I would like to hear how others have used their history/political science degrees (school, career)

[senecaman]

Originally Posted by TOgradstudent

Wow, you have some fantastic experience and probably a great understanding of politics in different regions!

I have a poli sci academic background and have worked for a large nonprofit as a policy analyst. I had the opportunity to prepare submissions to Cabinet (I live in Canada) on some interesting social and economic issues and it was a great opportunity to generally see how government works.

I would say that if one has an interest in finding a nice intersection between the nonprofit world and politics/government, try to seek out opportunities with larger organizations/charities that have some research or policy capacity. The organization I worked for was a large non-partisan charity (with local offices all over Canada and the U.S.) and was funded by a huge corporate donor base. It represented the interests of citizens from a vast range of political/socioeconomic backgrounds and therefore was taken pretty seriously by government (at least in my region) when it actually took a strong stance on a public policy issue.

Thanks for the compliment! My favorite state to work in was Virginia. They have very competitive elections and I always wished I had the opportunity to work during the state house elections.

It sounds like your job is very interesting. I cant say I have had the chance to work on policy. I always worked with people who were on the political end or raised money, but I am interested in policy too.

[senecaman]

I have seen a lot of posts on city data talking about how liberal arts grads need "hard skills" to make it in the job market, but do you think that "soft skills" are undervalued? My degree is a BA with a major in poli sci and I was a classic liberal arts grad.I did take classes in both macro and micro economics, stats and some finance math. Later after college I had training in investment and real estate but the skills that I found most valuable were communication skills ( writing, making presentations) that I picked up in my poli sci and history classes (not to mention classes in english lit and public speaking).Call them soft skills if you will but I used them a lot more than "hard skills".

[randomlikeme]

in what I do, it is mostly "hard skills" maybe? the data pulling nature of business analysis. I don't know if knowing coding languages and reporting tools is a hard skill....

However, being able to write has been extremely useful and I use that skill every day. (I was a finance major/writing minor)

I think out of school you should just aim to be someone who is educable and has the proven ability to learn.

[Blackscorpion]

Originally Posted by randomlikeme

in what I do, it is mostly "hard skills" maybe? the data pulling nature of business analysis. I don't know if knowing coding languages and reporting tools is a hard skill....

However, being able to write has been extremely useful and I use that skill every day. (I was a finance major/writing minor)

I think out of school you should just aim to be someone who is educable and has the proven ability to learn.

It says history or political science, not finance!

[senecaman]

There seems to be 6 mains areas for history and political science majors to seek employment.
1 the private sector
2 law
3 teaching
4 the public sector
5 political jobs(legislative /political party jobs)
6 nonprofit sector

I have worked in the private sector and have worked on several political campaigns. If your interests lie with working with either political party my advice would be to start as early as possible (high school or college) to get political skills and to work with your local party and then through them make contacts with your state party. Sounds basic but I got a late start( way after college) and tried to speed things up by directly contacting campaigns in other states .If you start early in high school or college you don't have to do this approach (it worked for me more out of luck than anything else) and you can make contacts at the local and state level that can recommend you.
Once you are on a campaign 2 areas to gain experience and political skills are field (direct contact with voters which will make you become a better speaker) and fundraising(brings in the money !!! enough said ).Be prepared to do grunt work no matter what in the beginning. That's just the deal. So you may stuff envelopes to send out invitations for a fundraiser but those people need to be called and that can be fun and it takes some skill.Hopefully you do a great job and get to go to the fundraiser to help schmooze the donors more.

[senecaman]

If you are studying history or political science or both feel free to post your experiences. What you like about your classes. What internships you are looking at. Interesting research you have done. Places you have traveled to or will be going to as a result of your studies.

[John7777]

I have a double major in English and Politics. Then I went to law school. Now I'm retired and I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up

[senecaman]

John7777
I have a double major in English and Politics. Then I went to law school. Now I'm retired and I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up.

One of my best Political Science professors was an English and Political Science double major as an undergrad. He always stressed that we work to improve our writing skills. Writing has been important to me in the jobs I have had.

[Prickly Pear]

My father used his History degree to become a stock broker. Now he's trying to open up his own business.

[senecaman]

:-D
My father used his History degree to become a stock broker. Now he's trying to open up his own business.

One of the most valuable things I think you get from studying history and political science is an understanding of how interdisciplinary economics is. Over the last several years I have enjoyed studying the interrelationship between politics and economics. IMO such study makes both disciplines better and more interesting.