Degree in History. What can I do with it?

[bjf1]

No rude replies please!
Have no idea what to do about looking for employment, but would like to think that I did not waste 3 years at uni.
So what area of employment should I be looking at?

Well what are you interested in?
You'll prob need to forkout for another course eg one year to train as an archivist
Or a pgce to be a history teacher
One year to train to be a professional curator at a museum
Of course museums & archives are losing funding left right & centre because of local council funding cuts
So history teacher your best bet

I have a history degree, albeit from nearly twenty years ago.

I think it is a fantastic schooling in researching information, questioning evidence, finding patterns, arguments, knowing what to disregard, what is important and how to summarise succinctly.

It is a great qualification for all kinds of research and writing based jobs.

become a historian?

Can't afford more training, and apparently, although I have a Degree, I can't do a PGCE as I don't have the maths qualification needed to do it.
Would love to become an archivist, but can't, as I say, afford it.
I wish I'd picked business studies now.

I've done history and now work in a completely unrelated job in purchasing, which I love. I don't see my time at uni as wasted though, as studying history tought me a lot of transferrable skills which make me better at my current job. The history part was just the vehicle to learn these skills.

I'd try and join a graduate scheme of some sort and bang a professional qualification on top of it.

Hi I have degrees in
History and archaeology and have worked for years as both a archaeologist and historian-are you interested in archaeology? I have known history graduates find work with arch organisations cataloging/researching BAJR website is a good place to start. If you want to work in museum archives you will either need another qualification or failing that can you do any voluntary work experience locally? Experience is sometimes ok instead of a formal qualification . You could look at jobs that re enact history eg a roman museum
Guide? Freelance writing or research is also a good possibility though this requires a lot of legwork to find organisations needing such and a portfolio of writing/research is always a good idea. Just to note history does not pay well but I absolutely love my job,
It has taken Years but now I do freelance research, dig abroad a few times a year and am completing a funded phd so it is possible. Any questions feel free to ask.

Policy Civil Servant? There are loads of history graduates. Involves researching a subject area, managing relevant stakeholders, developing and drafting sensible advice based on the evidence and political context. I know the Civil Service is not recruiting much at the moment but loads of other organisations (charities etc) need similar roles. Is there any subject you are particually interested in? You may be able to target work in a relevant field.

The only historian I know works in publishing, but I think that's a fluke.

I am an accountant but did take 4 years of training. Am in a specialist area so it's more study skills/ways of analysing Info that have come in useful.

Gosh thanks for the replies all.
Wow, Mama1980, would love to get into arche and museum work, but no idea where to start.
I must add that I graduated just before DS1 was born and he is now 10. So have spent those years having 2 more DCs and being a SAHM.
I don't really have much to offer in work exp.

I'm a historian and a museum professional.
If you're interested in museum/archeo, the best thing to do is to get down to your local museum and try some voluntary work - you would be unlikely to get accepted on any course or in any job without it. 'Tis great fun anyway
On the negative side though, local authority and national museums are being slashed left, right and centre with a lot of excellent people being made redundant and whole areas of museum services are being shut or severely reduced in scale. It's not a good time to consider museum/archeo/archive work as a career because not only are there very few jobs (it's always been a highly competive area at best of times) there are now loads of unemployed museum professionals competing for jobs. I'm still in a job at the mo but am v nervous of the future. My teenage dd loves the idea of archeology but I've had to have a hard and realistic discussion with her to put her off

There only used to be one postgrad course - museums studies at Leicester university which is still best regarded. However, there are now very many museums/heritage courses all over the place - some are good but some tbh not worth paper they're written on. But as I said, before you even get to think about that you'd need quite a bit of voluntary experieince under your belt anyway.

I think History is a discipline that has lots of transferable skills though.

there is a fair bit of archaeology work about try BAJR for a idea of what's available, some
Will take you with little experience, others can offer internships. Initially the pay was awful but now I earn more than my partner Who is a senior teacher -perseverance and enthusiasm is the key. With the summer excavations coming up now is a good time to send out your cv or make enquiries to a lot of arch companies or local museums. my dd 14 wants to be a archaeologist at the moment and I encourage her totally

Undercover, when you say you are an Historian, what exactly do you mean?
This probably sound like a stupid question, but what exactly do you do for a living as a "Historian"?

I mean that I've got a first degree in History - I also have a masters in history which I did a few years later. Sorry that probably wasn't very clear!

I wanted to continue with history, but like you wasn't quite sure what to 'do' with it. I did some trial voluntary work in museums, archeo and archives during summers as a student. Also considered history as an academic ie phd and lecturing in university. Though the latter was more my interest in some ways, I really liked the museum experience of communicating with wider audiences than that in academia, so museum work it was. Never considered teaching (in school) as at the time I hated kids and would involve teaching lots of modern history which I really wasn't interested in.

I was unemployed for a v long time after graduating (this was back in the 80's) during which i did voluntary work and then short-term paid contract work, eventually getting a permanent job. My current position is more managing/running a museum rather than any day-to-day curatorial work and research which is something I miss.

I never did a specific museums/heritage degree and to be perfectly honest it's not the only route in or (in my personal view) strictly necessary. When we recruit broadly what we look for is:

• academic ability such as good degree in relevant subject, to prove that you know how to research stuff
• genuine interest, commitment and experience - ie voluntary work
• communication skills, ideas of how to engage with visitors and audiences
• organisation skills to deliver displays, events, research projects etc

I find organisation skills particularly appealing as to be perfectly frank having a bleedin' phd in some aspect of museology ain't no use whatsoever unless you know how to organise a piss up in a brewery as well

Per McCurly's post, lots of transferable skills - I joined the graduate scheme of a major company and find I've got an advantage vs. my colleagues when it comes to being able to process and critically asses information quickly and present back in a sensible manner.

Ah, I see, thanks for clarifying that for me.