History: the degree that opens doors


Among the reasons students undertake a History degree course are their success and enjoyment in History study. 

A degree will give you more choice in the type of career and a higher place in the hierarchy of work. In a recent survey by York University, only about 8 per cent of History graduates went on to careers, such as teaching or museum work, in which the content of their degree course was more or less directly related. In another study of graduate career direction by Dr Peter Beck and Dr David Stevenson (Careers Guide for History Graduates, published by the Historical Association, 1994) they identified the careers History graduates entered (see below).

For some other careers, particularly Law, History is a helpful historical background and for all occupations, because History is founded on a study of people, it provides a background to our Western cultural tradition and a surer appreciation of the present.

Although the great majority of History graduates do not use the content of their degree course in their careers, during study they develop and refine skills - skills that are transferable to later employment work. These skills include:

  • The capacity to absorb and manage a good deal of information.
  • The capacity to order and analyse information. 
  • The capacity to reason with clarity and cogency.
  • The use and refinement of judgement from evidence.
  • The preparation of argument.
  • The ability to express an argument persuasively and with clarity.

It is these developed capacities which prepares graduates for successful careers in the areas of finance, management, administration, the media and so on.



Key to diagram
  1. Administration and management 13.4%
  2. Personnel 1.6%,
  3. Buying, marketing and selling (inc.
    advertising and public relations) 10.7%
  4. Management services (including
    computing and data processing) 2.7%
  5. Secretarial and clerical 6.3%
  6. Accountancy 9.4%
  7. Banking 3.2%
  8. Insurance 1.55%
  9. Other financial work (including investment and the Stock Exchange) 2.5%
  10. Teaching and lecturing 18.8%
  11. Librarianship 2.3%
  1. Non-scientific research and
    information services 1.5%.
  2. Museums and art galleries 0.8%
  3. Publishing 1.3%
  4. Journalism 3.9%
  5. Archive work 0.7%
  6. Law 9.6%
  7. Police 0.7%
  8. Armed Forces 1.9%
  9. Medical and nursing services 0.7%
  10. Social, welfare and religious work 2.8%
  11. Creative and entertaining (including broadcasting, film and theatre) 1.4%
  12. Manual and non-professional occupations 4.5%
  13. Other occupations 1.6%