Hello! I’m Sophie and I study MA Public History at the University of York. I also did my undergraduate History degree here. I want to share my experience of careers and employability.
It’s a common misconception that history degrees aren’t very employable. I’m sure many people who have considered studying history have had a well-meaning distant relative ask you “what on earth are you going to do with that?”. Whether you want to stay in a related field or go wherever the wind takes you, there’s always a way in.
Careers in heritage and culture
One of the most obvious career options people think of for history graduates is working in museums. The heritage sector certainly is a great option. York is a historic city, which comes with lots of volunteering and work opportunities in museums, heritage, arts, and culture. This allows you to build up experience ahead of graduating and entering the job market. The Department of History has strong connections with local heritage organisations. They regularly signposts to opportunities, making them really easy to find.
A history degree at York prepares you for a heritage career, with the Public History Project module at undergraduate and a whole Public History postgraduate degree. I took part in an earlier version of the Public History Project during my undergraduate degree, in which I wrote guides for GCSE History teachers to make their curriculum more inclusive of marginalised histories. It was a great hands-on experience for understanding what the public wants from history research and how this differs from writing for academic audiences, It’s then been really valuable in subsequent roles. I’m really looking forward to doing my placement module later on in my masters – there are so many good placement options, I don’t know how I’ll choose!
Transferable skills
Like many humanities subjects, history is a degree that allows you to develop many transferable skills. I could go on for a long time here, but just a few of these include: written communication, verbal communication, corroborating lots of different information, understanding new topics quickly, and writing for a range of audiences.
All of these have massively helped me out in various job roles. I work in the charity sector as a fundraiser and a history degree definitely prepared me for the persuasive writing, which is required for grant applications. Over the summer, I also did an internship in the Research team of a local charity, hosted by the Careers department at the university. My degree was invaluable experience in skimming through large volumes of dense reports, pulling out key information, and making that information accessible to other teams in the charity, who wouldn’t otherwise have the time to find it themselves. Those skills are the bread and butter of a History degree – reading is what you do day in, day out! It was really rewarding to be valued for those skills and make a tangible difference to an organisation which does such great work.
Transferable skills can feel a little more abstract than the straight line between history and museums. But it’s something the Department encourages and supports you to think about throughout your time at York. The Department has an academic who is in charge of careers. You can speak to at any point. The Careers and Placements team at the University more generally are also really helpful, not only in hosting the internships I’ve already mentioned, but also in providing 1-1 support, looking over CVs, doing interview prep, and more. It’s a service I would recommend making the most of.
Overall
Whether you want to study history because your heart is set on working in a museum, or because it’s a degree you’ll enjoy which will open doors later, there are lots of options available to you. The University has many resources to help you look into different possibilities, from tailored career support to plenty of volunteering opportunities!
Leave a Reply