Recently, I have made it a habit to regularly explore online job banks in hopes of minimizing the post-graduation unemployment period. Unfortunately, the majority of history-related job postings can be categorized under three categories…
- part-time position
- underpaid, entry-level position that requires advanced education
- senior-level position that requires a lifetime of experience
Source
History institutions repeatedly take the safe route and hire veterans with years of experience. Unfortunately, this pattern recycles old ways of thinking. Inside the classroom, students discuss new research and innovative methods, but how can these ideas promptly rise to the top of the industry? History graduates regularly find employment in non-management positions, but by the time they gain the necessary experience for higher-level positions they assimilate into the traditional mold and perpetuate standard practice.
The @phillyhistory team has proposed new and bold ideas, but by the time we enter positions to implement change, the field will look vastly different.
Furthermore, the lack of immediate opportunities for history graduates deters many college students from majoring in the field. Since our economy favors students with STEM backgrounds, does this correlate with poor museum and historic site visitation? In the Philadelphia area, for example, if more students majored in history, would institutions see more visitors? The poor job market for history majors delegitimizes the field, and I’m afraid institutions suffer from the lack of young, history curious folks.
Perhaps institutions can salvage the industry by hiring more recent graduates with fresh perspectives. Not only would this introduce new ideas, but it would also raise the reputation of a history degree. With more students interested in history, they will explore different sites and increase visitation.
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You're absolutely right about the job market. I've been looking for collections jobs, and they're all either unpaid or poorly paid internships or require years of experience. I apply to some of them anyway, hoping I can substitute a combination of internships as well as military experience doing leadership, management, and artillery databases for experience with collections management and databases, but I suspect there are people with the desired experience and much more of it than I have applying for the same job.
At this point, I'm applying to other jobs in other fields where my history degree is still relevant and my military experience is more highly valued. Jobs where my low experience level actually matches the job description's qualifications expectations. Once I have built experience there, I can then try to break into museums from a different angle. Hopefully I won't have forgotten all the great ideas our cohort has discussed in our various classes.
It's a different approach and it might not work but it's pretty much the only option I have, after all I need to eat and pay rent.
So how to begin to fix the problem when there are no new resources?
How about if museums and archives were to offer free access to content for a cadre of bloggers on Steemit aimed at generating interest and discourse? That would cost little to nothing and would leverage this new form of social media. And the bloggers (presumably people entering the field) would have their own dedicated funding streams.
Traditional social media, as we know all so well, does not pay. Steemit does.