History Job Search Resources
Careers for History Majors
See the American Historical Association’s Careers in History page
- Introduction
- What Can You Do with That History Degree?
- History Discipline Core
- Taking Charge of Your Education
- Talking to Employers about Your Degree
- Many Paths, One Degree Introduction
- An Education to Last a Lifetime
- Opening Doors to Life in a Global Economy
- Connecting Past to Present
- The Landscape after College
- What Employers Want
- The Well-Rounded History Graduate
- Contributors
- History Major Testimonials
Tips
- Meet with a History Faculty Advisor.
- Research the prerequisites of your area of interest & tailor your program of study to meet curricular & skill needs.
- Develop skills through internships, part-time jobs, volunteering, &/or obtaining a leadership role in a school or community organization.
- Create a network of both formal & informal contacts.
- Research various job opportunities, pay structures, & hiring processes.
Famous History Majors
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — NBA
Univ. of California, Los Angeles
Grant Hill — NBA
Duke Univ.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee — Athlete
Univ. of California, Los Angeles
Bud Selig — Commissioner of Baseball
Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison
Shaka Smart — Athlete & College Basketball Coach
Kenyon College
Kenneth Chenault — CEO & Chairman, American Express; Chairman, General Catalyst Partners
Bowdoin Coll.
Chelsea Clinton — Author, Nonprofit Leader, & Health Advocate
Stanford Univ.
Carly Fiorina — Businesswoman, Hewlett-Packard
Stanford Univ.
Chris Hughes — Co-Founder, Facebook
Harvard Univ.
Sam Kass — Chef, Nonprofit Leader
Univ. of Chicago
Robert L. Johnson — Entrepreneur, BET
Univ. of Illinois
Alexis Ohanian — Co-Founder and Chairman, Reddit
Univ. of Virginia
Sam Palmisano — CEO, IBM
Johns Hopkins Univ.
John Pepper — CEO & Chairman, Procter & Gamble
Yale Univ.
Martha Stewart — Businesswoman
Barnard Coll.
Sevetri Wilson — CEO, Resilia
Louisiana State Univ.
Susan Diane Wojcicki — CEO, YouTube
Harvard Univ.
Sean Astin — Actor
Univ. of California, Los Angeles
Ellen Barkin — Actor
Hunter Coll.
Sacha Baron Cohen — Comedian
Univ. of Cambridge
Dean Cain — Actor
Princeton Univ.
Steve Carell — Comedian
Denison Univ.
Julia Child — Chef, Author, TV Presenter
Smith Coll.
Larry David — Comedian
Univ. of Maryland
Brian Dennehy — Actor
Columbia Univ.
Will Forte — Actor
Univ. of California, Los Angeles
Cary Fukunaga — Director
Univ. of California, Santa Cruz
Katherine Hepburn — Actor
Bryn Mawr Coll.
John Lithgow — Actor
Harvard Univ. (History & Literature)
Christopher Meloni — Actor
Univ. of Colorado at Boulder
Errol Morris — Documentarian
Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison
Edward Norton — Actor
Yale Univ.
Conan O’Brien — Comedian
Harvard Univ. (History and Literature)
Michael Palin — Actor
Univ. of Oxford
Ramtin Arablouei — Journalist, NPR
Saint Mary’s Coll. of Maryland
Chris Berman — Commentator, ESPN
Brown Univ.
Wolf Blitzer — Journalist, CNN
Univ. at Buffalo, State Univ. of New York
Terry Gannon — Sportscaster
North Carolina State Univ.
Jasmine Guillory — Novelist
Wellesley Coll.
Alix Harrow — Novelist
Berea Coll.
Seymour Hersh — Journalist, New Yorker
Univ. of Chicago
Mikki Kendall — Author & Commentator
Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Charles Kuralt — Journalist, CBS
Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Annie Proulx — Novelist
Univ. of Vermont
Kai Ryssdal — Host, NPR’s Marketplace
Emory Univ.
Kristen Welker — Journalist, NBC
Harvard Univ.
Eric Holder — Former US Attorney General
Columbia Univ.
Elena Kagan — US Supreme Court Justice
Princeton Univ.
Brett Kavanaugh — US Supreme Court Justice
Yale Univ.
Joshua Matz — Attorney
Univ. of Pennsylania
John Roberts — US Supreme Court Chief Justice
Harvard Univ.
Antonin Scalia — Former US Supreme Court Justice
Georgetown Univ.
Sonia Sotomayor — US Supreme Court Justice
Princeton Univ.
Joshua Stein — Attorney General of North Carolina
Dartmouth Coll.
Jimmy Buffett — Singer-songwriter
Univ. of Southern Mississippi
Anthony da Costa — Singer-songwriter
Columbia Univ.
John Baldacci — Governor of Maine
Univ. of Maine, Orono
Joseph Biden Jr. — US President
Univ. of Delaware
Gordon Brown — UK Prime Minister
Univ. of Edinburgh
George W. Bush — US President
Yale Univ.
Tom Cole — US House of Representatives
Grinnell Coll.
Ken Dryden — NHL, Canadian Parliament
Cornell Univ.
Newt Gingrich — US House of Representatives
Emory Univ.
Orrin Hatch — US Senate
Brigham Young Univ.
Josh Hawley — US Senate
Stanford Univ.
Deidre Henderson — Utah Lt. Governor
Brigham Young Univ.
Richard Nixon — US President
Whittier Coll.
Stacey Plaskett — US House of Representatives Delegate
Georgetown Univ.
Susan Rice — National Security Advisor, Domestic Policy Council Director
Stanford Univ.
Franklin D. Roosevelt — US President
Harvard Univ.