EIU Department of History

Careers in History

• EIU History Careers Day
  • Why do employers desperately want to hire applicants with history degrees? How does a history degree provide the real-world skills needed to succeed in a variety of careers? Every Spring semester the History Department holds its annual History Careers Day during which our majors learn the answers to these and other questions. Panelists always include current faculty and students, and distinguished alumni who talk about how their history degrees provided them a leg up on the job market upon graduation and the real-world skills that have allowed them to build highly successful careers. The next event for this year's History Careers Day will take place on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 @ 6:00 pm on Zoom. Click the image below for more info.
    
• General
  
  • What Can You Do With an Undergraduate History Degree?
    • A mini-guide developed by the American Historical Association which contains links to information on specific career paths
  • Careers for Students of History
    • Online version of the full length guide written by Constance Schulz, Page Putnam Miller, Aaron Marrs, and Kevin Allen for the American Historical Association
  • What Can I Do with a History Major?
    • Another site that discusses various career paths.
  • Eastern Illinois University Career Services
    • Career Services offers workshops on interviewing and job search strategies. Visit their office, and especially their career counselors such as Bobbi Kingery, Career Counselor - College of Arts and Humanities, for great tips on how to market your research and writing skills.

• Academic
  
  • American Historical Association: Where Historians Work
    • An interactive, online database that catalogues the career outcomes of the 8,515 historians who earned PhDs at U.S. universities from 2004 and 2013
  • Chronicle of Higher Education - Jobs
    
    • Includes postings for administrative, faculty/research, organizational, and public history positions.
  • Fulbright Scholar Program
    • Includes global opportunities for teaching.
  • Inside Higher Ed
    • Includes postings for all higher education jobs and also provides lots of career advice.
  • H-Net Job Guide
    • Another site which announces academic positions in history, the humanities, and the social sciences.
• Museums, Archives, Public History
  • Careers in Public History
    • Start here for a compendium of links to career advice, position searches, etc.
  • American Alliance of Museums
    • Site includes information on museum careers and a searchable list of open positions.
  • American Association for State and Local History
    • Informative site also includes the guide, "Careers for The History Professional," as well as links to internships.
  • AHA Perspectives offers the following guides and advice:
    • Melissa Bingmann, "Advising Undergraduates about Career Opportunities in Public History," (March 2009)
    • Louise Pubols, "Doing History in Exhibit Halls: The History PhD and a Museum Career" (February 2004)
    • Emily Sohmer Tai, "Teaching History at a Community College (February 2004)
  • Illinois Association of Museums
    • The careers page on the IAM website offers listings of jobs and internships. 
  • SAA Online Career Center
    • The Society of American Archivists website includes a free resume posting service and searchable job listings.
      
      
• Government
  
  • USAjobs
    • The official job site of the United States federal government; includes "GS-170 Historian" classification, etc.
  • Internet Job Source
    • Employment in federal, state, and local government.

• Job Sites
  • Indeed
    • Main commercial jobsite with trends, forums, and resume posting.
  • target="_blank"LinkedIn
    • One of the largest professional networking sites. Includes news and company information.
  • Monster
    • A commercial jobsite with news and resume posting.
  • NACE - Knowledge Center - Job Seeker Resources
    • From the National Association of Colleges and Employers, this site includes resume and interview advice, how to market yourself to employers, guidance for on-the-job success, and more.