Jobs for History Majors: How Your Classroom Skills Open Real-World Career Paths

- History majors land roles in policy, law, education, marketing, and tech. Your research and writing skills are in demand across industries.

- This guide covers 12+ career paths, the transferable skills employers actually want, and how to position yourself without starting over.

- You don't need a "practical" degree to get a practical job. You need to know how to frame what you already have.

- Start building resume-ready experience today with an

Ready to turn your history skills into real experience? Explore Externships →

What Can You Actually Do With a History Degree?

Way more than your relatives think at Thanksgiving dinner. Jobs for history majors show up in government, law, education, media, marketing, nonprofits, and even tech. The degree itself isn't the issue. It's whether you know how to walk into an interview and show someone why it matters.

Think about what you've actually been doing for four years: pulling apart complex information, building arguments that hold up under scrutiny, and writing clearly enough that a professor who's read 10,000 essays actually stops and pays attention. Companies pay real money for those exact abilities in roles like policy analyst, content strategist, UX researcher, and paralegal.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) consistently ranks communication, critical thinking, and analytical skills at the top of what employers screen for. And the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows humanities graduates reaching near-parity with many STEM peers in mid-career earnings, particularly in management and communications tracks.

So if you've been lying awake wondering whether you chose the wrong major, here's your permission to stop. You have more options than anyone told you about.

What Skills Do History Majors Have That Employers Want?

You already have the skills. The gap is usually just vocabulary. Hiring managers don't post listings asking for "historiographical analysis," but they absolutely want what that phrase means.

Research and Analysis

You've spent semesters buried in archives, databases, and primary sources, trying to find signal in a pile of noise. That skill has a different name in the business world: market research. Or competitive intelligence. Or due diligence.

Consulting firms, government agencies, think tanks, and product teams all need someone who can track down reliable information, figure out what's actually worth trusting, and turn it into a recommendation. You've been doing that since freshman year.

Honestly, if you can synthesize 200 pages of colonial-era court records into a 15-page argument that holds together, building a research brief for a product launch isn't going to break you.

Writing and Communication

History majors write constantly. And it's not fluff. It's evidence-based, structured writing where every claim needs a source and every paragraph needs a point. That's what content marketing runs on. Same for public relations, grant writing, and corporate communications.

Nobody is hiring you to write poetry. They want someone who can take a complicated topic and make it land in two paragraphs. Put your communication skills on your resume. Roles in marketing, media, and communications are literally screening for what you already do.

Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving

Evaluating conflicting sources. Questioning the assumptions baked into someone else's argument. Building a case while being upfront about what you don't know. History trains you to see systems, not just events. You learn how politics, economics, culture, and individual choices collide.

Consulting firms and strategy teams pay well for that kind of thinking. It's also the reason history grads tend to do surprisingly well in product management and UX research, where the whole job is understanding why people behave the way they do.

What Are the Best Jobs for History Majors?

Let's get specific. These six career paths aren't hypothetical. History majors are already working in every one of them.

1. Policy Analyst / Government Relations

Policy analysts research legislation, evaluate programs, and put together briefings for decision-makers. If you've ever written a seminar paper arguing why a particular policy worked or failed, congratulations: that's the job. The audience just shifts from your professor to a senator's office.

Typical salary: $55,000–$80,000 (entry to mid-career). Federal agencies, state government, think tanks, and advocacy organizations all hire for these roles. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management reports that liberal arts graduates make up a significant share of federal hires, especially in research and program analysis positions.

2. Paralegal / Legal Research

If reading primary sources and building airtight arguments was the part of your degree you actually liked, legal research will feel familiar. Paralegals support attorneys by digging through case law, drafting documents, and organizing evidence. You don't need a law degree to start.

Typical salary: $50,000–$70,000. Law firms, corporate legal departments, and government agencies all hire paralegals. Plenty of history majors use this as a launchpad to law school, but it's also a solid career if you'd rather skip three more years of school.

3. Content Strategist / Marketing Coordinator

Brands need people who can take a mess of information and turn it into a story that makes sense. Content strategists figure out what to say, who to say it to, and where to publish it. Marketing coordinators run campaigns, write copy, and track what's actually moving the needle.

Typical salary: $45,000–$75,000. Content marketing keeps growing, and the demand for people who can research a topic deeply and write about it clearly isn't going away. That's not a pitch. That's just what the job postings say.

4. Museum Curator / Archivist

Yes, this is the career path everyone assumes you'll pursue the second you say "history major." And it's real, though competitive. Curators and archivists preserve collections, organize materials, and help the public make sense of them.

Typical salary: $48,000–$72,000 for curators (BLS median). Positions are limited and many require a master's degree. That's worth knowing upfront. But if this is the thing that gets you out of bed, volunteer work, museum fellowships, and digital archiving projects will separate you from the pile.

5. Education and Teaching

History majors tend to be good at explaining complicated things to people who didn't ask. That's teaching. Whether it's a K-12 classroom, a corporate training session, or an ed-tech platform, the core skill is the same: make the complex feel simple, and keep the room engaged.

Typical salary: $40,000–$65,000 (varies a lot by setting and region). K-12 teaching usually requires certification, but corporate training and ed-tech roles often don't. If you like the idea of education but not fluorescent-lit classrooms, look into instructional design and learning experience roles.

6. UX Researcher / User Research

This one flies under the radar for most history majors, which is a shame, because the skill overlap is almost unfair. UX researchers study how people interact with products. They run interviews, analyze qualitative data, and translate their findings into recommendations for design and engineering teams.

Typical salary: $65,000–$110,000. You will need a portfolio of research projects to break in. But the actual skills — running structured interviews, synthesizing messy qualitative data, presenting findings to a skeptical audience — you've been building those for years.

Do History Majors Actually Get Hired? (What the Data Says)

Short answer: yes. But you deserve more than a short answer, because "trust me, it'll work out" doesn't pay rent.

The American Academy of Arts & Sciences tracks employment outcomes for humanities graduates. Their data shows that humanities majors, history included, reach unemployment rates comparable to the national average within a few years of graduation. Mid-career earnings for humanities grads with a bachelor's typically fall between $55,000 and $75,000, depending on industry and role.

The real frustration isn't the degree. It's the entry-level experience gap. A huge number of "entry-level" listings now require 1-3 years of experience, which is a maddening catch-22 if you're a recent grad. History majors feel this more sharply because your department probably didn't have a built-in internship pipeline the way business or engineering programs do.

That's a legitimate problem. But it's a packaging problem, not a talent problem. The fix is building professional experience that proves you can do the work outside a classroom.

How to Get Jobs for History Majors With No Experience

1. Build a Portfolio That Shows Transferable Skills

Don't wait for someone to hire you before you start building proof of what you can do. Create a portfolio that showcases your strongest transferable skills:

You're trying to show employers you can do the work, not just talk about having studied it. There's a big difference.

2. Get Resume-Ready Experience Through Externships

The gap between "I studied this in school" and "I've done this professionally" is where most history majors get stuck. Externships close that gap. They're built around project-based learning with real companies, paired with professional mentorship and guided support, so you come out the other side with resume-ready experience and something concrete to talk about in interviews.

Browse Externships in marketing, research, and strategy →

You're not competing against people with three years of professional experience. Externships are designed for skills development and career exploration. You get real experience, an Externship credential, and a finished project for your portfolio. It's structured around learning, not labor.

3. Target Entry-Level Roles That Value Your Background

Not every employer gets it. Some companies see "history" on a resume and move on. You want to focus your energy on the ones that don't.

Job boards like Handshake, LinkedIn, and Indeed let you filter for entry-level roles. Look for postings that list "bachelor's degree" without specifying a major. That's your opening, and there are more of them than you'd expect.

Are Liberal Arts Degrees Worth It in 2026?

This comes up every single semester. Somebody's parent asks it at orientation. Somebody's roommate says it at 2 AM. And the data keeps pointing the same direction: yes. With a footnote.

Liberal arts degree jobs exist in every industry. The Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce found that liberal arts majors who go on to graduate school or break into high-growth industries hit median earnings that overlap with technical degree holders by mid-career.

The footnote: a liberal arts degree gives you a versatile foundation, but the foundation alone isn't enough. You need professional experience on top of it, a career story that makes sense, and the ability to describe your academic skills in language that doesn't make a recruiter's eyes glaze over.

History specifically has a strong track record here. The analytical rigor, the research depth, the communication chops. These aren't decorative. Employers in policy, consulting, content, and research roles are actively looking for them.

The degree is worth it. What you do with the next year or two after getting it is the part that matters more.

What Skills Should History Majors Put on Their Resume?

Here's a quick-reference table that maps your classroom experience to the skills to put on your resume:

The difference between a forgettable resume and one that gets a callback is specificity. "Conducted primary source research across 3 archives for a 40-page thesis on post-war urban policy" tells an employer something. "Strong research skills" tells them nothing.

How to Start Your Career Path as a History Major (Next Steps)

1. Identify Your Target Industry

You don't have to have the whole thing mapped out. But picking 2-3 industries from the list above and actually researching them makes a real difference. Look at what entry-level roles exist, what skills those postings mention, and what kind of experience gets people in the door.

This isn't about boxing yourself in. It's about making each application feel like it was written by someone who actually wants that specific role. "I'm looking for a research position in policy" beats "I'm open to anything" every time. Recruiters can tell.

2. Build Experience Before You Graduate

The best time to start building your career isn't after you walk across the stage. It's now.

Your history degree gave you the skills. Now get the experience to prove it. Start an Externship today →

FAQ

1. What is the highest-paying job for history majors?

Policy analysts, management consultants, and UX researchers in tech can earn $70K–$100K+ at mid-career. The highest-paying paths typically involve combining your history skills with industry-specific knowledge in law, government, or tech.

2. Can you get a good job with just a history degree?

Yes. History majors work in government, law, education, marketing, nonprofits, and tech. The key is translating your research and writing skills into language employers recognize. Many roles don't require a specific major — they require the skills you already have.

3. What entry-level jobs hire history majors?

Common entry-level roles include research assistant, editorial assistant, paralegal, marketing coordinator, HR coordinator, and program assistant at nonprofits. Government agencies and museums also hire history grads at entry level.

4. Is a history degree useless?

No. History grads develop research, writing, and critical thinking skills that rank among the most in-demand across industries. The challenge isn't the degree — it's learning to position your skills for the job market.

5. How do history majors compete with business or STEM majors?

By leading with transferable skills, building a portfolio of real-world projects, and gaining professional experience through programs like Externships. Mid-career data shows liberal arts grads often match or exceed STEM peers in earnings.

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