When you tell someone you’re wanting to study history, the question they often come back with is, “what do you want to do with it?”. It’s a fair question, and one that often stumps many people. “I’m not sure…”, you might reply, “…I just like history.” Many people don’t realise there are a vast array of jobs on offer for those with a history degree, ranging from the obvious ones which directly use the degree to the less talked about ones. Here’s a list of some of the jobs you can do.
Top 10 jobs you can do with a History degree
- Academic Researcher
- Archivist
- Heritage Manager
- Museum Education Officer
- Museum/Gallery Curator
- Museum/Gallery Exhibitions Officer
- Secondary School Teacher
- Academic Librarian
- Archeologist
- Journalist
Read more about the job roles, expected salaries and more below.
1. Academic Researcher
- Average salary: £27,000 to £44,000 at postdoctoral level, £40,000 to £60,000 as a senior lecturer
- Other qualifications needed: to be at least studying for a PhD
- Hours: 35-40 hours week plus necessary out-of-work hours
Your responsibilities as an academic researcher will involve carrying out original, high-level research either alone or in a group. You will have to organise your own time and a budget effectively to account for off-site and potentially even overseas visits. You will also need to analyse large sets of data and information whilst working to incredibly strict deadlines provided by a fund or grant holder.
You will be asked to present your findings at national and international conferences and will prepare and write expert-level papers for peer-reviewed journals. You’ll attend meetings regularly with groups and support staff, will have to apply for sources of funding, and will likely have to teach undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Overall, you will be developing your knowledge and skills relating to your industry and developing working relationships with contacts inside and outside your university, all while complying with health and safety and ethics requirements, planning and developing future research, and supervising students undertaking their own masters and PhD studies.
2. Archivist
- Average salary: £23,392 minimum recommended salary, £30,233 to 35,832 for archivists with experience and £44,791 to £61,589 for archivists in management roles
- Other qualifications needed: postgraduate qualification accredited by the ARA
- Hours: Shift work or flexible working
Archivists are responsible for preserving information and making it accessible to other people. This often involves valuable historical items such as books, photos, and papers. You will do so by evaluating records for preservation and retention, assessing fragile items and those in need of repair, cataloguing collections, and managing information.
You will spend the majority of your time on a computer, much of which will be spent alone as many organisations only hire one archivist. Some of the work you do in your role may well be physically demanding, so be aware that it might require more of you than other full-time work.
This job is best suited for those with an interest in record-keeping and research as well as those with good communications skills and IT literacy.
3. Heritage Manager
- Average salary: £19,923 to £23,640 at assistant level, £27,511 to £34,685 in a team leader or supervisor role, £35,111 to £52,469 as a manager or head of department.
- Other qualifications needed: none necessary, but a pre-entry qualification in heritage or museum management may benefit applications
- Hours: often early starts and late finishes, unsocial hours, and weekend working
Heritage managers may be responsible for managing budgets, securing funding, and generating income. They do this through project management, report writing, liaising with external agencies, and developing outreach activities.
Working in this role, you will largely be office based but will often spend time outdoors at heritage sites. This job is very organisation-based, and you are very unlikely to find work as a self-employed manager.
You’ll need to have skills such as communication and project management. It is also beneficial to have a genuine interest in the heritage sector and commercial awareness of the sector.
4. Museum Education Officer
- Average salary: £17,000 to £38,000
- Other qualifications needed: none essential, but a Masters’s degree can help with applications
- Hours: usually 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday
Museum education officers will be responsible for creating a learning strategy, developing programmes of talks, liaising with schools, teaching, creating resources, delivering talks, launching new initiatives, collating feedback, generating income, working with other museum staff and representing and promoting the museum.
You could be based in a single museum, or you could be based in multiple museums. You might be the only education officer, or you might work within a team in a larger museum. These sorts of jobs are available all over the country, in both rural and urban areas.
Museum education officers need to have a certain set of skills, such as enthusiasm and curiosity, communication skills, teaching, writing and creativity, the ability to manage budgets and resources, teamworking skills and self-motivation. You will need to be able to work under pressure and you will need knowledge of and sensitivity to cultural and disability issues.
5. Museum/Gallery Curator
- Average salary: £18,000 to £25,000 for assistant curators, £26,000 to £39,000 with experience/at a higher level, £50,000+ for lead-curators/heads of collections
- Other qualifications needed: none necessary, but a master’s degree or PhD in your specialism is beneficial
- Hours: mainly Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, but sometimes extra work will be needed in evenings or on weekends to set up exhibitions
Museum and gallery curators are responsible for acquiring objects or collections, cataloguing acquisitions, and planning and organising exhibitions. You may also be in charge of recruitment at your museum.
Curators will typically work Monday to Friday, but extra hours are often required – especially in the run-up to an exhibition. You might also have to provide cover for evening meetings and social events in exchange for time off or additional wages.
Curators have to have a certain skill set that should include an interest in your subject area, accuracy and attention to detail, and good project management skills.
6. Museum/Gallery Exhibitions Officer
- Average salary: £19,000 to £25,000 for starting salaries or £27,000 to £40,000 at a senior level
- Other qualifications needed: none needed
- Hours: Often full-time with extra hours to set up exhibitions when necessary
Working in the museum, exhibitions officers are responsible for planning programmes for special and permanent exhibitions, sourcing exhibits and researching artists and exhibits. They also help with securing loans for exhibitions, working with curators, writing draft proposals, and coordinating liaisons between specialists and designers. They assist with the installation of exhibits, negotiating loans, writing and commenting on storyboards, getting involved with the media, assisting with the production of exhibits, working with schools and liaising with internal and external staff.
Exhibitions officers are usually responsible for setting up, and so whilst they might work 9-5 usually, there will often be extra hours required of you in order to set everything up in time for exhibitions.
In order to succeed in this role, you will need to have a strong commitment to your field of work, practical skills, an innovative approach to work, project management skills, excellent written and verbal communication skills, and a genuine interest in artefacts, good IT skills and self-motivation. You may also need to get a full DBS check.
7. Secondary School Teacher
- Average salary: In England £28,000 to £38,810; In Wales £28,866 rising to £35,277; In Northern Ireland £24,137 to £35,277; In Scotland £28,113 to £42,336
- Other qualifications needed: PGCE, Teach First
- Hours: 39 weeks of the year, usually 8.30am to 3.30pm/4pm
As a secondary school history teacher, you will be responsible for preparing and delivering lessons, marking work and giving feedback, and managing behaviour, often involving communication with parents.
You will be working in classrooms and offices, with much of your work done at home in preparation for work. Much of your marking and lesson planning will be done out-of-hours in order to best supply students with adequate lessons.
Teaching is not an easy job, and you need to have a specific set of skills. You must have respect for children and a genuine desire to help them develop. A sense of humour and some patience helps too!
8. Academic Librarian
- Average salary: £17,000 to £22,000 for graduate trainees, £22,000 to £35,000 for assistant librarians, £28,000 to £35,000 for subject librarians, £38,000 to £81,000 for senior librarians, £93,000 for head or director of library
- Other qualifications needed: CLIIP accredited postgraduate qualification
- Hours: Typically a 35-hour week with occasional evening, weekend and bank holiday work
Academic librarians are responsible for developing and managing collections of books and selecting information for the catalogue. They’ll be contributing to academic course development and may manage budgets.
Typically, academic librarians will work 35 hour weeks from Monday to Friday and may occasionally be asked to work evenings, weekends or bank holidays.
You will need good customer service and teamwork skills for this job, as well as good IT literacy.
9. Archaeologist
- Average salary: £23,000 for starting salaries, £25,000 to £36,000 with experienced and increased responsibility, £28,000 to £48,000+ at senior level
- Other qualifications needed: a postgraduate qualification in Archeology, Forensic Archeology or Archeological science
- Hours: usually 37.5 hours per week, sometimes weekends and evenings
Archaeology is a very broad field with over 80 job titles under the umbrella term archaeology. However, you will have similar responsibilities in many of the roles. These include identifying and surveying sites, cleaning and preserving finds, and conducting lab tests.
To be a successful archaeologist you will need to have the necessary practical skills, dexterity in using the right tools, and excellent written and spoken communication and interpersonal skills. Likewise, you’ll need good research skills, data management skills, and self-motivation, and so having a genuine interest in the field is, as always, recommended.
10. Journalist
- Salary: Newspaper trainee reporters £18,000 to £22,000, senior reporters up to £40,000, broadcast journalists £15,000 to £24,000, senior level £30,000 up to £80,000+
- Other qualifications needed: Postgraduate qualification
- Hours: Unsocial hours, shift work – early starts/late evenings, weekends, and public holidays
People enter into journalism from all different backgrounds, with degrees such as English and History. History is one of the most popular degrees for journalism. Doing a history degree not only prepares you for the world of journalism through considering balanced arguments, but it also allows for more flexibility than simply doing a journalism course. It is still recommended to do a journalism course post-degree, but this isn’t something you’ll need to worry about just yet. There are a wide variety of journalists, such as newspaper, magazine, and broadcast journalists, which means there is something for every type of person.
Looking for more career options? Check out what jobs you can do with a psychology degree.
Last Updated on October 30, 2024
Published on May 30, 2022
