Humanities Career Options | Pikes Peak State College

Humanities Graduates Have an Edge

Communication, critical thinking, reading and writing, and problem-solving are highly sought after skills that Humanities students possess. Thanks to their understanding of human culture, most graduates move on to careers in business while others continue their training that require further education, such as teaching, medicine or law.

Career Options for Humanities Graduates

A number of jobs in policy, research, or marketing provide options for a well-rounded graduate in humanities. The skill set developed from studying humanities - communicating clearly, critical thinking, and reasoning out informed choices - will be in demand for almost any job.

Here are a just a few choices for humanities majors, and at the bottom of the page you will find several links to several Career Advice websites on the internet which discuss the career opportunities available to Humanities majors.

Advertising

The study of human cultures and societies helps in understanding how people might interact to different types of advertising strategies.

Foreign Service

Successfully working abroad can be greatly influenced by a humanities background, especially if you've focused in the study of a particular culture. Knowing the background of a people--how they have viewed and expressed themselves over time--can give a humanities graduate a great advantage in adapting to less familiar worldviews.

Journalism

For a journalist, the ability to think critically and analytically, and then effectively communicate conclusions, are indispensable skills. Some of the top journalists working in the media today have humanities/liberal arts backgrounds, rather than journalism degrees.

Law

Humanities (as well as history) is one of the most common prerequisites sought by law schools. A humanities course of study imparts critical thinking skills and an ability to relate present circumstances to previous situations.
Public administration. Knowing how humans have approached the problems of societal interactions throughout history can give a humanities graduate an advantage in approaching the social problems being experienced and addressed in the present.

Publishing

Knowing good writing (organization, presentation, clarity, effectiveness), a primary skill learned in the study of humanities, can position a graduate to be able to critique and edit others' work.

Teaching

Humanities graduates are often sought by educational institutions because of their broad educational background, which allows them not only to pass on their skills to future humanities students, but also to bring a wide range of cross- and interdisciplinary content to other areas of study, such as literature, history, philosophy, art--and even the natural and social sciences.