Build your career with the Employed Historian blog
Welcome, liberal arts and humanities graduates! Use this blog to discover new opportunities and build your career toolkit.
Learn how to take your first steps, how to build your portfolio, and how to land your next job with helpful strategies and hard-won insights on the job market.

Where do you need help first?

Just for history majors
Get the facts and insights you need to make your way in the world as a history major.

Personal branding
Build a personal brand that earns job offers with these real-life examples and strategies.

Job search tactics
Discover why traditional advice doesn’t work anymore—and how to get hired for real.

Life after college
Use this data on student loans, internships, and salaries to make your next move the right one.

Make your LinkedIn profile
Recruiters and hiring managers use LinkedIn every day. Make the best profile possible here.

Put the liberal arts to good use
Make your liberal arts degree work for your career (and sound smarter talking about it).
The latest from the Employed Historian
Personal branding examples to supercharge your own
Everyone says you need a personal brand, but few people can show you how to actually make one. That’s why I scoured LinkedIn for the best personal...
When you might need personal branding consultant
You hear about the importance of personal branding all the time when talking about careers, but people usually leave out the insights that make it...
How to make a lot of money after college
Websites like to list hundreds of ideas on how to make a lot of money after college, but few of them actually explain what’s realistic and the...
The easiest jobs to get after college
Post-graduation life can be difficult. Many graduates—especially those from the liberal arts and humanities—can’t find a job after college, and it’s...
Unemployed after college? Here’s what nobody told you.
Being unemployed after college is the norm, not the exception—and that’s not just because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most students can’t find a job...
I was fired from my first job after college. This is what I learned.
Job loss is one of the five most stressful life events that can happen to us, and recent graduates are particularly prone to it. I was fired from my...
How to land your first job after college
Figuring out how to land your first job after college is hard. The good news is that having a college education gives you the best chance at...
Does life get better after college?
Everyone tells you that life gets better after high school… but does life get better after college? Yes, but it might not happen immediately—and...
The reality about living at home after college
Living at home after college evokes a negative stigma, but it’s the reality for a lot of graduates these days, and it’s nothing to be ashamed about....
What’s the average salary after college?
Every grad needs money once the cap and gown come off, but how much can you actually expect to make with your new degree? You can’t rely on big...
Can you get an internship after college?
Getting an internship after college isn’t always the first thing that comes to mind after completing four years of intense studying. You’re probably...
The average debt after college (and how you stack up)
Student debt has become something of a crisis, accounting for up to $1.57 trillion in the United States alone. It’s not just that it’s grown out of...
Should you take a gap year after college? Here’s the scoop.
Wondering if you should pursue a graduate degree, take a break, or dive right into work? Life after college can be a struggle at first, so don’t...
How to find the best jobs after college for humanities and liberal arts graduates
Finally graduated after four years of essays, exams, and tutorial discussions, only to be left standing there asking this? “What jobs can I get...
What should a resume look like after college?
Joining the job market after college is tough. Most grads can’t find a job after college because they lack the experience that employers expect...
How to find a job after college
Life after college can be tough. Many of us have been left to wonder if we will find a job after college with the degree we’ve earned, and without...
What to do after college
Graduating is a weird experience. Everything is a sprint: finishing (or starting) papers, studying for exams, and fitting in goodbyes with friends....
How do you add interests to LinkedIn? Here’s the easy way.
Interests are probably the most underrated aspect of your LinkedIn profile. They’re so far down in the profile structure that most people forget...
How to get more LinkedIn impressions on your profile
Marketing yourself on social networks isn’t as complicated as LinkedIn consultants make it out to be, and that’s great news for job seekers and...
How to tell if you need a LinkedIn profile makeover
You would not believe how many adult professionals leave their LinkedIn profile incomplete. It gets in the way of being recruited, building a...
Do young professionals need a LinkedIn consultant?
LinkedIn is one of the best ways for job seekers to market themselves—in fact, it’s almost as important as having a resume, since they’re so closely...
LinkedIn headlines for the unemployed that actually work
Your LinkedIn headline is an underrated but highly important part of creating an all-star profile. Other than your picture, it’s the first thing...
How the LinkedIn algorithm works for job seekers
Did you know that you can manipulate the LinkedIn algorithm to show your profile to more recruiters and hiring managers? Pretty handy, right? If...
The best LinkedIn headlines for students (that aren’t desperate)
Headlines matter. They’re one of the first things that recruiters and hiring managers see on your LinkedIn profile, but they’re also one of the few...
How to merge LinkedIn accounts: the step-by-step guide
It’s happened to all of us: You’re making a new account and you get the message that says, “that email address is already in use.” You can’t seem to...
LinkedIn best practices for newcomers to the platform
Welcome to LinkedIn! Plenty of people use the platform, but not everyone is clear on what’s acceptable and what earns awkward digital side glances....
How to get an “all-star” LinkedIn score on your profile
For years I wondered what my LinkedIn profile was missing. My LinkedIn score sat at “expert” forever, but never quite reaching all-star status. but...
Why starting a business after university isn’t always realistic
Have you seen The Social Network? It dramatizes Mark Zuckerberg’s meteoric rise from college dropout to the world’s first social media mogul. Before...
Are you working for a career predator? Look for these signs
There are bad bosses, manipulative managers, and toxic coworkers… but career predators are the ones who really sink their teeth into you and hold on...
Where to find digital humanities jobs
Academia is a competitive career path. It’s hard to secure a position in the liberal arts with such a competitive pool of candidates from across the...