Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Work and Employment
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 05-04-2014, 04:26 PM
 
149 posts, read 310,077 times
Reputation: 36

Advertisements

What are career options for history majors, liberal arts degree , and how the transferrable skills are applied to each of the possible career paths , in addition to history teachers and researchers ?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 05-04-2014, 04:44 PM
 
514 posts, read 760,760 times
Reputation: 1088
Since when is history a career path? I'll give you a short history of the life of a liberal arts major: unemployment, crappy temp work, more unemployment, back living with mom and dad.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2014, 04:46 PM
 
24,488 posts, read 41,005,852 times
Reputation: 12919
Quote:
Originally Posted by e130478 View Post
Since when is history a career path?
Please reread the OP. You misunderstood the post completely. History is a field of study. The OP is asking about career options for this field of study. They aren't suggesting that history is a career path.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2014, 05:01 PM
 
22,284 posts, read 21,608,793 times
Reputation: 54727
There are a lot of jobs around DC in non profits, govt contracting and the gov itself. Good for academic all-rounders who can communicate, research and write at the highest levels.

You may also want to consider getting project management certification to go along with it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2014, 05:07 PM
 
331 posts, read 546,134 times
Reputation: 434
Quote:
Originally Posted by daward View Post
What are career options for history majors, liberal arts degree , and how the transferrable skills are applied to each of the possible career paths , in addition to history teachers and researchers ?
The fact that you used the phrase "transferable skills" shows that you're not acquainted with the current job market. That's okay; you'll soon learn the truth.

I remember back when I was a naive college student and figured that the "skills" I was learning were "transferable." The reality is that there's no such thing as transferable skills these days. Companies want you to have a specific skill set, demonstrable from professional experience. They don't want to have to spend 1 minute training you. Doesn't matter if your Liberal Arts major thought you how to "think outside the box" and be able to pick up new skills quickly. That's the Great Lie of college education -- that you're learning a thinking skill that is highly valued by companies
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2014, 05:28 PM
 
Location: North Carolina
282 posts, read 442,808 times
Reputation: 470
Unless you are aiming for academia, the key is not to work "in" your field of study, but to find positions where you can use the skills developed in your field of study. The skill that someone educated in the liberal arts brings is, one hopes, critical thinking. That is, the ability to acquire information from Situation A and apply it to Situation B, then take the lessons from both and develop a solution for Situation C.

Coming out of college, you haven't yet had the chance to apply critical thinking to real-world situations. So, you need to find a job that gives you a foot into that door. It will likely be low-paying and low-status. But you may be able to show your stuff and move up, or take what you've learned and find another employer to apply it. Zentropa has it right: non-profits and think tanks in DC look for someone who can research, analyze and write. You may have to answer the phones at first, but those are the settings where you most likely can thrive.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2014, 06:23 PM
 
29,440 posts, read 22,356,459 times
Reputation: 48103
I would think where you got your degree would matter a lot too.

After all, a basket weaving degree from Harvard or even Stanford is worth more than a technical degree from a for profit online school.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2014, 06:40 PM
 
3,276 posts, read 7,822,384 times
Reputation: 8308
Quote:
Originally Posted by e130478 View Post
Since when is history a career path? I'll give you a short history of the life of a liberal arts major: unemployment, crappy temp work, more unemployment, back living with mom and dad.
Pretty much. I have friend from high school who has a political science degree and volunteers for political campaigns. That's all he does and has done since graduation, and we both graduated from college seven years ago.

He still lives with mommy and daddy and refuses to get a job outside of the field at the age of 30. Still waiting for the big campaign manager job to fall in his lap.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2014, 06:46 PM
 
64 posts, read 84,060 times
Reputation: 71
Quote:
Originally Posted by statisticsnerd View Post
Pretty much. I have friend from high school who has a political science degree and volunteers for political campaigns. That's all he does and has done since graduation, and we both graduated from college seven years ago.

He still lives with mommy and daddy and refuses to get a job outside of the field at the age of 30. Still waiting for the big campaign manager job to fall in his lap.
If that is true, then that is a case of someone not wanting to get a real job, period. The OP *wants* to get a real job, and does not care what the field is. Any ideas for him?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2014, 07:01 PM
 
Location: Seattle
1,384 posts, read 2,681,597 times
Reputation: 1378
Is your degree from a top ranked university?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Work and Employment

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top