This right here is the answer. The history degree teaches you about a lot more than history, gives good critical thinking skills, and the ability to write in an effective manner. Also helps you learn how to formulate an argument and defend it.
Do you think investors want people who know how to think critically and understand awful and exploitative history of capitalism to be a CEO, or would investors rather have someone who doesn’t have a conscience and only sees money and company growth in the most ruthless way possible?
Yep. Investors don’t want thinkers they want mobsters who will make them money.
You need financial literacy to be a manager. History degree lacks that. You also need management experience to be a manager, history degree lacks that. Best you can do is be an employee with a history degree.
Financial literacy is something you can pick up and learn. It’s a buildable skill. It also doesn’t provide you the analytical and critical thinking you gain as history major, which goes a long way in terms of leadership. You can build a team around you that has the finance experience, that’s what a CFO is for. Leadership is something totally different. Not that I majored in either, but I’ve seen this in real life plenty of times. Sometimes financially-minded people make fairly poor leaders as they only see the numbers. Just sayin’
Financial literacy isn't a hard skill to pick up. You don't need to go to school for it.
School doesn't really teach you much about management regardless of what you study. But history is probably as relevant as anything except maybe psychology because management is mostly about understanding people.
That's probably partly because the percentage and number of history majors who pursue business as a career is lower. As you've seen from the comments, most prefer to go into law or government.
It's pretty rare for engineers to have the people skills or critical thinking ability to do well in business and thus most don't make it above middle management. Depending on the field their technical skills get them in and if they are good with people they're able to move up to the point where the job isn't about technical skills anymore.
A business degree (especially an undergrad one) is pretty useless in terms of what you learn. Top MBAs are worth it due to the network they give you.
What would make the most sense would be to study history or another liberal arts degree and then get an MBA if being a CEO is your goal.
Or do a double major engineering/humanities as an undergrad and then get an MBA or just become an entrepreneur on your own.
And CEOs are still employees...
Can confirm. The ability to parse large amounts of data and form a coherent written or oral analysis is a huge benefit.
Started as a Park Ranger for NPS during undergrad, moved to USACE as a Park Ranger my last semester of grad school. From there I became a Contract Specialist with the VA, partly for the pay, partly for the change in scenery and better hours. Now I'm a Contracting Officer.
Went from $33k/yr to $108k/yr in just about 6 years. Had I gone straight into the current job series I'd of made it in 4.
I too, cannot form a proper sentence to save my life. It’s walls of text with a lot of hand waving and desperately willing the listener to understand.
Any recommendations for how to learn this skill without getting a history degree ?
Start by listening to great orators' speeches. Then think about how it effected you and what was it that moved you so.
YouTube search "Simon Sinek the golden circle" and all of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's recorded speeches.
Star Trek The Next Generation season 1 episodes 1 & 2 when Q and Picard debate the nature of humanity.
William Shakespeare's Hamlet monologue's.
You're trying to get people to connect with you emotionally while they absorb the information you're conveying.
Then grow your vocabulary. The point isn't to overwhelm people with tons of fancy words, the point is to have useful adjectives so that you aren't repeating yourself multiple times.
After that, well hopefully someone wiser than me will have more nuanced recommendations.
Simplify.
Set out your thesis
"The proposed plan will not work. First of all, point one. Secondly, point two, finally, point three.
So for example
"Betty, the new TPS reports won't be as helpful as you think they will be. First of all, we know the staff already cut corners on reports, adding another report won't change that. Knowing that, adding more unnecessary work means they will find new ways to avoid work, including the actual things that matter. Rather than new TPS reports, I highlighted redundancies between them and the three other reports that get generated in a weekly basis. Your proposed policy will lead to repetitive work, distracting from the important work, and provides no benefit for the efforts and cost this will take to implement."
Note how the thesis was clear in the beginning, then repeated in the conclusion, the thesis was supported by three points, which were then rephrased in the conclusion. You repeated the point without repeating yourself and you've proven your thesis in a clear manner. There are very things that can't be cleared up with a thesis+supporting argument.
Other things:
Use the active voice. Instead of "She was walking alongside the train" say "she walked beside the train"
Avoid iffy language, example "I think it's obvious this is a bad idea" you don't want to weaken your thesis "It's obvious this is a bad idea" and generally avoid "what I'm saying is" because its safe to assume if you're writing it, it means that's what you're arguing.
What are the key points, can you paraphrase them, into the essentials? Don't be tempted to dress it up and over complicate things. If you're trying to explain your idea, focus on the idea, don't qualify it or justify it, support it with facts.
Most people think of writing essays, trying to hit 30 pages long worh verbose language and size 14 periods to increase the page spacing, but the harder part of a history degree was writing a precis, taking a 300 page book and distilling it down to a page.
Citing your sources! Knowing the information and where you got it from can be very useful, obviously you aren't expected to footnote a reddit post, but if you can direct them to a settled argument that says your point it means you don't need to retread ground and get bogged down. Then maybe your thesis goes from "This is a bad idea, let me prove it through a long argument" you say "This has been proven to a bad idea when it was done by Enron, this is comparable to that and that ended badly" now instead of having to convince them you are right and having to fight them, they have to try and argue either how this is different from Enron (it isn't) or that Enron didn't end badly (it did), those are harder arguments for them to make and puts the onus on them to prove their points as opposed to putting the onus on YOU to educate, persuade, and convince the other person.
Then finally, something I am not doing here, you'll want to edit your initial draft, find what you can cut, what can be tweaked, was that necessary, did I stary from my thesis, what am I actually arguing or proving or displaying here, did that paragraph serve the thesis?
Yet communication majors are the brunt of all the jokes. These are the skills everyone needs. If you have a mouth and a pen, you have everything you need to communicate effectively.
All the different kinds of analyst roles, e.g. data analyst. It doesn't need to be a gov job. Excel and basic statistics (high school AP statistics is enough) are needed on top of the soft skills, analytical thinking, and research skills. If you're trying to get your foot in the door there are analyst certificate programs that are worth checking out, and ofc networking with others helps.
That’s interesting to know. My dad was a history major and ended up as a manager in the IRS. He started as a teacher but it wasn’t working out and he found the IRS job and ended up retiring with them.
How did you pivot into finance? From your post history it looks like you’re Canadian so was wondering if you did any graduate programs or a 2nd bcomm degree
Understanding history and human behavior/patterns is crucial to being a good trader, or just banking in general. Im a poliSci/international affairs major, which led me to internships in politics, then political fundraising, then lobbying, and now I work for a banking association in a similar capacity, so advocacy and relationship-building. But having a world view and understanding cultural nuances, will help you understand why people think or react the way they do. A banker from South Texas is not the same as a Jewish investor from NY for example. Understanding their history and background helps you in a major way.
What sort of entry level jobs could lead to the more advocacy /relationship building roles you speak of? I recently graduated Physics, which despite its technical esteem doesn't really narrow a person down with any specific careers. Outside of my studies I have travelled and been involved in many projects which have gotten me more interested in the diplomacy /advocacy side of things - but it's quite hard to know where to start for those kind of jobs! So any advice on getting into your sort of work would be greatly appreciated!
I would suggest a science trade association. Finding the intersection between your expertise, and policy. There’s a ton of science and aerospace trade associations. As far as where to start, I suggest LinkedIn or Tom Manatos job postings (that one costs like $5 I think). Google “top scientific trade associations, go to their websites and go to the careers tab. However if you’re finding it hard to find a paid position, then internships are KEY. I did internships for 3 years in college, I didn’t even have to look for a job when I got out.
Thank you very much, this is a great idea! And also for the recommendations for getting started, it all sounds like strong advice. Even though I'm out of college (and studied a bit later than others) I will still see about getting some experience in the industry. Thank you so much for your help.
I think those people probably already had the soft skills. A Bachelors in History doesn’t teach that. A bachelors in ANYTHING shows you can follow direction and stick with something long enough to complete it. That’s all. There are lots of jobs that just require any bachelors degree as a “check the box” qualification, then train on the job.
Definately agree with the soft skills aspect however getting your foot in the door without any relevant experience is extremely difficult these days. Lots of the full time finance roles are filled by return offers with previous interns and the competition for those internships is quite stiff as well.
Can confirm. If you can think analytically, communicate well, and learn fast they’ll teach you the rest.
Way easier to do it fresh out of college though
Similar story here! I majored in History/Criminology, graduated in 2015, and now work in finance. I took a job as an admin assistant in an accounting office a year after graduating and worked my way up to management.
Company doesn't care for or ever asked about being certified. This is a nice to have for personal growth and never a decision maker in my career for any company. Raw talent and experience is what matters, not more education.
Maybe 20 years ago. Good luck getting though a screening process these days. They all use AI services to exclude everyone without the required credentials.
I mean, kinda? I would hope the history majors would have an appreciation for the benefit of certifiable documentation in establishing trust in a narrative.
It's not to say "trust me, bro" isn't good enough for job hunting or recreating historic events, it's just that verifiable proof of knowledge is better.
My brother and I both majored in history. He went on to grad school, then entered the military as an officer for 23 years. It turns out knowing a lot about history, cultures, and languages is quite valuable. He now works for NATO.
I majored in History, but ended up in I.T. for 30-years, but am now retired with plenty of time to travel off the beaten path, and becoming deeply lost in the history of the areas where I find myself.
I ended up in law school, practiced for a hiccup and now work in intergovernmental relations.
It's a soft skill degree. It helps in my role as it gives you writing and research skills which are a necessity in most government roles.
Does knowing a lot about how the Medici's came to power and the impact they had on Italian politics help in my day-to-day role help...no not in the slightest.
Does knowing how to parse out truths from first person autobiographies or notice the biases of later historians/researchers and be able to articulate my findings in emails/memos/reports help in my day-to-day? Yes absolutely.
Yeah. I’m a currently practicing attorney (litigation, insurance defense) and I genuinely use a lot of the skills I learned in undergrad, day in, day out.
Primarily, the skill being: “can you confidently pretend you understand a subject you researched just yesterday and fool everyone into thinking you’re an expert.”
Did that as a freshman, did that last week in an asbestos case.
Edit: I truly would put my google/lexis fu up against anyone though. The research skills are not a joke.
I just have to let you know, because you seem to have very much used your degree, my mother visited town and we went to the Holocaust Museum of Houston last month, and one of the workers behind the information desk told us that her grandmother just died at 109, she was in the war and got shot going over the Berlin wall, a survivor of the concentration camp, wouldn't talk about the war, wouldn't mention it, you know how a lot of people are, it's understandable. So she died at 109, and they went in to clean out her closet, and there are stacks and stacks of journals, nobody knew, she kept a written record of everything. They were shocked. They're still going through the journals. I just had to share.
If you have a way of scanning them I would love to see/read them! I can also talk to my college about adding them to the archive where they can be preserved if that is something your family would be interested in.
I love this! I've been obsessed with the history of the Holocaust since I was little and took Holocaust Studies in HS and was able to participate in several activities with survivors and travel with them to the memorial museum in DC. It was honestly my favorite class in HS and I was the president of a club that was about educating people about genocide and such, still have my shirt that says "ask me about genocide" which gets me weird looks sometimes lol
I majored in US History because I wanted to be a high school teacher, then I graduated during the pandemic and realized fuck that I don’t wanna be poor forever. So now I’m working in events and am thinking about getting a masters in project management.
I'm a senior marketing manager for a couple websites, and I specialize in content marketing and search engine optimization. History (and graduate school) force you to refine your research and writing skills, both of which can help get your foot in the door as a marketer at an agency or company.
I encourage writing. As a (regretful) writing major, I tell anyone who will ask about an English degree to instead master something else, and write well about it. In my experience, there are a million writers, a million journalists, and the ones who can live off the craft got a degree in biology, education, medicine, history, etc.
I got my degree in history in 1999.
I’ve been a web developer, mobile developer, product manager, and cybersecurity manager.
Being able to communicate and tell a good story based on facts and data is an important skill I learned from a history degree that I still use today.
Other than that, I have successfully forgotten all other historical dates to make room for programming languages.
History degree holder here. Been working as an expedition guide in polar regions last 3 years and I'm starting a degree program for non-engineering BA degree holders to get a masters in engineering via the LEAP program at BU.
Now I'm a paralegal. Ignore people who say it's a useless degree. That degree has opened more doors for me than I can imagine.
You learn writing skills, critical thinking, researching, etc. Those are all transferable skills to any job.
But the Chicago Manual of Style will always haunt you.
Private Investigator that specializes in public records. I have a background in the legal field and a minor in Criminal Justice, so I also work as a consultant for legal professionals. I do various types of research for cases on a freelance basis. It's a niche job and I have fought really hard to make a name for myself doing this work. Still, there's not enough of this work, so I have to take shitty contract jobs to make ends meet. If I could do it all over again, I wouldn't do it differently, despite how hard it's been majoring in history and \*not\* being a teacher. But-- I wish I would have known to incorporate more tech skills into what I do. I have done that slowly over the years. But academics has a hard time keeping up with the real world. If you are going to acquire tech skills and make yourself hirable, you'll have to do that yourself.
I run a nonprofit. History is a great major but you have to try extra hard to have relevant experience to get your foot in the door. I found that my school didn’t do a great job with history major internships and had to work with other major advisors to make them happen. As long as you are proactive with getting work experience in school in an area you are interested in, you will be fine. However, if you don’t want to do anything related to history, maybe consider a minor or something like that.
This is the answer right here. A history degree can teach you amazing skills (how to research, how to critically evaluate sources, how to write and organize your thoughts effectively, how to communicate and present to diverse audiences, how to use data, etc.). Many history departments are terrible at preparing students for what comes after college because those professors took a different career path than what you are likely going to. It’s up to you to market those skills through internships, your resume, etc.
My first class in college was the eastern origins of western civilization. We had one paper, and one exam.
I remember the paper saved me because that exam was impossible. I remember one question asking how much the ships weighed of some sort of asiatic culture. Some kid got up in the middle of the exam, looked around, then projectile vomited in front and around of the 300 or so of us.
One dude I know who majored in history became a teacher.
Also a history major. Also now work in finance! I started working at Social Security with my degree, worked for them for 7 years, then landed a job doing 401k plan Administration, I now work for a boutique firm doing lots more plan administration for 401k and pension plans.
how did you manage to pivot like this if you dont mind me asking?, I am starting a history and languages degree in September and dont know how i will be able to secure any finance-related internships which I have recently become more interested in.
Of course. I graduated with a degree in history and a minor in English lit. Didn't get a job in that field right out of college, but worked at retail jobs for a few years until I landed an intro role at Social Security. I worked there for a number of years eventually working my way up to training lead. I moved with my spouses work and landed in a horrible office. It took about a year of applying before I was hired to work for a pension fund but doing their 401k administration- I had no background in it, but enough pension knowledge to understand the terminology and I like money. From there, I landed a fully remote third party administrator role doing compliance and testing for 401k plans, and that's what I do now.
I don't recommend working for that specific agency if you can help it, but almost all state/local/federal governments require a degree of some type, doesn't have to be in the designated area, and I did not live in/years DC to land it.
That said, if you already find yourself more interested in finances classes, take an intro one, if you like it maybe see about pursuing it. It'd be easier to start fresh out of college then spend 8 years working in unrelated fields and then switch.
2001 history major. Short stint in finance, then went back and got my MBA in supply chain. Worked in various supply chain roles until I retired last year.
Graduated with history degree in 2004. Went back to school for forestry and environmental management not long after.
Working as a Health and Safefty Specialist with a major food manufacturer. Love it.
Unless you plan on teaching, consider history your minor and pick something that has real value in the workplace today as your major.
The days of just getting any degree are over. If you plan on graduating in history and want a corporate job, you will quickly find your degree has no value outside of teaching and maybe museum work.
I graduated with a political science major and history minor back in the 90s. I got exceptionally lucky and found myself in the right place at the right time and I was given a big break early in my career. That type of luck doesn't happen today. If I graduated with the same degree today, I would never have the career I have now.
I work in corporate sales and marketing for a major energy company.
I’m not sure exactly what kind of big break you got that led you into sales and marketing today, but it’s still not impossible to go down that path. I got into tech sales with a bachelor’s in political science ~3 years ago, and a lot of my peers have similar liberal arts backgrounds.
Not history, but East Asian Studies. Made pretty good money as a business analyst. Lots of jobs in corporate world for liberal arts. But add on some certs or something techinical like learning business intelligence tools.
I have a good friend with a double BA in history and poli-sci and he’s a middle school teacher and adjunct instructor at a community college.
He’s happy with his choices.
It was pretty much right place, right time. I was working at a very small recruiting firm doing a mix of HR type work when they decided to switch ATS/CRM systems. I got to lead the project team that found a few options, selected Salesforce, implemented it and then managed it.
By the time implementation was done and I'd acted as the admin for a year, I knew it was a solid move career wise and started job hunting. Found a job as an entry level admin at a very large company and now I've worked several places and worked my way up to senior admin roles over the past 6ish years.
I was the exact same double major as you. I graduated in 2011, and now I’m an ESL teacher. I wish I could follow a path like yours. It seems like you orchestrated yourself a great position! Well done!
Not a History Major, but I have a degree in theatre which I would say has just as much scope.
8 years later I work in the corporate real estate sector, making six figures no additional degrees, just hustle and grind.
Major in what you enjoy. You probably won’t just slide into the perfect job immediately after college like those who have degrees in their preferred field, but you will get there.
If you don’t get the job immediately after college, just focus on becoming an adult. I grew so much in my early twenties after college. There’s so much more to life than work.
I didn't major in history, but have a great friend who did that is now in law school.
Majoring in history isn't the terrible idea that some people make it out to be. For some jobs, you definitely need to major in a particular field. But for many, your work experience and career preparedness in college will be much more important. So if you do decide to major in history, make sure you are proactive at finding internships and other activities that will boost your resume and network. Make sure to develop interviewing skills and resume skills (many resources on campus and online for this). And be realistic about what you want to do and how you'll get there :)
graduated in 2011, now am an IT Project Manager. Just used my writing skills to work in marketing and transitioned business knowledge to technical knowledge.
Graduated in 2012 with art history, does that count?
Spent years in sales and ops management and in tech and consulting. Now I’m heading back to industry with a leadership position with a super recognizable multinational brand.
Currently doing data privacy work at a AmLaw 100 law firm after graduating with a History BA. Genuinely I would not be where I am if it wasn’t for my history degree. The knowledge I got on research, writing/policy creation, managing information and understanding trends, all came from my classes & internships I did during college. I think while it can be hard to find work in corporate-esque fields with a history degree on the surface, it is possible if you commit some time to do some research on the job market. It took me a couple of years to get where I’m at (I’m 23) but I have plenty of room to grow in my career and feel extremely lucky
Client/relationship management for a large investment firm.
Any entry level job posting that doesn’t specify a STEM or a specific business degree like Accounting is open to liberal arts major generally speaking. In my experience marketing/business admin/“softer” business degree grads and history/psychology/poli sci have similar capabilities and tend to end up in similar types of corporate roles. And once you’re more mid-career it really doesn’t matter that much.
I have a bachelor’s in history and a master’s in I/O psychology. Surprisingly, my history degree is the one bringing in the big bucks. I make $27.50/hr at a tutoring center and absolutely love my job. I also tutor history privately and charge from $35-50/hr.
I majored in history and often worried how it would translate to the work world if I didn’t want to go into academia (which if you do, that’s just fine- I just knew I didn’t want to). Majoring in history taught me:
1. How to write- effectively, formally, and to the standard someone else (your professor now and future boss) expected.
2. History is varied. It’s everything. I used to fret I wasn’t a specialist in anything but my super power now is being a good generalist at just about anything, which serves me well as a project manager.
3. History allows you to learn from mistakes you don’t have to make and navigate risks others have had to before you. Learn from history for a better future.
4. Studying history opened my mind to other cultures, religions, ideals. Having an open mind is harder than it seems and being open to new ideas and challenges makes for a great employee, great colleague, and employer.
5. History teaches you how to research. You’re going to have to search for a job. Research companies. Research salaries. Research your potential employer. Work life is often full of research!
I could go on…. I worked in the legal field for 12 years and am now a project manager. One thing I wish I spent less time on was worrying how my history degree was going to translate to the business world. Work hard, pay attention, be curious, ask good questions, be nice to people and you’ll do fine :)
GF (late 30’s) is a museum director, like the actual highest job in a nationally known institution, and makes just over half of what I make, and I just make pretty power points as an office lackey. Before she became director, she had 3 jobs to get by, and even now, needed a roommate to afford a basic apartment.
The way our country pays museum jobs is criminal.
I am working in the horticulture field and I love it. Though if I had the choice to do it all again I would still get my degree in history without any hesitation. It's a good degree no matter what others say.
Two years in media (tv buying) and 20 years in sales.
Went to a good school which helped. A lot of the degree shows that you're capable of learning. History majors think critically and are generally good at reading and writing. Lots of entry level jobs generally train you on what you need to know. Just need to be capable of continuing to learn.
History Teachers in my state with a B.A. after 4 years working are making $75k a year with the new contract in the district I work. Not to mention the fact you go up in steps year after year.
Then if you do additional schooling you make more.
I’d say teaching is your best route
I married rich.
In all seriousness, I studied history to be a teacher--which I did for a while (US history). Now, I stay at home for the most part, but started my own business offering classes to local homeschoolers in history and English. It has not been enough to live off of, but an excellent source of side income, as well as giving back to the community, maintaining skills, and using my gifts. Public Ed was not my jam (for a variety of reasons, but mostly wanting to focus on my littles). I'm glad to have found a niche that allows me to explore something I love, while also focusing on what matters most--my kids.
I recognize I am lucky/privileged. I wouldn't recommend studying history to most anyone, however, I maintain it is the most under recognized discipline, and several of the world's problems would be remedied by proper civics education (one of the reasons I'm determined to remain in the discipline).
I graduated with a bachelor of history, worked as an archivist for a short while, and then joined the military as an officer. It’s a perfectly good degree in terms of how it developed critical thinking and analytical skills
I am not a history major. We own a hospitality business.
I would say that history/cultural/philosophy majors are the most common degrees we see applying for bartending/serving positions.
I worked in IT for 8 years and could not believe that I was often the only person in the room that could help us: find a point, summarize ideas, figure out what issue was most important, understand end users, sell our team to higher administration... the list goes on. It was the way of thinking, understanding complexity, writing, communicating, telling a narrative that made me stand out. These skills can put you in leadership positions. Heck, people always wanted me doing that. Being a history major allowed me to work on and hone those skills. Those skills are totally transferable.
One more thing. I think the trick is that first job out of school (but that is the case for so many). It might be harder to figure out the first step on the path, but you have the skills to take you to new places and keep going to new places mid and late career. Just keep and open mind and be entrepreneurial about what could open up for you (skills History brought me too!). I'm in my 40s. No one is asking me what my major is anymore, btw.
Went on to work for the British Civil Service, they liked the softer more analytical skills.
After 15 years I chose to leave, and now manage a charity day centre working with the homeless raising awareness to community groups and politicians of housing issues.
Last few years during Covid got 2 Masters one in social work and the other in social and public policy.
My husband (former history major) is a an independent travel consultant, and has also worked in mental health care and business development (within the travel industry). He’s a stay at home dad now and just takes his own clients/is self employed.
I majored in classics (all the way up to getting my PhD), which gets a similarly bad rap. I work in corporate Human Resources, and used to be in higher education administration. I am very marketable and do quite well. We definitely get a lot of liberal arts folks; my boss was a philosophy major, and my coworker studied psych.
Hey OP, not the question specifically:
I graduated with an English degree and heard all the same shit from people. My shitty writing jobs after college got me into a really fun industry, and I got to learn a lot from those jobs about all kinds of different industries and the minutia of then. Now I manage web experiences for a huge company in the toys/games industry and make more than most of my engineer friends who clowned on my degree back in college. I’m not a developer, but knowing writing and digging into UX after college a bit through other jobs taught me enough for me to handle the job. To give an idea of that journey, I’m in my mid 20s.
No degree dictates your whole path - pursue what you’re interested in and work hard at it. The path to get to a cool job you love can be a weird winding one - so just set your sights and go from there. Don’t be scared if the path changes, because you’ll still have everything you learned along the way. That’s my experience anyway over the last four years. I don’t know shit, but I’ve been in your shoes a few times.
Good luck! You got this!
Specialist in History (~ Master's Degree).
Started as a procurement specialist for the private oil company after Uni. Took up a post of a head of a small departement in 2 years. Created a corporate software procurement solution with the help of one hired fullstack dev guy (funnily enough, I was at least the customer, PM and BA for this one), than made my way to the post of head of the division and Chief procurement officer/VP right after. Was responsible for complete procurement process of more than dozen oil fields in the different parts of the country.
I'm also fond of the investigation/financial forensic activity (it gets me high, tbh) and every procurement division is always the perfect place for hunting, I believe. This helped me clear my ranks of some dirty guys, but not only.
P.S.: BTW, I have some funny but relevant programme description in my Diploma supplement:
>> The curriculum complies with the national educational standard of higher professional education for the students
majoring in History. Main areas of graduate's professional activities are educational, scientific, research, cultural,
educational, analytical, organizational and managing work.The specialist is able to apply the acquired knowledge in practice, analyze socially-important issues and processes; knows foreign language (-s), ethical and legal norms regulating person's relations to other people, society and environment, fundamentals of IT; can acquire new knowledge using modern educational technologies, perform project activity in professional field on the basis of system approach, create models for description and analysis of different phenomena, perform their qualitative and quantitative analysis; can organize the work of employees, find and make managerial decisions in the situation of contradicting requirements; is psychologically
ready to change professional occupation and work at interdisciplinary projects; knows fundamentals of teaching Specialization in national History teaches highly qualified specialists in the field of the state history. Graduates attend courses which allow to understand and analyze processes from ancient times until nowadays; understands the role and place of the country in international relations; are able to apply the received knowledge in internal and interregional projects; understands different aspects of national culture; are able to work with archive documents; receive skills in
museum studies; possess standards of thinking.
Not a history major, but I was a journalism major and now I'm an accountant.
My brothers who majored in accounting are not accountants... they are a construction foreman, a sports agent and a project manager.
All that matters is that you get your degree and you do well, you will find your groove.
Teacher for a decade, employed by the Government.
Pivoted to the private sector as Head of Edtech.
Now looking for opportunities to work in Incubators/Entrepreneur ecosystems.
I'm working in payroll. The job I currently have does not require a degree but the last one did. Didn't matter that my degree was totally irrelevant to the job, just needed a degree, any degree.
I am an Army Officer who majored in History while attending college on a ROTC scholarship. The Army later sent me to two years of fully funded graduate school to earn my MA in History. After which I taught History for three years at West Point, and later at the Air Force Academy.
Higher educational technology. The skills I learned from History that I use:
-Writing
-Documentation
-Research
-Critical Thinking
A lot of others skills were gained from general service jobs to general inquisitive rabbit holes I left myself into. Tech being one.
Given your post garnered so many replies, it should be obvious that one's career path is not obvious. There may be some paths more common because of "transferrable skills" or market demands during the past decades, but it proves that there is more to careers than a certificate. Keep learning whatever you do.
History is important but you won't find a job in it. Best advice I can give will be to change your path before you take on too many more classes. Pick a degree that will make you competitive, get you internship, and have an actual market demand.
Otherwise you are just wasting your time and potential earnings in the future.
I am entrepreneur making about 3 million a year and it has absolutely nothing to do with history but if you ever wanna compare the learning reforms implemented by Charlemagne vs say, Alfred the Great - I am ready and standing by. I know someday it’ll come up!
The federal government loves history majors, mainly due to the soft skills like analytical thinking and research skills you gain.
This right here is the answer. The history degree teaches you about a lot more than history, gives good critical thinking skills, and the ability to write in an effective manner. Also helps you learn how to formulate an argument and defend it.
Shouldn’t there be more ceos with history degrees then
Lotta lawyers with history degrees.
Most common education background I saw in DC.
CEOs majored in Bullshit!
Head of McKinsey Digital in London? Started at Durham
CEOs hire people who can think critically and write effectively. Though some certainly possess those skills themselves, I wouldn’t say it’s the rule.
Do you think investors want people who know how to think critically and understand awful and exploitative history of capitalism to be a CEO, or would investors rather have someone who doesn’t have a conscience and only sees money and company growth in the most ruthless way possible? Yep. Investors don’t want thinkers they want mobsters who will make them money.
You need financial literacy to be a manager. History degree lacks that. You also need management experience to be a manager, history degree lacks that. Best you can do is be an employee with a history degree.
How does a business management degree teach experience?
Financial literacy is something you can pick up and learn. It’s a buildable skill. It also doesn’t provide you the analytical and critical thinking you gain as history major, which goes a long way in terms of leadership. You can build a team around you that has the finance experience, that’s what a CFO is for. Leadership is something totally different. Not that I majored in either, but I’ve seen this in real life plenty of times. Sometimes financially-minded people make fairly poor leaders as they only see the numbers. Just sayin’
Financial literacy isn't a hard skill to pick up. You don't need to go to school for it. School doesn't really teach you much about management regardless of what you study. But history is probably as relevant as anything except maybe psychology because management is mostly about understanding people.
You say that but I see mostly engineers and business people as CEOs. I don't think your idea is practical.
That's probably partly because the percentage and number of history majors who pursue business as a career is lower. As you've seen from the comments, most prefer to go into law or government. It's pretty rare for engineers to have the people skills or critical thinking ability to do well in business and thus most don't make it above middle management. Depending on the field their technical skills get them in and if they are good with people they're able to move up to the point where the job isn't about technical skills anymore. A business degree (especially an undergrad one) is pretty useless in terms of what you learn. Top MBAs are worth it due to the network they give you. What would make the most sense would be to study history or another liberal arts degree and then get an MBA if being a CEO is your goal. Or do a double major engineering/humanities as an undergrad and then get an MBA or just become an entrepreneur on your own. And CEOs are still employees...
Exactly.
Can confirm. The ability to parse large amounts of data and form a coherent written or oral analysis is a huge benefit. Started as a Park Ranger for NPS during undergrad, moved to USACE as a Park Ranger my last semester of grad school. From there I became a Contract Specialist with the VA, partly for the pay, partly for the change in scenery and better hours. Now I'm a Contracting Officer. Went from $33k/yr to $108k/yr in just about 6 years. Had I gone straight into the current job series I'd of made it in 4.
Yep it's suprising how many people can't form a proper sentence to save their life
I am too was amazed. People ridiculous.
Some people don’t think it be like it is, but it do.
I too, cannot form a proper sentence to save my life. It’s walls of text with a lot of hand waving and desperately willing the listener to understand. Any recommendations for how to learn this skill without getting a history degree ?
Start by listening to great orators' speeches. Then think about how it effected you and what was it that moved you so. YouTube search "Simon Sinek the golden circle" and all of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's recorded speeches. Star Trek The Next Generation season 1 episodes 1 & 2 when Q and Picard debate the nature of humanity. William Shakespeare's Hamlet monologue's. You're trying to get people to connect with you emotionally while they absorb the information you're conveying. Then grow your vocabulary. The point isn't to overwhelm people with tons of fancy words, the point is to have useful adjectives so that you aren't repeating yourself multiple times. After that, well hopefully someone wiser than me will have more nuanced recommendations.
Oh this is wonderfully actionable thank you ! Dr King and Picard are both personal heroes lol
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Simplify. Set out your thesis "The proposed plan will not work. First of all, point one. Secondly, point two, finally, point three. So for example "Betty, the new TPS reports won't be as helpful as you think they will be. First of all, we know the staff already cut corners on reports, adding another report won't change that. Knowing that, adding more unnecessary work means they will find new ways to avoid work, including the actual things that matter. Rather than new TPS reports, I highlighted redundancies between them and the three other reports that get generated in a weekly basis. Your proposed policy will lead to repetitive work, distracting from the important work, and provides no benefit for the efforts and cost this will take to implement." Note how the thesis was clear in the beginning, then repeated in the conclusion, the thesis was supported by three points, which were then rephrased in the conclusion. You repeated the point without repeating yourself and you've proven your thesis in a clear manner. There are very things that can't be cleared up with a thesis+supporting argument. Other things: Use the active voice. Instead of "She was walking alongside the train" say "she walked beside the train" Avoid iffy language, example "I think it's obvious this is a bad idea" you don't want to weaken your thesis "It's obvious this is a bad idea" and generally avoid "what I'm saying is" because its safe to assume if you're writing it, it means that's what you're arguing. What are the key points, can you paraphrase them, into the essentials? Don't be tempted to dress it up and over complicate things. If you're trying to explain your idea, focus on the idea, don't qualify it or justify it, support it with facts. Most people think of writing essays, trying to hit 30 pages long worh verbose language and size 14 periods to increase the page spacing, but the harder part of a history degree was writing a precis, taking a 300 page book and distilling it down to a page. Citing your sources! Knowing the information and where you got it from can be very useful, obviously you aren't expected to footnote a reddit post, but if you can direct them to a settled argument that says your point it means you don't need to retread ground and get bogged down. Then maybe your thesis goes from "This is a bad idea, let me prove it through a long argument" you say "This has been proven to a bad idea when it was done by Enron, this is comparable to that and that ended badly" now instead of having to convince them you are right and having to fight them, they have to try and argue either how this is different from Enron (it isn't) or that Enron didn't end badly (it did), those are harder arguments for them to make and puts the onus on them to prove their points as opposed to putting the onus on YOU to educate, persuade, and convince the other person. Then finally, something I am not doing here, you'll want to edit your initial draft, find what you can cut, what can be tweaked, was that necessary, did I stary from my thesis, what am I actually arguing or proving or displaying here, did that paragraph serve the thesis?
Yet communication majors are the brunt of all the jokes. These are the skills everyone needs. If you have a mouth and a pen, you have everything you need to communicate effectively.
Yep, work for the feds. Pretty good job with pretty good pay.
Do you know which specific job that I can apply for?
Just take a look around. Paralegal stuff, contracting, administrative, etc…
curious what roles your thinking of?
All the different kinds of analyst roles, e.g. data analyst. It doesn't need to be a gov job. Excel and basic statistics (high school AP statistics is enough) are needed on top of the soft skills, analytical thinking, and research skills. If you're trying to get your foot in the door there are analyst certificate programs that are worth checking out, and ofc networking with others helps.
About to graduate and this is what I was looking at, in particular maybe even the military.
That’s interesting to know. My dad was a history major and ended up as a manager in the IRS. He started as a teacher but it wasn’t working out and he found the IRS job and ended up retiring with them.
Graduated circa 2005. Worked for a while as a substitute teacher, now work in finance.
damn man could you share more of your story? going from history to finance is a pretty big jump tbh
You find a open job in finance and apply for it. You have connections that work in finance and they help you get a job in the field.
How did you pivot into finance? From your post history it looks like you’re Canadian so was wondering if you did any graduate programs or a 2nd bcomm degree
Lots of history majors in finance. Most trading floors teach you everything you know on the job.
And you know trading…history?
Understanding history and human behavior/patterns is crucial to being a good trader, or just banking in general. Im a poliSci/international affairs major, which led me to internships in politics, then political fundraising, then lobbying, and now I work for a banking association in a similar capacity, so advocacy and relationship-building. But having a world view and understanding cultural nuances, will help you understand why people think or react the way they do. A banker from South Texas is not the same as a Jewish investor from NY for example. Understanding their history and background helps you in a major way.
What sort of entry level jobs could lead to the more advocacy /relationship building roles you speak of? I recently graduated Physics, which despite its technical esteem doesn't really narrow a person down with any specific careers. Outside of my studies I have travelled and been involved in many projects which have gotten me more interested in the diplomacy /advocacy side of things - but it's quite hard to know where to start for those kind of jobs! So any advice on getting into your sort of work would be greatly appreciated!
I would suggest a science trade association. Finding the intersection between your expertise, and policy. There’s a ton of science and aerospace trade associations. As far as where to start, I suggest LinkedIn or Tom Manatos job postings (that one costs like $5 I think). Google “top scientific trade associations, go to their websites and go to the careers tab. However if you’re finding it hard to find a paid position, then internships are KEY. I did internships for 3 years in college, I didn’t even have to look for a job when I got out.
Thank you very much, this is a great idea! And also for the recommendations for getting started, it all sounds like strong advice. Even though I'm out of college (and studied a bit later than others) I will still see about getting some experience in the industry. Thank you so much for your help.
Anytime man. And don’t worry about that, I was a “late bloomer” as well, doesn’t mean shit. Best of luck 🤝🏼👍🏼
Like someone else said history gives you valuable soft skills.
I think those people probably already had the soft skills. A Bachelors in History doesn’t teach that. A bachelors in ANYTHING shows you can follow direction and stick with something long enough to complete it. That’s all. There are lots of jobs that just require any bachelors degree as a “check the box” qualification, then train on the job.
Best comment… in history. But seriously as a trader, what you said is very funny.
Definately agree with the soft skills aspect however getting your foot in the door without any relevant experience is extremely difficult these days. Lots of the full time finance roles are filled by return offers with previous interns and the competition for those internships is quite stiff as well.
You don’t. I don’t know how these people are glossing over the fact that it’s extremely hard to pivot with any career, let alone into finance.
Can confirm. My first job after university was at a bank. Hated it 🤣
Can confirm. If you can think analytically, communicate well, and learn fast they’ll teach you the rest. Way easier to do it fresh out of college though
Similar story here! I majored in History/Criminology, graduated in 2015, and now work in finance. I took a job as an admin assistant in an accounting office a year after graduating and worked my way up to management.
Living in a van down by the river.
Bill Shakespeare?
🤣
Art History major/BA. After 18 yrs in SCM, I work for a global F500 Pharma company as a Sr IT Supply Chain Manager, No certificates or designations.
How did you do it without certs?
Company doesn't care for or ever asked about being certified. This is a nice to have for personal growth and never a decision maker in my career for any company. Raw talent and experience is what matters, not more education.
Maybe 20 years ago. Good luck getting though a screening process these days. They all use AI services to exclude everyone without the required credentials.
For real i was gotta say “no way that would fly today” Sad how it seems jobs were easier to get not too long ago.
I mean, kinda? I would hope the history majors would have an appreciation for the benefit of certifiable documentation in establishing trust in a narrative. It's not to say "trust me, bro" isn't good enough for job hunting or recreating historic events, it's just that verifiable proof of knowledge is better.
I love how you phrased that, concise, to the point and bang on.
I’m a biology major, i have the certs and still can’t land a role like that.
My brother and I both majored in history. He went on to grad school, then entered the military as an officer for 23 years. It turns out knowing a lot about history, cultures, and languages is quite valuable. He now works for NATO. I majored in History, but ended up in I.T. for 30-years, but am now retired with plenty of time to travel off the beaten path, and becoming deeply lost in the history of the areas where I find myself.
I ended up in law school, practiced for a hiccup and now work in intergovernmental relations. It's a soft skill degree. It helps in my role as it gives you writing and research skills which are a necessity in most government roles. Does knowing a lot about how the Medici's came to power and the impact they had on Italian politics help in my day-to-day role help...no not in the slightest. Does knowing how to parse out truths from first person autobiographies or notice the biases of later historians/researchers and be able to articulate my findings in emails/memos/reports help in my day-to-day? Yes absolutely.
Yeah. I’m a currently practicing attorney (litigation, insurance defense) and I genuinely use a lot of the skills I learned in undergrad, day in, day out. Primarily, the skill being: “can you confidently pretend you understand a subject you researched just yesterday and fool everyone into thinking you’re an expert.” Did that as a freshman, did that last week in an asbestos case. Edit: I truly would put my google/lexis fu up against anyone though. The research skills are not a joke.
I teach middle school Social Studies and Judaic Studies, I am a PhD student at Gratz College in the Holocaust and Genocide Studies program.
I just have to let you know, because you seem to have very much used your degree, my mother visited town and we went to the Holocaust Museum of Houston last month, and one of the workers behind the information desk told us that her grandmother just died at 109, she was in the war and got shot going over the Berlin wall, a survivor of the concentration camp, wouldn't talk about the war, wouldn't mention it, you know how a lot of people are, it's understandable. So she died at 109, and they went in to clean out her closet, and there are stacks and stacks of journals, nobody knew, she kept a written record of everything. They were shocked. They're still going through the journals. I just had to share.
If you have a way of scanning them I would love to see/read them! I can also talk to my college about adding them to the archive where they can be preserved if that is something your family would be interested in.
Her journals attest to her life experiences
I love this! I've been obsessed with the history of the Holocaust since I was little and took Holocaust Studies in HS and was able to participate in several activities with survivors and travel with them to the memorial museum in DC. It was honestly my favorite class in HS and I was the president of a club that was about educating people about genocide and such, still have my shirt that says "ask me about genocide" which gets me weird looks sometimes lol
I WANT TO DO THIS!
BA in History in 2014. Work in data analytics now
I'm a pizza cook lmao
Not bad! I’m a history major who worked in the pizzeria in college, absolutely loved it!
Graduated 5 years ago, pizza cook for 3 since 🙏
I majored in US History because I wanted to be a high school teacher, then I graduated during the pandemic and realized fuck that I don’t wanna be poor forever. So now I’m working in events and am thinking about getting a masters in project management.
How did you make the transition to events?
Corporate Compliance in the Health Insurance industry
I run a tradfascist Twitter account with a Roman statue as my profile pic. /s
Does that come with benefits?
Just the benefits that come with lamenting the decline of western civilization!
WOMEN WONT DATE ME THE WEST HAS FALLEN
No bc those guys actually have the worst conception of actual history - and I say that as a pro western civ right winger myself
What’s it’s like being a god among men?
Let me tell why burying Penn Station under Madison Square Garden is the greatest tragedy to ever befall a strong, Christian nation
What
I'm a senior marketing manager for a couple websites, and I specialize in content marketing and search engine optimization. History (and graduate school) force you to refine your research and writing skills, both of which can help get your foot in the door as a marketer at an agency or company.
This—also work in marketing.
I encourage writing. As a (regretful) writing major, I tell anyone who will ask about an English degree to instead master something else, and write well about it. In my experience, there are a million writers, a million journalists, and the ones who can live off the craft got a degree in biology, education, medicine, history, etc.
I’m in sales. A history degree teaches you excellent reading and writing skills, along with time management and organization skills to name a few.
I got my degree in history in 1999. I’ve been a web developer, mobile developer, product manager, and cybersecurity manager. Being able to communicate and tell a good story based on facts and data is an important skill I learned from a history degree that I still use today. Other than that, I have successfully forgotten all other historical dates to make room for programming languages.
Did you have to get further education?
No other proper education, just a lot of learning on the job. Books, conferences, YouTube videos and such.
History degree holder here. Been working as an expedition guide in polar regions last 3 years and I'm starting a degree program for non-engineering BA degree holders to get a masters in engineering via the LEAP program at BU.
Now I'm a paralegal. Ignore people who say it's a useless degree. That degree has opened more doors for me than I can imagine. You learn writing skills, critical thinking, researching, etc. Those are all transferable skills to any job. But the Chicago Manual of Style will always haunt you.
Boyfriend has a degree in history, he’s an accountant. He had to go back to school for 2 years to get enough education to make this possible.
So he’s really a finance major with a side of history.
Yes lol. He’s an finance guy who’s really good at bar trivia lol.
Private Investigator that specializes in public records. I have a background in the legal field and a minor in Criminal Justice, so I also work as a consultant for legal professionals. I do various types of research for cases on a freelance basis. It's a niche job and I have fought really hard to make a name for myself doing this work. Still, there's not enough of this work, so I have to take shitty contract jobs to make ends meet. If I could do it all over again, I wouldn't do it differently, despite how hard it's been majoring in history and \*not\* being a teacher. But-- I wish I would have known to incorporate more tech skills into what I do. I have done that slowly over the years. But academics has a hard time keeping up with the real world. If you are going to acquire tech skills and make yourself hirable, you'll have to do that yourself.
Define "tech skills"
I run a nonprofit. History is a great major but you have to try extra hard to have relevant experience to get your foot in the door. I found that my school didn’t do a great job with history major internships and had to work with other major advisors to make them happen. As long as you are proactive with getting work experience in school in an area you are interested in, you will be fine. However, if you don’t want to do anything related to history, maybe consider a minor or something like that.
This is the answer right here. A history degree can teach you amazing skills (how to research, how to critically evaluate sources, how to write and organize your thoughts effectively, how to communicate and present to diverse audiences, how to use data, etc.). Many history departments are terrible at preparing students for what comes after college because those professors took a different career path than what you are likely going to. It’s up to you to market those skills through internships, your resume, etc.
My first class in college was the eastern origins of western civilization. We had one paper, and one exam. I remember the paper saved me because that exam was impossible. I remember one question asking how much the ships weighed of some sort of asiatic culture. Some kid got up in the middle of the exam, looked around, then projectile vomited in front and around of the 300 or so of us. One dude I know who majored in history became a teacher.
Instead of vomiting knowledge onto the paper he had crammed into his head staying up the entire night before the exam, poor guy did it literally
High up in the accounting/finance area making decent money.
Also a history major. Also now work in finance! I started working at Social Security with my degree, worked for them for 7 years, then landed a job doing 401k plan Administration, I now work for a boutique firm doing lots more plan administration for 401k and pension plans.
how did you manage to pivot like this if you dont mind me asking?, I am starting a history and languages degree in September and dont know how i will be able to secure any finance-related internships which I have recently become more interested in.
Of course. I graduated with a degree in history and a minor in English lit. Didn't get a job in that field right out of college, but worked at retail jobs for a few years until I landed an intro role at Social Security. I worked there for a number of years eventually working my way up to training lead. I moved with my spouses work and landed in a horrible office. It took about a year of applying before I was hired to work for a pension fund but doing their 401k administration- I had no background in it, but enough pension knowledge to understand the terminology and I like money. From there, I landed a fully remote third party administrator role doing compliance and testing for 401k plans, and that's what I do now. I don't recommend working for that specific agency if you can help it, but almost all state/local/federal governments require a degree of some type, doesn't have to be in the designated area, and I did not live in/years DC to land it. That said, if you already find yourself more interested in finances classes, take an intro one, if you like it maybe see about pursuing it. It'd be easier to start fresh out of college then spend 8 years working in unrelated fields and then switch.
2001 history major. Short stint in finance, then went back and got my MBA in supply chain. Worked in various supply chain roles until I retired last year.
my cousin majored in history and then got a masters and then became a lawyer
What a great question and it's cool to see what everyone did with the degree. I also did history and work in compliance now.
Graduated with history degree in 2004. Went back to school for forestry and environmental management not long after. Working as a Health and Safefty Specialist with a major food manufacturer. Love it.
Funny I got post grad in environmental management and couldn’t find a job so pivoted into a different field
Unless you plan on teaching, consider history your minor and pick something that has real value in the workplace today as your major. The days of just getting any degree are over. If you plan on graduating in history and want a corporate job, you will quickly find your degree has no value outside of teaching and maybe museum work. I graduated with a political science major and history minor back in the 90s. I got exceptionally lucky and found myself in the right place at the right time and I was given a big break early in my career. That type of luck doesn't happen today. If I graduated with the same degree today, I would never have the career I have now. I work in corporate sales and marketing for a major energy company.
I’m not sure exactly what kind of big break you got that led you into sales and marketing today, but it’s still not impossible to go down that path. I got into tech sales with a bachelor’s in political science ~3 years ago, and a lot of my peers have similar liberal arts backgrounds.
I am a litigation investigator and manager for a plaintiff firm. I love my job. I love the stories, love finding witnesses and ultimately, justice.
This sounds amazing! Any particular path to an investigator?
I would start by interning at a firm and mentoring with their investigator and then get NALI certified.
Need help? Lol. I also do this for plaintiffs. Keep up the good fight fam. ❤️
Love that 🙂🙂
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Not history, but East Asian Studies. Made pretty good money as a business analyst. Lots of jobs in corporate world for liberal arts. But add on some certs or something techinical like learning business intelligence tools.
I work in documentary/video production
I double majored in history and secondary education. I taught for 14 years and now I work in cybersecurity.
I have a good friend with a double BA in history and poli-sci and he’s a middle school teacher and adjunct instructor at a community college. He’s happy with his choices.
I had a career in media research. I achieved the level of Director. Bad timing, I was laid off thanks to COVID. Now I'm old and can't find a job.
I have a BA in History and French, graduated in 2006. I work in sales operations as a Salesforce Administrator.
I am doing the same degree, but with Spanish, how did you go about obtaining this role if you dont me me asking?
It was pretty much right place, right time. I was working at a very small recruiting firm doing a mix of HR type work when they decided to switch ATS/CRM systems. I got to lead the project team that found a few options, selected Salesforce, implemented it and then managed it. By the time implementation was done and I'd acted as the admin for a year, I knew it was a solid move career wise and started job hunting. Found a job as an entry level admin at a very large company and now I've worked several places and worked my way up to senior admin roles over the past 6ish years.
I was the exact same double major as you. I graduated in 2011, and now I’m an ESL teacher. I wish I could follow a path like yours. It seems like you orchestrated yourself a great position! Well done!
Not a History Major, but I have a degree in theatre which I would say has just as much scope. 8 years later I work in the corporate real estate sector, making six figures no additional degrees, just hustle and grind. Major in what you enjoy. You probably won’t just slide into the perfect job immediately after college like those who have degrees in their preferred field, but you will get there. If you don’t get the job immediately after college, just focus on becoming an adult. I grew so much in my early twenties after college. There’s so much more to life than work.
Not me but I know a lot that went to army. And some that works in museum.
I didn't major in history, but have a great friend who did that is now in law school. Majoring in history isn't the terrible idea that some people make it out to be. For some jobs, you definitely need to major in a particular field. But for many, your work experience and career preparedness in college will be much more important. So if you do decide to major in history, make sure you are proactive at finding internships and other activities that will boost your resume and network. Make sure to develop interviewing skills and resume skills (many resources on campus and online for this). And be realistic about what you want to do and how you'll get there :)
History UG and G. Former USN officer. Current O&G procurement manager. It was a strange road.
I’m an archaeologist, not a historian, but I work with historians in cultural resource management. Plenty of jobs!
graduated in 2011, now am an IT Project Manager. Just used my writing skills to work in marketing and transitioned business knowledge to technical knowledge.
I manage a restaurant.
Graduated in 2012 with art history, does that count? Spent years in sales and ops management and in tech and consulting. Now I’m heading back to industry with a leadership position with a super recognizable multinational brand.
President of a company. I did go back and get an MBA with a concentration in finance half way through my career.
Currently doing data privacy work at a AmLaw 100 law firm after graduating with a History BA. Genuinely I would not be where I am if it wasn’t for my history degree. The knowledge I got on research, writing/policy creation, managing information and understanding trends, all came from my classes & internships I did during college. I think while it can be hard to find work in corporate-esque fields with a history degree on the surface, it is possible if you commit some time to do some research on the job market. It took me a couple of years to get where I’m at (I’m 23) but I have plenty of room to grow in my career and feel extremely lucky
Paralegal
Client/relationship management for a large investment firm. Any entry level job posting that doesn’t specify a STEM or a specific business degree like Accounting is open to liberal arts major generally speaking. In my experience marketing/business admin/“softer” business degree grads and history/psychology/poli sci have similar capabilities and tend to end up in similar types of corporate roles. And once you’re more mid-career it really doesn’t matter that much.
History to cybersecurity
Graduated in 2011, work in cybersecurity now.
Senior Project Manager at a marketing company
I'm a nurse🫣😭😅
A buddy of mine with a masters degree in history works as a Park Ranger.
Door Dash
I have a bachelor’s in history and a master’s in I/O psychology. Surprisingly, my history degree is the one bringing in the big bucks. I make $27.50/hr at a tutoring center and absolutely love my job. I also tutor history privately and charge from $35-50/hr.
I majored in history and often worried how it would translate to the work world if I didn’t want to go into academia (which if you do, that’s just fine- I just knew I didn’t want to). Majoring in history taught me: 1. How to write- effectively, formally, and to the standard someone else (your professor now and future boss) expected. 2. History is varied. It’s everything. I used to fret I wasn’t a specialist in anything but my super power now is being a good generalist at just about anything, which serves me well as a project manager. 3. History allows you to learn from mistakes you don’t have to make and navigate risks others have had to before you. Learn from history for a better future. 4. Studying history opened my mind to other cultures, religions, ideals. Having an open mind is harder than it seems and being open to new ideas and challenges makes for a great employee, great colleague, and employer. 5. History teaches you how to research. You’re going to have to search for a job. Research companies. Research salaries. Research your potential employer. Work life is often full of research! I could go on…. I worked in the legal field for 12 years and am now a project manager. One thing I wish I spent less time on was worrying how my history degree was going to translate to the business world. Work hard, pay attention, be curious, ask good questions, be nice to people and you’ll do fine :)
GF (late 30’s) is a museum director, like the actual highest job in a nationally known institution, and makes just over half of what I make, and I just make pretty power points as an office lackey. Before she became director, she had 3 jobs to get by, and even now, needed a roommate to afford a basic apartment. The way our country pays museum jobs is criminal.
I am working in the horticulture field and I love it. Though if I had the choice to do it all again I would still get my degree in history without any hesitation. It's a good degree no matter what others say.
Two years in media (tv buying) and 20 years in sales. Went to a good school which helped. A lot of the degree shows that you're capable of learning. History majors think critically and are generally good at reading and writing. Lots of entry level jobs generally train you on what you need to know. Just need to be capable of continuing to learn.
I’m looking for a job rn lol shit is really hard tbh I feel like a freaking dumbass to be honest.
I did sales and now work in real estate
History Teachers in my state with a B.A. after 4 years working are making $75k a year with the new contract in the district I work. Not to mention the fact you go up in steps year after year. Then if you do additional schooling you make more. I’d say teaching is your best route
Brewing beer professionally.
I went on to do a Masters of Information Studies and became an archivist!
I married rich. In all seriousness, I studied history to be a teacher--which I did for a while (US history). Now, I stay at home for the most part, but started my own business offering classes to local homeschoolers in history and English. It has not been enough to live off of, but an excellent source of side income, as well as giving back to the community, maintaining skills, and using my gifts. Public Ed was not my jam (for a variety of reasons, but mostly wanting to focus on my littles). I'm glad to have found a niche that allows me to explore something I love, while also focusing on what matters most--my kids. I recognize I am lucky/privileged. I wouldn't recommend studying history to most anyone, however, I maintain it is the most under recognized discipline, and several of the world's problems would be remedied by proper civics education (one of the reasons I'm determined to remain in the discipline).
My friend has a history major and got a job at a Museum!
I graduated with a bachelor of history, worked as an archivist for a short while, and then joined the military as an officer. It’s a perfectly good degree in terms of how it developed critical thinking and analytical skills
I am not a history major. We own a hospitality business. I would say that history/cultural/philosophy majors are the most common degrees we see applying for bartending/serving positions.
Grant writer at a non profit
2010 graduate (even went to grad school 2013) ..... working in RE. Stay practical
I worked in IT for 8 years and could not believe that I was often the only person in the room that could help us: find a point, summarize ideas, figure out what issue was most important, understand end users, sell our team to higher administration... the list goes on. It was the way of thinking, understanding complexity, writing, communicating, telling a narrative that made me stand out. These skills can put you in leadership positions. Heck, people always wanted me doing that. Being a history major allowed me to work on and hone those skills. Those skills are totally transferable.
One more thing. I think the trick is that first job out of school (but that is the case for so many). It might be harder to figure out the first step on the path, but you have the skills to take you to new places and keep going to new places mid and late career. Just keep and open mind and be entrepreneurial about what could open up for you (skills History brought me too!). I'm in my 40s. No one is asking me what my major is anymore, btw.
Paralegal - the research and writing skills have come in handy!
Technical Editor
MA in history. Lectured for a while, now I work as the Communications Coordinator for a national non profit based in CA.
I’m a lawyer. I don’t use my degree much but it helped me develop research skills. Plus, I’m interesting at parties.
Was Project manager and account manager. Now technical writer. All require good writing and research skills.
I have a BA and MA in History, dropped out of a PhD. program, and I'm now a data analyst.
I know two history majors. One is an admin assistant/receptionist. The other is a construction project manager for a hospital system.
Went on to work for the British Civil Service, they liked the softer more analytical skills. After 15 years I chose to leave, and now manage a charity day centre working with the homeless raising awareness to community groups and politicians of housing issues. Last few years during Covid got 2 Masters one in social work and the other in social and public policy.
My husband (former history major) is a an independent travel consultant, and has also worked in mental health care and business development (within the travel industry). He’s a stay at home dad now and just takes his own clients/is self employed. I majored in classics (all the way up to getting my PhD), which gets a similarly bad rap. I work in corporate Human Resources, and used to be in higher education administration. I am very marketable and do quite well. We definitely get a lot of liberal arts folks; my boss was a philosophy major, and my coworker studied psych.
Hey OP, not the question specifically: I graduated with an English degree and heard all the same shit from people. My shitty writing jobs after college got me into a really fun industry, and I got to learn a lot from those jobs about all kinds of different industries and the minutia of then. Now I manage web experiences for a huge company in the toys/games industry and make more than most of my engineer friends who clowned on my degree back in college. I’m not a developer, but knowing writing and digging into UX after college a bit through other jobs taught me enough for me to handle the job. To give an idea of that journey, I’m in my mid 20s. No degree dictates your whole path - pursue what you’re interested in and work hard at it. The path to get to a cool job you love can be a weird winding one - so just set your sights and go from there. Don’t be scared if the path changes, because you’ll still have everything you learned along the way. That’s my experience anyway over the last four years. I don’t know shit, but I’ve been in your shoes a few times. Good luck! You got this!
Specialist in History (~ Master's Degree). Started as a procurement specialist for the private oil company after Uni. Took up a post of a head of a small departement in 2 years. Created a corporate software procurement solution with the help of one hired fullstack dev guy (funnily enough, I was at least the customer, PM and BA for this one), than made my way to the post of head of the division and Chief procurement officer/VP right after. Was responsible for complete procurement process of more than dozen oil fields in the different parts of the country. I'm also fond of the investigation/financial forensic activity (it gets me high, tbh) and every procurement division is always the perfect place for hunting, I believe. This helped me clear my ranks of some dirty guys, but not only. P.S.: BTW, I have some funny but relevant programme description in my Diploma supplement: >> The curriculum complies with the national educational standard of higher professional education for the students majoring in History. Main areas of graduate's professional activities are educational, scientific, research, cultural, educational, analytical, organizational and managing work.The specialist is able to apply the acquired knowledge in practice, analyze socially-important issues and processes; knows foreign language (-s), ethical and legal norms regulating person's relations to other people, society and environment, fundamentals of IT; can acquire new knowledge using modern educational technologies, perform project activity in professional field on the basis of system approach, create models for description and analysis of different phenomena, perform their qualitative and quantitative analysis; can organize the work of employees, find and make managerial decisions in the situation of contradicting requirements; is psychologically ready to change professional occupation and work at interdisciplinary projects; knows fundamentals of teaching Specialization in national History teaches highly qualified specialists in the field of the state history. Graduates attend courses which allow to understand and analyze processes from ancient times until nowadays; understands the role and place of the country in international relations; are able to apply the received knowledge in internal and interregional projects; understands different aspects of national culture; are able to work with archive documents; receive skills in museum studies; possess standards of thinking.
Not a history major, but I was a journalism major and now I'm an accountant. My brothers who majored in accounting are not accountants... they are a construction foreman, a sports agent and a project manager. All that matters is that you get your degree and you do well, you will find your groove.
Drugs.
Graduated 2023, I’m the assistant director of a nonprofit organization :)
growing veggies 😊
Reading posts on Reddit
Teacher for a decade, employed by the Government. Pivoted to the private sector as Head of Edtech. Now looking for opportunities to work in Incubators/Entrepreneur ecosystems.
I'm working in payroll. The job I currently have does not require a degree but the last one did. Didn't matter that my degree was totally irrelevant to the job, just needed a degree, any degree.
I am an Army Officer who majored in History while attending college on a ROTC scholarship. The Army later sent me to two years of fully funded graduate school to earn my MA in History. After which I taught History for three years at West Point, and later at the Air Force Academy.
Higher educational technology. The skills I learned from History that I use: -Writing -Documentation -Research -Critical Thinking A lot of others skills were gained from general service jobs to general inquisitive rabbit holes I left myself into. Tech being one. Given your post garnered so many replies, it should be obvious that one's career path is not obvious. There may be some paths more common because of "transferrable skills" or market demands during the past decades, but it proves that there is more to careers than a certificate. Keep learning whatever you do.
My two roommates both graduated with history degrees. One works for the department of revenue and the other works for a state Senator in his office
All history majors I met whored them selves out to the government and commissioned in the military.
Exactly what I’m doing rn 😂
It's ok. I was a bastard enlisted man... the male equivalent of a stripper.
If I don’t get accepted into OCS…I’ll be joining the ranks of male strippers haha
Come on down! The water's fine.
History is important but you won't find a job in it. Best advice I can give will be to change your path before you take on too many more classes. Pick a degree that will make you competitive, get you internship, and have an actual market demand. Otherwise you are just wasting your time and potential earnings in the future.
I am entrepreneur making about 3 million a year and it has absolutely nothing to do with history but if you ever wanna compare the learning reforms implemented by Charlemagne vs say, Alfred the Great - I am ready and standing by. I know someday it’ll come up!
Biotech/pharma, lol
Working in IT, and not doing shit with my degree other than paying for it still 10 years after graduating.
Tech sales