Marketing Yourself as a Historian
Alana L. Rogers
When I decided that being a historian was the direction my career was going, my mind never made the connection to being a salesman. I naively thought that lecture halls, libraries with that famous old book smell, and my trusty copy of Turbian’s A Manual for Writers would be what I needed to surround myself with to be successful. However, I have found that it takes the knowledge of a salesman to become a relevant historian. This knowledge also came with a huge caveat; the product that I would be selling is me.
My first introduction to this concept is one that I was already familiar with; I needed to produce a Curriculum Vitae, more commonly known as a CV. Similar to a resume, a CV lists your education, publications, projects, professional organizations, and work history. I found out early on a CV was imperative when applying to more than jobs, it also was a requirement for presentations, publications, and programs. A successful CV will highlight not only your accomplishments but also your research focus and interests. It is also helpful to get CV writing insights from your professors and peers to create a format that works best for you. While a CV is an important starting point, it is by no means where you need to stop. On the suggestion of a couple of my mentors, I also developed the website www.addressingthedress.org which details my projects, thesis, and also hosts a blog.
There are several online website creator templates to help even the most technologically disinclined individual create a professional-looking website in which to host information about yourself. Your website is a way to market your skills and research as well as way to showcase your mission statement, projects, and professional blog. One of the most important aspects of your website is that you keep it current. By adding your website to your CV, business cards, social media, and linktree accounts you are able to drive traffic to your site for future employers, colleagues, and potential scholars.
While a website is a wonderful idea to promote yourself and your research, you also need to be willing to go to events and talk to those in your field. Joining professional organizations such as the American Historical Association, The National Council on Public History, or the Alabama Historical Association, allows you to participate in conferences and meet professionals who work in the historical field. You are also granted the opportunity to submit your research, papers, and projects for presentation and publication to those organizations. By promoting your research, or what you could call your brand, you are contributing to the historical field. Your contributions will be part of your selling point when applying for positions in the history profession.
The field of history is competitive at all levels and the academic market is small. Therefore, you must be able to stand out when your application is being put forth with hundreds of others. Take the small internship that may be unpaid, ask your mentor or favorite professor if they have a project that you can help with, find ways to contribute to the field that are diverse and not included in academia— make yourself memorable. Marketing yourself as a historian takes more than just getting the degree behind your name. It is more than calling yourself a historian. It is being able to successfully “sell” your research, your interests, and yourself to those in the field.
