Tell me about a career in academia?

[FlamingoBingo]

Ok, I love history - I'm passionate about history. I should have studied it in the first place, but I was kind of fed into a nursing degree by a lifetime of being told what a good nurse I'd make. Now I'm in a position to think about my long-term future. I'm going to start an OU history degree in October this year. I expect to get a very good degree and would like to be able to have a career in history. Several people have mentioned academia to me and this really, really appeals.

I already am self-employed facilitating classes of adults and really, really enjoy it - I enjoy spouting about subjects that are close to my heart and I think I'm good at it.

So, although I know it's all a long way off, what would I do after my degree to get into that career? What happens next?

(oh, and this really is a long-term plan - think 15 years!)

Bumping - there have got to be some academics around somewhere?

Sorry, I don't have much time for a long message, but just wanted to give a quick reply. I'm a historian/academic. In order to get a permanent position as a history lecturer in higher education, you will need a first degree (more than likely a first class), a Master's and Ph.D. (You could likely get hourly paid work with just a Masters, but that comes with no job stability, no benefits and general exploitation.)

Once you get that far, the job situation for new History Ph.D's wanting to get into academia is generally difficult, and right now it's absolutely terrible. (In my field, think maybe 5 jobs per year, nationwide, during a good year.)

After getting my Ph.D I took a 10 month temporary position 250 miles away from DH. (I travelled back and forth each weekend.) Thankfully, I was then offered a permanent position elsewhere. This involved DH leaving his much-loved job and moving hundreds of miles to another part of the country, which is 100's of miles away from both sets of family. It took him 6 months to find a job here (which he really doesn't enjoy.) It's no coincidence that many academics are single (and, if not, they're often childless.) I know a number of other people who undertook numerous temporary contracts, and never managed to pin down that elusive permanent contract. Having said all of that, I absolutly love my job (and still marvel at the fact that someone actually pays me to do this. ). If you do decide to go down this route, try to have a back-up plan (college teaching, archive or library work?) Also, some fields are harder to get into than others. I suspect that it will be easier to get into researching Asian/African history in the future than, say, European or British history.

Sorry, must run - DD crying.

Eek!

So what else can one do if one wants a career that involves history? I love history and it's what I want to spend my life invovled in IYSWIM.

Don't know about possible history careers (history teacher maybe? museum work?) but academia? No way! I have spent a total of about 13 years in academic research, all of it on short term contracts. You're constantly dependent on securing funding for projects. Lectureships are few and far between, and some of those are short-term contracts too! If you have ties like kids at school, or husband with an income, it is extra difficult as you won't want to move around chasing jobs.

Oh and yes, PhD will be pretty much necessary, and I don't recommend doing one of those either...

Just to add to the comments. I am not in history, but in a field which has relatively few and infrequent positions. I've finished my PhD, but my biggest problem now is that due to the family committments we all have, I can't move to get a postdoc position which leaves me completley dependent on my nearest institution. I also don't want to go full time. I will have to write a grant to create a job - that's what I'm doing this year.

If you were to consider the academic route, take a good look at your nearest institution(s). Coud it potentially support you indefinitely? As pp has mentioned, people usually move around before getting tenure - if you can't do that - it is extremely tough - though hopefully not entirely impossible.

I did do as you are thinking though. I switched subjects by doing a masters (self-funded) then got a grant to do a PhD. I felt very strongly that this was a subject I wanted to work on indefinitely. It's not just about the subject though - academia is a tough gig and hours can be long. It's not very family friendly, and the PhD process seriously dampened my enthusiasm for my subject which is just starting to bounce back now I'm free

Wow! You've all been so helpful! Thank you. I don't think it's for me, in that case. I think I'm going to have to either teach, or work in a museum or for English Heritage or something like that. Which would also be fantastic!

Hi Flamingo, I have a history phD and I'm working as a tutor for the OU. I worked as a researcher in a history dept before I had children it was as PlanetEarth says very insecure.
OU teaching is good though; reasonably paid, students are generally lovely and I don't have any child care to pay. There is also a reasonable demand for authors of popular history if that appeals (a friend of mine has done very well in that field). I plan to move that way when the DC are a bit older.