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Yeah, ‘ha-ha’ — very funny. The number of times I get people telling me that the inevitable end of someone taking a history degree is to work in fast food (according to conventional wisdom, philosophers drive cabs, but historians and English majors take orders at the local McD’s)? Far beyond counting.

What’s frustrating is that, yes, there’s not an easy and seamless career path beckoning history graduates when they take their diplomas. But does that mean that you are doomed to a life of endless hair-net wearing with your history degree?

Of course not. I’m pleased to see that the AHA is sharing historians’ advice on employment prospects for majors in a forthcoming pamphlet, What to Do with a History Major. One common thread throughout the list of examples in their blog post is the need to work at finding work.

There aren’t going to be employers impatiently waiting for anyone coming out with a random bachelor’s degree, whereas science and engineering programs often have career fairs or prospective employers courting graduates. So history undergraduates entering their senior year (or recent graduates of B.A. and even M.A. programs) need to put a priority on making themselves “employable” and doing whatever they can to dig out possibilities. Some might have to move to areas where entry-level employment in major corporations is possible, or hotfoot it to the halls of power for law and government jobs. Others might want to combine their education with another qualification (museum studies, experience in the business world or, in areas where they are actually hiring teachers, a B.Ed.).

But all of this also depends on having a strong B.A. experience behind you. Can you write well? Can you research effectively? Can you look through materials and lay out the possible interpretations or applications rather as you did with causes or effects in your undergraduate work?

This is why it’s frustrating to see so many passive upper-year students, trying to coast to a C+ grade instead of seizing the opportunities in their courses and across the university to build up some skills that will be important to a future career. Yes, I’m aware that some are working outside of school can be a daunting drain on your time. I worked throughout my own undergraduate years, culminating in a full-time retail job held alongside my full-time student work in my senior year. But there are workshops, invited speakers, seminar sessions and other opportunities available during your education that will be much more difficult to access later in life.

Check out those on-campus conferences! Work on your writing! Pursue opportunities to develop your research skills! Learn how to sell yourself as the kind of worker that you want to be (or build the skillset to become an entrepreneur). Don’t wait until graduation to start thinking about what you want to and can do with your education.