Careers in History
History graduates are well positioned for a variety of career paths.
See where recent UD History Graduates are employed by visiting the UD Career Outcomes page.
Majoring (or even minoring) in History at the University of Delaware will help you to become an inventive and capable thinker, researcher, writer, and communicator. These are the skills that many employers want! Based on data compiled by the American Historical Association, the top 10 skills employers seek in college graduates are:
Communication
Teamwork
Making decisions and solving problems
Planning, organizing, and prioritizing
Obtaining and processing information
Analyzing quantitative data
Technical skills related to the job
Using computer software
Creating and editing written reports
Selling and influencing others
Source: Brookins, Julia and Sarah Fenton. Careers for History Majors. American Historical Association, 2018, p. 16.
Skills of the UD History Graduate
At the most fundamental level, history majors learn to ask broad questions, search for empirically supported answers, and craft narratives to make their interpretations compelling to a broad audience. While formulating engaging questions and hunting for answers, a history major evaluates and analyzes a tremendous amount of material.
History majors gather evidence systematically, comprehensively, and carefully. They learn to recognize reliable sources and to uncover elusive information. This kind of research is good training for handling dense, complex information in any job, and it requires students to assess the perspectives of differing voices in relation to any given question. Our courses and assignments encourage students to consider multiple perspectives, opinions, approaches, and arguments, and to weigh and challenge what they learn from each of these in order to arrive at their own conclusions.
Few disciplines demand the level of writing and careful argumentation that History majors become proficient in. Historical research requires skilled evaluation of primary and secondary sources and relies on an expanding menu of technological resources, helping students to build a skill set that will make them valuable assets to a variety of organizations. There are such an array of ways to use a history major’s skills in the work world that one might reasonably ask “What can’t you do with a History major?”
What skills are taught in history courses?
Reading and analyzing information. Reading carefully to acquire facts and analyze content.
Effective writing. The ability to communicate ideas successfully in written form.
Critical thinking. The ability to consider information in a variety of ways and across disciplines.
Research. Finding and evaluating information in order to synthesize a coherent narrative, organized around a central thesis or argument.
Many history majors become educators, communicating their knowledge and understanding of the past to students and the broader public. Our graduates find employment in elementary and secondary schools. Some work in higher education, teaching at community colleges and in four-year colleges and universities. History graduates are also important members of other educational institutions that might not immediately come to mind. These include historic sites and museums, where our alumni work as docents, education directors, curators, tour guides, and exhibit developers. Teaching can take other forms as well. Some of our alumni work as historical consultants, contract archivists, public historians, writers, and filmmakers.
Many history majors embark on careers as researchers, utilizing their skills in evaluating and analyzing documentary evidence. Research-focused jobs include work as public historians and as policy advisers for state, local and federal governments. Other historians find employment in the research departments of museums and historical organizations. Some of our graduates pursue specialized training to become experts in cultural resources management and historic preservation.
Because success as a history major depends upon learning to write effectively, many historians work as writers and editors. A few make their living as authors of historical books, while others work as editors at publishing houses. Some history majors become print and broadcast journalists. Others oversee the publication of documents produced by government agencies.
Because history majors learn to organize and evaluate documents while doing research, many alumni pursue a one- or two-year graduate program in library studies (commonly a master of library science, MLS) or archival management. These graduates enter the fields of archives management, information management, records management, and librarianship. The university’s excellent staff of librarians and archivists are happy to talk to students about these expanding career paths.
Many history majors find that historical training is excellent preparation for law school, since historians and lawyers do roughly the same thing — they argue persuasively, using historical data to support their position. A number of history majors become lawyers, while others undertake careers in litigation support, as paralegals. Other graduates become policy makers, serving as legislative staff at all levels of government, or work for nonprofit agencies and foundations.
Many people overlook the value of a history major as preparation for a career in business. Yes historians learn to track historic trends, an important skill for people who are bringing new products to market or are engaged in corporate financial planning. Many history majors work in banking, insurance and stock analysis. Historians learn how to write persuasively, and this gives them a powerful edge in the fields of advertising, communications media, and marketing. Many industries depend on an intimate knowledge of government policy; thus, history majors have found their analytical skills useful in work for extractive industries and public utilities.
