the year 1936, or 19th century carnival music from the region of Oklahoma and Texas.

My research included talking to other researchers, and going through music libraries and microfiche at the main LA library. It was fascinating work.

Oddly, we just got to the divide between "academia" and "popular historians" in my historiography course. It seems the former aren't too fond of the latter. I am closer to one of the latter, polluting the world with my unqualified, non-peer-reviewed product, not published in journals or writing in the Chicago Manual of Style. (And probably making more money than most of them doing it).

Consulting 'for hire' has been mentioned by Sammmuel and TinaandZeke. I'll add my own experience to the list, there are positions in the entertainment industry as well. Probably considered below pond dirt by academicians, but I can only provide the information, I can't make the entertainers use it. Long side story to that.

It is also possible to simply go independent. What's interesting is that most of the popular independent writers seem to have come up through backgrounds like journalism, not history academics. I'm in military history. Big sellers like Cornelius Ryan and Rick Atkinson were journalists, not professors. The reason for that is probably the style of writing and the target audience.

/u/The_Millenial observes "Most history degrees instill exceptionally good writing and communication skills while teaching established methods of critical thinking. This opens up many writing, editing, and correspondence positions that may not be obvious."

This requires, I think, a large caveat. History degrees may instill exceptionally precise writing, but the problem comes up if it's particularly 'good' as in 'appealing to read'. I tried being casual and relatable, just a little bit, in my last paper, I got a bit of a verbal slapdown by the professor for being too informal. I have a law degree, I can assure you I can be precise and boring if I have to be. Yet, I guarantee you, humor and informality is part of the reason for my success outside of academia. Journalists write for the common man, as it were. It is an entirely different target audience than academic writing. However precise, refined and accurate an academic paper may be, 'profit' obviously comes down to volume of sales. And if someone is going to write a dry monograph on, oh, labor relations in the 1930s, then no matter how enlightening it is, it's not likely to sell well and for the purpose of making money, the willingness of someone to pay for your work is more important than the depth and accuracy of your work.

Now, to be sure, it's not to say that popular historians who make a lot of money on the independent market cannot be accurate, detailed and in depth, and it's equally true to say that academics can also be popular (See Stephen Ambrose, for example), but an academic historian needs to make the conscious effort to change his 'beaten-into-him-with-a-stick-and-electro-shock-therapy' style in order to meet with the demands of the larger audience, and also give serious consideration to the medium. I've encountered a couple of honestly qualified historians who, for example, have understood that people consume podcasts on the commute or watch Youtube, and who also have managed to impart their work in a manner which is popular, but I find that this number is extremely low.

Which is a shame, because there's good money to be made out there as a side gig.

I have a friend (PHD in History) that works in a travel agency which offers (offered before COVID) "specialized" guided tours. Since my friend is a historian, he offers various historical explanations to the tourists as they travel in a country (Iran, Italy, etc).

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Depending on the background of the guide, some tours would be more philosophical (if the Guide is a philosopher), artistic (if the Guide has a degree in art), etc. That's obviously a niche market but his agency works quite well (before COVID).

I have a degree in history from a decent public university... I manage an apartment complex. It is quite hard to find employment without an advanced degree in this field, I tried. I would like to go back to school to further my education, but at this point I just can’t do it, bills. And tbh I don’t know how far a masters degree would get me either. Edit to say, my grades were good.

I have an MA in History and used to work at a consulting firm that provided legal support for land disputes, road access issues, corporations’ practices and how these affected the environment, cultural resource management, etc. It is a fairly profitable field if you get a job in the private sector. I recently switched careers entirely, and now I work at a startup in customer experience. The communication, research, and writing skills that I gained from my two history degrees, as well as the ability to see both the big picture and the small details, are crucial to my job even though I no longer work as a historian. You can play up those transferable skills on a resume pretty easily ;)

I didn’t really want to be in academia (or feel like I would be good enough) when I got my history degree. For me, history was about understanding how we came to be where we are, the forces that made our world.

I also minored in poli-sci, and between the two I ended up with a career working for a state legislator and then in a policy analysis capacity for my state government. I feel like the analysis required for the study of history really helped me in my current job, understanding history helps me see patterns, understand how to weight evidence, understand context of current circumstances, etc.

Are the skills themselves valuable? Yes. Is there a wide recognition of their value? I’d argue no.

But don’t abandon hope. The greatest career decision I ever made was straying from my plan to be an academic historian.

Historians are taught how to analyze, contextualize, theorize, and communicate. But above all, we are taught how to learn. We dive into topics and consciousnesses centuries away from ourselves. We learn languages, math, physics, biology in the pursuit of our need to understand humanity. Learning history, you have built a foundation of critical thought that will serve you well in any field.

Historians are all over. I ended up in software engineering. I get my public history jollies by sitting on a historic preservation board. I get my academic rocks off by reading and writing and occasionally submitting to journals.

What’s a job you want to do? If you’re a historian doing it, that’s how a historian makes money.

Just speaking for myself, I got a history degree and became a fiction author. The piece of paper itself didn't help, but studying history helped train my skills in research and critical thinking, which complement my other creative writing skills to the point that my novels are noticeably improved. I think it's the added verisimilitude.

Historical research has proved to be an incredible skillset for researching material for stories, especially since so many crazy things happened in history that the average writer could never dream up on their own. It's also made me comfortable about venturing into historical fiction - where before I would've been intimidated about how much I might mess up the setting, now I know how to approach researching what I need to write such a story.

I have a history degree, but I now work in agriculture (funny, considering my minor was ag history, it has given me knowledge of agriculture from a long time ago that helps now). After university, I had stints in the Video Game dev industry, odd jobs at a firearms manufacturer, and even logging for a short stint. If you throw in some unwanted extended stays in retail, I probably had the same realization that all students of history have: my degree was relatively useless in a financial sense (at least without pursuing a PhD). It wasn't without trying, I did interview for many positions at museums, but ultimately I guess I wasn't a fit for the job (probably, I'm a bit too rugged for the true academics, either that or my blood isn't blue enough for them).

As others have said, there are many skills that you gain from a history, but these skills are pretty limited outside of academia because they're also gained from other Liberal Arts degrees. This makes the job market hard for people who are seeking to simply "be employed". I have a friend from university who went on to work as a historian, he was a military history focus and works at a museum about the American Civil War. His pay is comparable to mine, which is saying something because small farmers don't make a lot of money, and he ultimately works many side jobs when the museum isn't as busy and simply can afford to employ him.

Look at law school, I think all history majors consider it after some time when they realize things aren't as they thought it would be outside the campus. Reading, critical thinking, writing are all things you gain with the skills of a history degree and they all are very important in the world of Law.

In my field (literally) there are many that are successful working in niche projects that example ancient agriculture, and there are people that make money sharing their knowledge in digestible forms (Youtube, as stated in other comments is popular). Historians oftentimes go on to other careers, but here's to hoping they don't leave their history knowledge at the door.

...and I swear if another person tells me President Woodrow Wilson is a good example of where a history degree can take you, I'll die with the sorrow of people thinking that's a good example.

The US military has historians. They deploy routinely, usually have top-secret clearances, and are pretty awesome to talk to.

https://history.army.mil/fieldHistorians/index.html

“The Army Historical Program preserves, interprets, disseminates, and teaches military history; provides historical advice to decision makers and their staffs; and stimulates historical mindedness within the Army and throughout the nation.”

I have an MA in History and work in the public history field. It's a very competitive and small field. I specifically manage living history interpretation at a state park but others with history degrees in that park act as Chief Curator, Collections Management, Park Director, and Deputy Director. You can find historians anywhere in the job market because a history degree is very versatile. The skills you gain from it translate well to several professions.

How do historians make money?

We have jobs, like most people. If you are particularly succesful at writing products that have a wider appeal than pure academia, you might start making money off your books or other publications. But this is rare.

Are they employed outside of Academy by any industry?

In the Netherlands at least, most univeristy educated historians don't end up working in the field of history as academics or teachers. Last I checked, about 10% of Master's degree historians work as teachers. No more than 10% work in their field as academics or in museums and the like. The other 80% work anywhere and everywhere. There is no clear career path outside of becoming a teacher or an academic.

Are historian skills valuable beyond academy and studies? How much? What do Historians do on commercial environments?

I would say they are very valuable. What do all those other historians do in all those other fields? Firstly they bring an academic way of thinking to the job they do. More specifically, historians ought to be effective communicators, listeners and writers who have been taught strong analytical, critical and research skills. You will find historians everywhere. One example is that with their broad basis of knowledge and skills they make excellent journalists and politicians.

Personally, I have a Master's degree in History and I am a civil servant who works as policy officer for a regional government in the Netherlands in a field that has no direct relation to history. I know some of my colleagues in the organisation also studied history and are not working in their field either. Yet we do quite well and I feel I can contribute a lot, not least because of the education I enjoyed.

Our Prime Minister (Mark Rutte) studied history and used to do HR at Unilever, so there's plenty of room to maneuver. Lots of historians go into the field of communication and the like.

If you are asking the question from a career perspective, I can give you one piece of advice. Don't be afraid to go study history, but try to figure out what you want to do afterwards so you can have a specific goal to work towards (with internships, writing, networking, whether in or outside of the field of history).

Also, studying history automatically makes you a top tier trivial pursuit player.

Edit: I'll add another important one, a well-educated historian has great tact and cultural sensitivity. A friend of mine has often been asked to join meetings with foreign business partners or parties because a historian will always have some idea of the sensitivities and has the skills to be well-prepared in a short time for these matters. There are many small things that can help smooth things out, such as the awareness that Turkey and Greece might be neighbours, but aren't necessarily too friendly or that Scotland really is its own country and is not English. These are obvious ones, but things get a lot more interesting and potentially sensitive when you as a European country start dealing with people outside of Europe.

I became a professional consultant for various clients after I got my history degree. One of my best clients was a union that I helped organize and start a campaign for by using my skills as a historian to research the archives of what that union had been up to in the past. I wrote reports on their history for them, worked with marketing to incorporate it into strategy, and pushed legislation forward with my research as part of the argument legal made.

Historians can do a ton if you're creative. My city has historians in nearly every agency (NYC) tucked away in corners, writing, archiving, and preserving. Another wealthy private client of mine had a whole archival and historical research agency on retainer to help their marketing and development teams.

I'm not a historian, I'm an architect from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Here we have a very strong public office culture, with many bureaucratic and regulatory agencies in various aspects of life. Many of those employ historians. Examples: the building approval agency, the historical building protection agency (google "IPHAN" for more on this), the ministry of justice, the ministry of education, tourism municipal bureaus and many others. Basically anything that has to do with regulation of historical heritage or the regulation of things that may interact with historical heritage. These positions are not academic, they are control and regulatory positions.

Also the most wanted position in brazilian bureaucracy is the diplomat of our ministry of international affairs (google "Itamaraty", "Palacio do Itamaraty" and "concurso do Itamaraty" for more on why and how that's the number one job in brazilian government). The diplomat can have any degree as long as they pass that very hard test. They do all sorts of things, mostly administration of the Itamaraty office but also documents, resolutions, recommendations and deals with other countries and international companies. Many of them have a degree in History

I have a PhD in history from a state school here in the US. Ambitions to teach at a university ran afoul of the multiple economic dips we’ve had, and jobs in the sector have simply evaporated. Luckily I’ve always had a hobby interest in graphic design and computers, so I’ve built up those skills and now work as media director for a regional nonprofit. It’s not what I went to school for, and I often fret about what might have been (and I dream of one day getting back into academics), but with kids and a stable job...it’s a hard sell to give it up.

I don’t regret my time as an academic. I loved it. But I also recognize that the market is unfortunately changing and the demands of university academia require a level of dedication that often runs counter to raising a family or having time for, well, anything else. Academia is a way of life, not just a career.

My personal take is that university academics is in the midst of massive identity crisis in terms of liberal arts preparation for career development. I’ve heard so many similar stories to my own over the years, it’s hard not view the job crisis for historians and others in similar fields as a systemic failure to support liberal arts development.

I'm not sure the degree to which this is true in America, but certainly in the UK there are a number of historians working in the public sector. Particularly in the Foreign, Development and Commonwealth Office (our State Department) where the sheer wealth of material in the archive means many a PhD has been minted just from analysing a fragment of it. They produce papers on historical material and also try to tease out its relevance for contemporary events, working with wider research and analytical teams.

https://history.blog.gov.uk/category/foreign-affairs-and-diplomacy/foreign-office-historians/

There are lots of good answers thar have been provided thus far, but let me add my experience regardless.

In terms of "employed outside of academia", like u/sammmuel said there are some private sector firms that rely on the historical research skills of history grads for research into things like legal cases, Indigenous history, etc. (at least here in Canada). These are a viable avenue but in my experience also twnd to be very competitive and the pay isn't great.

As for me I work in the public sector, I'm a policy analyst with the federal government. In this capacity I'm leveraging the research skills, written communication skills, and critical thinking I learned while completing a BA and an MA in history. I ever provided the major research project I completed for my Master's as a writing sample when I interviewed for my current job. The work is interesting, the pay is good and so are the benefits. Takes long to get in, but once you're in it can be a great career with lots of opportunities for advancement or lateral moves to other departments or roles.

If you want to study history but want to find work outside of academia, I highly, HIGHLY recommend finding a university that offers co-op placements. Not only do you get paid work experience, but you'll also form connections and networks you can leverage to help find work after graduation. I also have several friends who accepted jobs at places where they did co-op placements as an undergraduate - all of them were history majors. I also volunteered for some clubs and associations around campus to beef up my CV.

The skills of a historian are definitely in demand, so if you want to study what you love but also want to find a job after graduation it is definitely viable :) You just have to be prepared to put in some extra work outside of just classes.

Outside of academia there are surprisingly quite many directions you can go in as a historian. Many of the people I studied with in Grad school (in the Netherlands) did end up becoming employed in the cultural/arts sector in some capacity. A handful ended up working for the military, and two ended as journalists for a national newspaper. The common denominator in terms of skills and what makes them tick is a general knack for processing large amounts of info in a structured manner rather quickly. The fact that you're forced to write endless amounts of papers for your history degree (be it BA, be it MA) moreover helps develop extremely sharp language-skills, which in turn translates to a perceived increase in being personable and amiable.

I myself just started working in commercial ordnance removal; the company I work for analyses historical sources for specific locations to provide developers and construction companies with a soil risk assessment for the potential of encountering any remaining WWI and WWII ordnance, as well as post-WWII training ordnance that might be found. It's a line of work that I've only found in NL, Belgium, France, the UK, and Germany, though I imagine much of the rest of Europe's topsoil is still covered in all the explosive crap our forebears thought necessary to throw at eachother in the last century. The branch is starting to interconnect with 'active' ordnance removal in more recent/current warzones as well.

Anyhow; as a historian you have the skills and instincts that are poorly valued but highly necessary for the conduct of a broad range of public and commercial services. Don't second-guess the value of these skills, don't let anyone talk down to you on the basis of your education, and don't let anyone tell you history isn't going to provide you with a career!

Oh wow this may be the first question I'm able to answer with my theatre degree?!?

Dramaturgs! Dramaturgy is the study of dramatic composition and the representation of the main elements of drama on stage. Roughly speaking, what that means is that it's a dramaturg's job to make sure that the work being presented has the authenticity that it requires, or that a piece being composed is being informed with the right information.

Say for example that I wanted to write a play set during the reign of Elizabeth I. If I'm writing it, there are elements of the setting, dialogue, social status of the characters, and so on that are specific to that era. So I find myself a dramaturg (or I may be the dramaturg) and tell them "I need to know how marriage proposals worked in 1575 and any events happening in London at that time." The dramaturg then gets to work, researching and curating information for me, or giving me books to read, lectures to watch, etc.

More commonly, however, a dramaturg is brought into a stage/film production to help make a piece feel more authentic. If I'm directing a production of The Importance of Being Earnest, the dramaturg is the person I go to with questions about the proper mannerisms and etiquette of London circa 1895, or perhaps I send them to my costumer so they can discuss the styles of dress at the time, or send them to my set designer to talk about the architecture/furnishings of that period. The dramaturg is the librarian of my production. They are experts in research and finding answers.

They are also utilized in film. Whenever you watch an episode of a period piece and think "Wow! I can't believe they got [small detail in the background]] right!" You can thank a dramaturg.

Conversely, when you think "Oh holy **** how did they get that [obvious thing] wrong?" You can rest assured that the dramaturg is dying inside every bit as much as you are. I think this goes without saying, but authentic very often must be sacrificed for entertaining. A dramaturg is there to make an entertaining show feel as authentic as possible, not the other way around.

I know a (very) few people who make their living as dramaturgs, but more often than not dramaturgy is a side gig while you're teaching or pursuing other areas of theatre. It's a vert niche field, but it does exist!

One of my classmates from undergrad has a degree in history and does nonprofit/advocacy work. She mentions a lot that her knowledge of American and women's history informs what she does with political lobbying and so on. I can see it, along with the critical thinking and communication skills that come with a lot of arts/humanities studies. (I myself am an English teacher here primarily out of just a love of history and strong curiosity.)

My friend works at a real estate development company as a research historian. His job is to dig through archives and compose an analytical report on the likelyhood of ww1/ww2 mines, bombs and ammunition in the ground. This is so they dont stumble upon an active mine or bomb when they're developing the foundations!

Beyond the standard "historians can write and critically analyze things", which is true, there's often a need for historical work in other fields. The hardest part is getting recognized for the skills you have, as many people have a very warped view of what historians do and what we learn.

That said I transitioned into a political science career using my history degree. I now work as a market and politics analyst in the foreign investment market. The research skills you get from a degree in history, as well as the general knowledge needed to place events and actions in context is really valuable in my experience. It's much easier to give good advice if you can understand why and how political decisions are made.

That said I also found it somewhat difficult to get my foot in the door, as the power of a history degree was somewhat unrecognized in the job market. I had do go through the internship/ niche skill route to get my foot in the door but found that what I had learned was very effective once I actually started working.

Sadly the perception of historians in the public is still somewhat misinformed, I was told after being hired that the one of the reasons I was given an interview was because despite usually hiring those of a business background, my predecessor in the role had also been a historian and that they had been a valuable asset. So there is hope for us private sector historians! The foot in the door is the hardest part but once you have that your skills transfer over pretty easily.

As others have said, the skills of an undergraduate or even graduate degree in History are transferable to other sectors - like being a government analyst for an organization known by its acronym.

I will say that another way to find out information, besides the individual anecdotes here, is to look at the major organizations of historians in your country. The American Historical Association has an entire section of their website devoted to the utility of a history degree, and organizations like the American Association for State and Local History, the Society for History in the Federal Government, and the National Council on Public History largely serve historians and others working on history outside of academia.

I used to work for my institution back home. My contract expired and now I work for a private company doing a completely unrelated job.

I'm also a teacher and I have worked as one before. My dream is to get a fixed teaching position in a high school

In addition to the other answers here, I've known some historians that live in a small town or rural region and make their living running a small museum and occasionally publishing a book about something notable in the region. They augment their income with stuff like: tours, local newspaper columns, and ghost/cemetery walks around halloween. They might adjunct at a local trade school teaching a western civ 101 class each semester. I don't think it's a glorious, wealthy life, but they can do ok.

I used to work for a firearms distributor.

A historian was one of our top guys funny enough. Obviously, he was very interested in firearms and thus studied the history of them in depth. He was the guy everyone went to regarding questions on new releases or reproductions.

He also handled a lot of our gunsmithing needs when it came to receiving inventory that had been damaged.

I'll throw my two cents in. I got my degree in history and I am a interpretive park ranger for the BLM. I create cultural and natural history interpretive programs for the public. I also deal with visitor questions regarding recreation and resources. I work in the field of history and I'm enrolled in a MA program that starts in the summer. The idea is to stay on the federal track and become a titled historian for either the land management departments, the State department or the Department of Defense.

I'll admit its rare to make good money with only a BA in history. If you want to make money you should pursue higher education and certifications. The federal track is secure, but probably not the most lucrative at lower levels.

Hi I got a bachelors in contemporary military and international history.

I work as a developer for a financial technology provider.

But proving I have analytical skills and the ability to absorb vast amounts of info definitely helped me get my foot in the door (it was actually a grad scheme).

That said this is about my fifth job, and I've basically been in tech support prior.

So... My degree is mostly used in the skillset bestowed to me, and I hustle a mean pub trivia

Here to give a litte insight about the Argentinean academia from my experience. I'm an anthro student but had historian teachers and it is quite known that most people with social/human sciences degrees will work as public high school teachers. I had people with degrees (like a terrible historian) teach me at high school and a lot of uni teachers tell us that it will probably be our future. It's quite discouraging because it is not what we are being educated for; and don't let me get started about the miserable wages and conditions public school teachers work for. Also, academia here is really closed up among itself (with really strong agendas that are like ride or die) and despite the fact that we actually have academic research officially recognized as a job by the government, it really isn't seen as a "real" job by other people. Oh, and the wages of researchers are quite low too and when I say low, I mean you need to get a second job just to survive through this awful economy, which you might have guessed, it's teaching. Some uni teachers mention working for the private industry but the minimal requirements are a masters degree (when a bachelors degree takes at least 5 years here) and a bunch of other things. Still, the job market is scarce and keep in mind we have had a constant socioeconomical crisis since many, many years and sadly, many more to come.

I have a degree in history and I currently work as a research assistant for a historian who is hired by tribal groups to investigate land and coastal claims. Basically, we collect a whole bunch of evidence — including interviews with tribe members — and use that to create a report to support this tribe or that tribes claim to a specific portion of land or coast. The report is then used as evidence in court where my boss appears as an expert witness.

I'm not sure how numerous or well paid jobs like this are in North America, or any other country aside from my own. Which isn't to say that there are heaps of jobs in this particular area, but I do think if you study the history of the indigenous people of my country (not that I actually did so) you're put in good stead for some kind of employment. Unfortunately, this means a lot of non-indigenous people end up in positions they aren't really qualified for, which is an ongoing problem. Anyway, that's a whole other conversation!

Yes, one of my previous Sous Chef and one of the Head Servers at aborder restaurant where both History Graduates.

No, their degree is no us To them.

The third one I know work for a record company because he loves music so much. Specialized in Early 20th intra European worker migration (Poles and Italiens going to France).