Historian
What the work is
Researches, collects and analyses information about the history of human activity, events, cultures and eras, and prepares accounts of findings.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Assembles historical data by consulting sources of information such as historical indexes and catalogues, archives, court records, diaries, newspaper files and other materials
- Organises, authenticates, evaluates and interprets historical, political, sociological, anthropological and linguistic data
- Undertakes historical and cultural research into human activity, and prepares and presents research findings
- Writes articles to be published in academic publications such as journals
- Analyses and interprets historical information to determine its authenticity
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a council archive and a small heritage consultancy in a regional town. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A dusty box of old records turns out to hold the missing piece of a local story
- A community group trusts you with something precious and you handle it well
- A visitor finds their grandparents in a register you helped save
Hard days
- Two groups who both care about a place want opposite outcomes from your advice
- A funding deadline and a pile of slow, careful work land in the same week
- Someone wants an answer now, but the evidence only supports a maybe
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 232336, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.