A History degree - what can you do with it? (apart from teaching)

Hi,

Im planning to do a degree in History :woo:

, and then a PGSE. I was just wondering what other career opportunities there is for someone with a degree in History, apart from teaching. To be honest, the only other one i can think of is a Historian :eyeball:

Is there anyone out there who knows from knowledge/experience what other job opportunities there is?

I will be very grateful :five:

Thank you xx

Reply 1

curlpower

Work in a museum?

Or, like my uncle Jim, who also has a history degree, you can join the police and remain a pc plod for twenty-five years, never get promoted and at best spend half your day shovelling up horse ***** while working for the mountain police.

Alternatively, you can convert to law with a graduate diploma or try to get a place on a graduate scheme.

Reply 2

MJlover

21

louiseyoung

Hi,

Im planning to do a degree in History :woo:

, and then a PGSE. I was just wondering what other career opportunities there is for someone with a degree in History, apart from teaching. To be honest, the only other one i can think of is a Historian :eyeball:

Is there anyone out there who knows from knowledge/experience what other job opportunities there is?

I will be very grateful :five:

Thank you xx

law?

Reply 3

Phantom_X

15

History is one of the most versatile degrees out there, and there is a lot you can do with it, if you have a good classification and come out from a top uni.

You can do the PGCE for teaching
GDL/LPC for a legal career
ACCA for accounting.

You can also enter politics, through means such as the civil service fast stream, the european civil service or directly into political parties as a researcher. Think tanks also take on a fair number of arts grads.

You can enter consultancy. Accenture, a company who's latest grad scheme i helped design during my gap year, took about 10 history students in thier trial boot camp project, along with several politics/economics etc graduates.

Journalism, for newspapers, internet outlets etc.

You can also go into finance and banking, though this might be slightly more difficult and possibly require an Msc.

Finally, international development is also a lucrative field for history graduates, and there are many schemes for graduates interested in overseas policy, international relations etc.

quite frankly as long as its a top uni with a good 2.1 or 1st, and some work exp behind you, its pretty much open for whatever you wish to pursue.

Reply 4

MonsterMash

12

Any graduate scheme that isn't degree specific. Know a guy who works at Deloitte who did History.

Reply 5

mellie220

12

I'm also doing a History degree, well planning on it next year :smile:

I'm planning on doing a conversional course in Law or CPE whatever you'd like to call it and take on a Law career from there.
I've heard that History can lead onto Law careers, bank careers, but I can't be sure :o:

Reply 6

Bella Occhi

16

Loads; you don't have to do something explicitly related to History just because you have a degree in it. This isn't the best example, but a Citizenship teacher at my school has a History degree.

Reply 7

daisy_1

when I went to my careers service at University, I told them I was very worried about what career I could have with an English degree. And you know what she told me? She said that unless you are going for a very specific job, then what you study absolutely doesn't matter that much. Obviously if you wanted to be a lawyer you would study Law (even with that there's a different path, you can actually be a lawyer without going to uni..), but History isn't very specific really unless you wanted to be like a Historian. She said that people place too much emphasis on the degree themselves, and don't realise that an employer is looking for someone who uses their time at University wisely, ie. work experience, volunteering, joining societies etc. She told me about graduate training schemes, and she said that companies like HSBC and Marks and Spencer etc will train you in every aspect of the company or something and then ask you which part you want to work in, ie. marketing, and she said they don't care what degree you did, she said people doing Psychology degrees can go on to them! They just care about your degree class and experience from Uni. I'm just repeating what she told me, because I was worried like you. She said it's best to do something you enjoy, because at the end of the day if you enjoy it you'll get the most out of it, and stop thinking things like everyone who studies Geography becomes a Geographer and everyone who studies History becomes a Historian. I know someone who did a Sociology degree and she now works (and is pretty high up and well paid) in a refrigeration company...

Reply 8

History-Student

16

I'm (God willing) going onto an MA after mine and (again God willing) going into lecturing.

Reply 9

MaddyGee

9

I agree with Daisy.

I've said this before, but my mum worked for Merill Lynch and my dad employs people and both go through CVs and look at what university you got and what level (2:1/First) and dismiss people who didn't go to at least a Red Brick university without any consideration for what you are like or what you studied.

A degree, for many business jobs such as advertising and sales, is simply a bit of paper to say "Look at me and how clever I am!" it doesn't need to have direct relevance to your job.

Reply 10

W.H.T

15

you can become prime minister

-Gordon Brown did a degree in history

Reply 11

theteenagecurse

My brother's friend did a history degree and is now an accountant. You can go into almost anything with a history degree because it shows that you can
a) remember lots of important information
b) assess evidence
c) develop research skills.
Law, accountancy, teaching, journalism (good research skills), politics, museum management... almost anything really :smile:

Good luck

Reply 12

Leto

10

You may want to look at this lovely article:

http://www.historytoday.com/MainArticle.aspx?m=18615&amid=18615

Reply 13

roginho

10

A friend of mine graduated this year with a History degree from Durham. He's working for an accountancy firm now and he says he knows a lot of people who have done something similar. You pick up a lot of great skills studying History and employers know that.

Reply 14

TheAssassin

History is very open and thats what employers know. You can see that loads of people have become accountants, lawyers, managing in the BBC after doing a degree in History. It is less about what you learn but the skills you gain during the time.

I mean I've jsut finished my first year studying History but at the moment I don't think I'm going to become a teacher. I've participated a lot in student radio and I'd like to take a move in that direction/media. Will be interesting if it goes better than someone studying a media specific degree.

Reply 15

Phantom_X

15

Don't rule out the international market either. I read about a history grad from essex who was working for the Ha'aretz newspaper in Israel so....

Reply 16

SwiftRyu

From what I've heard its flexible. Its not very vocational as a course, but the skills you gain are applicable across a wide range of careers. You can likely get apprenticeships and placements in a lot of sectors with a history degree. Think of it as more of a platform than a gateway to your future career.

Reply 17

purplesky

2

Its very flexible and you can do most things which don't require a specific degree.
My dad works in an investment bank and they love history graduates because of the analytical and other transferable skills they pick up. There is a lot you can do with any degree really (if it's academic and from a decent uni).

Reply 18

Delaney

16

purplesky

Its very flexible and you can do most things which don't require a specific degree.
My dad works in an investment bank and they love history graduates because of the analytical and other transferable skills they pick up. There is a lot you can do with any degree really (if it's academic and from a decent uni).

Just out of interest, do you know if he works in front/middle or back office?

Reply 19

purplesky

2

Delaney

Just out of interest, do you know if he works in front/middle or back office?

Er not sure but he used to work quite high up in his previous job and was a supervisor so he interviewed people and he said he used to judge on how difficult a degree was rather than how directly relevant it was. One of hs best friends is a trader though and he only had a diploma and really bad a-levels and he's a millionaire now so anything is possible lol. I'm thinking it would be a lot harder now but I have read and heard time and time again that they do like graduates with hard, academic subjects such as history and classics (provided they're from a good uni) just as much as economics/business students.

A History degree - what can you do with it? (apart from teaching)

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