Humanities Education and Student Career Readiness

How can libraries and faculty help build up workforce-friendly skills in humanities students—and enhance the humanities’ value in higher education?

The headlines narrate a difficult road for the humanities in higher education. However, today’s humanities graduates have favorable employment and compensation rates, comparable with most other college majors.1, 2 In fact, many employers are seeking precisely the skills that are trademarks of the humanities, while students are reporting fulfillment in their humanistic pursuits.

By fostering these in-demand skills, librarians and faculty can play a critical role in not just keeping the humanities relevant on campus but also ensuring the workforce readiness of humanities students. Discover how to enrich student learning in the humanities while building the skills that modern workplaces urgently need.

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FREE GUIDE: How to Help Ensure Career Readiness for Humanities Students

Humanities students excel in many of today’s top industries, including legal, finance, marketing, sales, tech, and education, as well as in a variety of management positions.3 These students have the potential to fit into a sweet spot when it comes to today’s job market: they develop skills employers need in today’s twenty-first-century economy as well as a deeper understanding of human behavior from historical and social knowledge.

How can you help humanities students reach this sweet spot on your campus? Download our free, actionable guide for building workforce-ready skills to find out.

 

Ready to help humanities students shine in the workforce?

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SKILL 1: Support Data Literacy & Analysis

Make digital scholarship accessible to everyone on your campus with Gale Digital Scholar Lab. With a guided workflow and built-in Learning Center, student researchers at any level can mine historical data and master transferrable skills in data literacy and statistical analysis. Running textual analysis within the Lab helps students focus on their research and develop a greater understanding of how digital tools like generative AI improve research outcomes.

 

 

SKILL 2: Prepare Graduates to Think Critically

Help students build the critical-thinking skills they need to make informed decisions in the ​workplace. With Gale Research Complete, your library can offer a powerful cross-search experience that lets student researchers explore information across Gale’s core databases. As students sift through various sources and build datasets, they learn to contextualize information, understand topics from multiple perspectives, and reach informed conclusions through rich, layered research.

 

SKILL 3: Strengthen Information Literacy

Connect students to rich primary source archives that can help increase information literacy, shed light on various perspectives, and foster cultural empathy. The Gale Accelerate program allows you to build your Gale Primary Sources collections wish list, and get access to Gale Digital Scholar Lab, with a flexible acquisition model tailored to fit your library’s budget.

 

Get Quick Insights from Our Webinar with Choice

Even if you missed our recent Choice webinar, "Humanities Education and Student Career Readiness," you can still download a quick reference guide that summarizes the actionable insights from our panelists on how librarians and faculty can enhance the humanities’ value for the workforce and foster a specific set of crucial, job-friendly skills.

 

  1. “The Employment Status of Humanities Majors,” Humanities Indicators, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 2018.
  2. “Earnings of Humanities Majors with a Terminal Bachelor’s Degree,” Humanities Indicators, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 2021.
  3. “Occupational Outlook Handbook, Field of degree: History,” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 6, 2023.