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Department of Anthropology

Careers in Anthropology


Careers in Anthropology

Fall 2008


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The Anthropology major prepares you for a career that will call upon a variety of skills, including skills in:

  • research and investigation
  • analytical and critical thinking
  • oral, graphical, and written communication
  • human relations informed by a nuanced understanding of the nature and causes of human diversity
  • problem solving and decision making
  • sampling, gathering and organizing data
  • planning projects
  • writing grant proposals
  • interviewing and surveying
  • conducting field studies
  • working with artifacts and samples
  • detail orientation

Potential careers range from public health officer to heritage management specialist, from NGO program specialist to forensic scientist, from physician to community organizer.


Resources


There are number of excellent resources on anthropological careers:

General


Careers in Anthropology (American Anthropological Association) - General discussion of careers and career strategies.
Careers as an Anthropology Graduate (UC Berkeley) - Ten year old general discussion of strategies.
Jobs and Careers in Anthropology (Northern Kentucky University ) - Discussion of job titles and strategies, and a list of books on particular careers
see especially What Can I Do With This Degree for very tangible recommendations.
Anthropology Careers (University of Kansas) - Examples of careers in different areas.
IUP Anthropology Careers - Excellent discussion of strategies, extensive listing of job titles, exhaustive list of print resources.

Applied and Cultural Anthropology


Applied Anthropology Careers (NAPA) - 1994 Expose on careers and career gaining strategies in applied anthropology.

Archaeology


Helpful Links for Job-Seekers in Classical Archaeology (Archaeological Institute of America) - Various links to job-getting resources in Classical Archaeology.
U.S. Archaeology Careers (David L. Carlson) - Comprehensive discussion of archaeology careers in the United States.
General Information on Starting a Career in Archaeology (ArchNet) - Accessible introductory information, slightly dated, on career-building in archaeology.

Linguistics and Language Studies



Physical and Biological Anthropology


  • Physical Anthropology Careers (Career Development Committee of the American Association of Physical Anthropology) - Emphasizes non-academic careers.

Of course, on-line search engines are useful, too.

Most recently, Fiske has published an article on anthropologists in federal service:

Shirley J. Fiske
      2008 Working For the Federal Government: Anthropology Careers. NAPA BULLETIN 29: 110-130.


Ten Career-Building Tips

(distilled from some of the sources above)

1. Know Thyself.
a. What are your strengths and weaknesses? What is your comfort zone? Can you address a weakness by further work (e.g., public speaking) or developing compensating strategies? Quiz your family and friends on how they perceive you. Consult with counselors at UNL Career Services; they have a variety of personality tests, for example, that may help you here. See also UNL Power of Possibilities for help in identifying careers and majors.
b. What are your ethical boundaries? Work through the ethical complexities associated with a particular career, be it working in academia, for the federal government, the military, or in industry.
2. You've already begun your career. Make your coursework and collateral college experiences contribute to your career.
3. Job titles for anthropologists do not always contain the word anthropologist. See IUP Anthropology Careers for an exhaustive list of career titles.
4. Entry level positions exist for those just finishing undergraduate work; a graduate degree leads to more advanced positions. See University of North Carolina Wilmington Anthropology Careers for examples of entry and advanced level job titles.
5. Develop your professional network. This network includes your former and current employers and professors, the person who coordinated your church's Mission to Mexico, your colleagues, and so on. Through this network, you will learn about positions and opportunities.
6. According to IUP Careers in Anthropology, 80% of anthropological jobs are not advertised but are filled by people already known to the employer, i.e., persons who have volunteered or interned for the agency or become known because of network connections.
7. Identify potential careers and "upstream" to identify critical skills. "Shadow" or interview person in that position.
8. Consider a double-major or additional minors to enhance your competitiveness. For example, if you want to be involved in developing agricultural potential in Afghanistan, you need to be knowledgeable in agriculture and Afghanistan.
9. Internship, employment, and volunteer experiences will also help you develop useful skills, expand your professional network, and contribute to your evolving resume.
10. For those seeking federal employment (and these recommendation generally extend to those seeking more advanced positions), Fiske (2008: 126) recommends:
a. Have a secondary specialty: For cultural anthropologists in all federal agencies, but especially in international development, it is highly recommended to have a secondary specialty, which becomes a de facto marketing tool. It might be methodological, such as evaluation research, or qualitative methods; or it might be a substantive specialty such as public health, agriculture, public lands and resource management, housing policy, or any number of mission-related fields or analytic approaches.
b. The importance of the "experience factor" for USAID hires and how to get it: Having or getting the experience factor is a critical part of one's preparation for development assistance jobs. [Consider working for an NGO to gain vital experience.]
c. Get methodological and statistics training: Most anthropologists wished they had taken or been offered additional training in graduate school to prepare them for a career in practice. Most mentioned the need for training in quantitative methods and research design, statistics, economics, applied research methods such as program evaluation, or GIS.


UNL Resources




UNL Anthropology Graduates




Internships




Employment


  • See UNL Husker Hire Link for linkages to wide-ranging job opportunities
  • Federal Jobs - Also offers guidance on developing your SF-171, the federal version of a resume. See UNL Career Services and Fiske (2008) for additional help in this area.
  • Idealist.org - Portal to internship, volunteer opportunities, jobs along with lots of advice.




Current Job Postings



Archeological Technician


1 vacancy - Full Time Temporary NTE NTE 1040 HRS
Midwest Archeological Center, Lincoln, NE

Experience your America and build a fulfilling career by joining the National Park Service. Become a part of our mission to unite our past, our cultures and our special places, to establish important connections to the present and build a rich and lasting legacy for future generations. For more information about the National Park Service, click National Park Service.

View Full Job Posting


Student Intern Positions


The Heritage Center
Red Cloud Indian School
Pine Ridge, South Dakota
Summer
Multiple Positions Available

Under the supervision of the Director and the Curator of the Heritage Center, the interns will become familiar with the day-to-day work of managing the collections. Through work with current collections and new accessions cataloging, the interns will learn the basic techniques and materials used to move, handle, number and shelve the Fine Arts and Tribal Arts collections. He/she also will complete condition reports and document collections through digital, slide and 35mm photography. Finally, the intern will add records to the collection's database, iO.

Red Cloud Indian School and the Heritage Center are located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which is in the southwestern corner of South Dakota, and neighbors the Badlands and the Black Hills. It is a beautiful area with many attractions. Red Cloud is about a one and a half hour drive south from Rapid City, South Dakota. Visit www.redcloudschool.org for more information.

General Information: Positions are full time, 8-10 weeks with flexible starting and ending dates. Housing provided. Preferred applicants are current Junior/Senior in college or graduate student with coursework in history, art history, anthropology, material culture, Native American studies, or museum studies.

Send cover letter, résumé, and contact information for two references to pstrong@redcloudschool.org OR via USPS to The Heritage Center, 100 Mission Drive, Pine Ridge, SD, 57770. Phone: (605) 867-5491.

Miriam Norris
Project Manager
The Heritage Center
Red Cloud Indian School
100 Mission Drive
Pine Ridge, SD 57770
1-605-867-5491 x221


Summer 2009 Positions Available


May - August 2009

The National Council for Preservation Education (NCPE), in partnership with the National Park Service (NPS), offers paid internships in Federal cultural resource program offices and in National Parks, to graduate and undergraduate senior students in academic programs in historic preservation and allied fields such as history, archeology, architecture, and museum studies. Positions will be available this Summer at the National Park Service, the US Naval Academy, the Department of Defense, and the General Services Administration, in Washington, DC and across the country.

Download the PDF for more information.