Thanks for bringing a real concern to the conversation @engledd. Perhaps this real concern is why history enrollments seem to be dropping.
In a society that defines success through economic gains, the lack of correlation between history knowledge and earned income makes life hard for historians. Unfortunately, many of the benefits of a history degree seem to be "invisible" to employers.
I think the key is to have visible skills, such as web-design or accounting , and use those to get your foot in the door. Once you are in, your training as a historian will help you because you will have critical thinking skills and an open mind.
I agree. I rely on my military leadership skills to be my visible skills--telling a prospective employer on a resume I was chosen to be the second in command of 78 soldiers gives them an idea about what I've done in the army, and a launching point for discussing it in an interview. But I think most history majors don't have those visible skills, or if they do, they didn't get them through the degree program. Perhaps it's time to start rewriting history degree requirements, and including classes that provide visible skills. What if there was a history-accounting major that taught accounting skills alongside research, writing, and critical thinking? Or a history-business major? Or history-computer science major?
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