Historians
Skills & Knowledge
Most Important Skills for Historians
- Reading—Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
- Writing—Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Speaking—Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Thinking Critically—Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
- Listening—Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Learning New Things—Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Understanding How People Learn—Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Being Aware of Others—Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Making Decisions—Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Teaching—Teaching others how to do something.
Most Important Knowledge Areas for Historians
- History and Archeology—Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
- English Language—Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
- Geography—Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
- Clerical—Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
- Education and Training—Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
- Computers and Electronics—Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- Customer and Personal Service—Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- Sociology and Anthropology—Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins.
- Administration and Management—Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- Fine Arts—Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Interests
Different careers may be a good fit for your personality or interests. This career is:
- Investigative—Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
- Conventional—Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.
Learn more about your interests. Take the MnCareers Interest Assessment.
Describe Your Skills
People who have worked in this career typically perform the following tasks.
These statements can help a prospective employer understand what you can do, on a resume or during an interview.
- Collecting information from different sources.
- Interpreting information for others.
- Thinking creatively.
- Documenting or recording information.
- Identifying information by categorizing, comparing, or detecting changes in circumstances or events.
- Compiling, calculating, tabulating, or otherwise processing information.
- Working directly with the public.
- Making decisions or solving problems.
Careers that Use Similar Skills
The following careers use skills, knowledge, and abilities that are similar to those used for Historians.
View more careers in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics cluster
View more careers in the Science and Mathematics pathway
This page includes information from the O*NET 24.2 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Source: You can learn about our data sources in the About Us section.