The annual meeting is rich with opportunities to hone your job search skills, expand your professional network and learn more about the many career options available to historians. Whatever the stage of your career search, and whether you are interested in jobs within or beyond the academy (or both), there is a workshop, panel session, or networking event for you at AHA18. This year, we have consolidated much of our professional development programming into a central location, Professional Pathways (Marriott Wardman Park, Marriott Ballroom, Salon 2), making it easier than ever to use your time at the annual meeting to broaden your career horizons.

Meet New People and Expand Your Network

There are many ways to meet fellow historians at the annual meeting. If you've never attended the annual meeting before, check out the AHA First-Time Attendee Guide for general tips on how to network and consider attending Getting the Most Out of the Annual Meeting for advice from veteran attendees. Whether you are a graduate student, two year faculty member, public historian, or are curious about the scholarship of teaching and learning, receptions and networking opportunities abound. Finally, stop by the fifth annual Career Fair on Saturday afternoon, hosted by the AHA Career Diversity for Historians initiative, and speak with historians working in government, education, business, and non-profit organizations.

Build Your Skills

AHA18 is packed with opportunities to develop professional skills. If you are interested in developing your digital skills, register for THATCamp, a wide ranging bootcamp on technology and the humanities, or the Getting Started in Digital History Workshop. If you are already doing digital work you'd like to share, participate in the Digital Projects Lightening Round.

Want to communicate your work in a variety of media and to different audiences? The Q&A with Journal Editors and the Q&A with Publishers will provide valuable insights into academic publishing.  Learn about podcasting at Is This Thing On? How History Podcasts Can, and Should, Change the Discipline anddiscuss writing novels with NY Times bestselling author Laura Kamoie at Historians Writing Historical Fiction. Practice your presentation skills at the Dissertation Lightning Round or the "Five Slides in Five Minutes" Session for Early Career Scholars.

Opportunities to develop teaching skills abound. Consider attending Curricular Innovation for Transforming Enrollment, the Reacting to the Past Workshop, Innovations in Historical Teaching: The History Harvest, or any of the many teaching oriented sessions. A full guide to teaching focused events can be found here.

Professional Pathways

AHA's Career Diversity for Historians initiative is working to better prepare graduate students and early-career historians for a range of career options within and beyond the academy. AHA18 will feature continuous programming relating to career development at Professional Pathways, held in the Marriott Wardman Park, Marriott Ballroom, Salon 2.

At the Career Fair, historians from a variety of fields (government agencies, military, nonprofits, businesses, colleges and universities, presses, independent scholars, K-12, etc.) will speak with students and job candidates about their professions.. While you are at the Career Fair, stop by Ask an Assistant Professor to speak with early career academics about their jobs. All AHA annual meeting attendees are invited to participate; contact Dylan Ruediger at druediger@historians.org for more information.

In addition, Professional Pathways will host panels featuring historians working in a variety of fields. Federal Jobs Revealed and Research and Scholarship in Federal History Jobs explore historical careers in the federal government. Thinking Like a Historian in a Think Tank, Why History Matters: Practical Impacts of Historians' Work, and How Can I Be a Historian in this Job? explore how historians bring their skills to careers beyond the professoriate. Learn more about high school teaching at Teaching History in Independent Schools, and about the skills public history employers are looking for at What Do Public History Employers Want?

Interested in careers like these but unsure how to proceed? We're hosting several events aimed at sharpening your skills including workshops on Preparing for the Nonacademic Job Search and on Building a Professional Profile on Linkedin.

Finally, you can learn more about how doctoral programs are working to support their student's career preparation at Collaboration for Career Diversity: Locating Expertise at the Institutional and National Levels and Bringing Collaborative Research Into Doctoral Training: Field Dispatches from the NEH Next Generation Program and the AHA Mellon Grant.

Session Roundup

Many sessions at AHA18 are devoted to exploring the diverse careers of historians. Whether you’re pursuing your BA, MA or PhD in history, are looking for career opportunities, or are a faculty member interested in helping your students prepare for employment, we hope the opportunity to hear from historians about the work they do will provide inspiration.

Thursday

Bringing Collaborative Research into Doctoral Training: Field Dispatches from the NEH Next Generation Program and the AHA Mellon Grant
1:30 to 3:00 PM, Marriott Wardman Park, Marriott Ballroom, Salon 2

Teacher, Historian, Scholar: The Professional Identity of Two-Year Faculty
1:30-3:00 PM, Marriott Wardman Park, Lobby Level, Salon 1

On the Job: Talking about History Skills with Employers
1:30-3:00 PM, Marriott Wardman Park, Mezzanine Level, Thurgood Marshall West

Research and Scholarship in Federal History Jobs
1:30-3:00 PM, Marriott Wardman Park, Lobby Level, Delaware Suite A

Workshop: Federal Jobs Revealed
3:30-5:00 PM, Marriott Wardman Park, Marriott Ballroom, Salon 2

Friday

Teaching History in Independent Schools: A Career for PhDs in History
8:30-10:00 AM, Marriott Wardman Park, Marriott Ballroom, Salon 2

Collaboration for Career Diversity: Locating Expertise at the Institutional and National Levels
10:30-12:00 PM, Marriott Wardman Park, Marriott Ballroom, Salon 2

Thinking Like a Historian at a Think Tank
12:00-1:30 PM, Marriott Wardman Park, Marriott Ballroom, Salon 2

GECC Open Forum: Finding Funding in an Era of Uncertainty
1:30-2:30 PM, Marriott Wardman Park, Marriott Ballroom, Salon 2

Historians Writing Historical Fiction: A Discussion
1:30-2:30 PM, Marriott Wardman Park, Marriott Ballroom, Salon 2

Workshop: Preparing for the Nonacademic Job Search
2:30-5:30 PM, Marriott Wardman Park, Marriott Ballroom, Salon 2

Dissertation Lightning Round
3:30-5:00 PM, Marriott Wardman Park, Exhibition Level, Roosevelt Room 1

Saturday

Q & A with Journal Editors
8:30-10:00 AM, Marriott Wardman Park, Marriott Ballroom, Salon 2

Why History Matters: Practical Impacts of Historians' Work
8:30-10:00 AM, Marriott Wardman Park, Lobby Level, Maryland Suite B

Democratizing Research Access: Overcoming Exclusion from Well-Resourced University Research Libraries
8:30-10:00 AM, Marriott Wardman Park, Exhibition Level, Washington Room 1

ImaginePhD and Career Diversity: Integrating Self Assessment, Career Exploration, and Planning into History Departments
10:30-12:00 PM, Marriott Wardman Park, Marriott Ballroom, Salon 2

Career Fair
1:00-4:00 PM, Marriott Wardman Park, Marriott Ballroom, Salon 2

Ask an Assistant Professor
1:00-4:00 PM, Marriott Wardman Park, Marriott Ballroom, Salon 2

Q & A with Publishers
1:30-3:00 PM, Marriott Wardman Park, Exhibition Level, Washington Room 1

Workshop: Building a Professional Profile on Linkedin
3:30-5:00 PM, Marriott Wardman Park, Marriott Ballroom, Salon 2

Teaching and Learning Networking Opportunity
3:45-4:45 PM, Marriott Wardman Park, Mezzanine Level, Hoover Room

Sunday

"What Do Public History Employers Want?" A Report from the National Council on Public History
9:00-10:30 AM, Marriott Wardman Park, Marriott Ballroom, Salon 2

How Can I Be a Historian in this Job?
11:00-12:30 PM, Marriott Wardman Park, Marriott Ballroom, Salon 2