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There are many career paths in anthropology, including teaching, museum curating, zoos, social services, nature conservation, government, forensic pathology, and international development, to name a few.
In the major, you develop skills and abilities that make you very marketable in a wide variety of jobs from emergency management to science education. Cultural competence—the ability to understand and communicate about and across cultural differences—is a key skill anthropology majors learn that prepares them for many jobs in today’s global world.
Brooklyn College alumni with a degree in anthropology work in health care services, education, social work, cultural resource management, and many other fields. Some of these career paths in anthropology require you to have a minimum degree of a master’s.
There is a lot of information available on LinkedIn, including profiles of more than 600 Brooklyn College alumni who graduated with a degree in anthropology. Join the Brooklyn College Alumni group and see where alumni are currently working, their skill sets, and their career progression. You can filter further based on employer, class year, etc.
Keep in mind, this list isn’t inclusive of all the opportunities available to anthropology students. Use the Magner Career Center resources to your advantage to find opportunities that align with your interests!
Here are some career guides and articles that share information on career options open to anthropology majors:
There are several different aspects of anthropology that affect the average salary, such as education level, industry type, experience, and location. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median salary was $62,410 per year in May 2018. The best approach to determining possible salaries is to research them on websites like Indeed.com and Salary.com.
As anthropology majors, students learn vital skills that are applicable to any job. Anthropology majors learn to analyze data, communicate effectively, write persuasively, and think critically. Students will gain skills in interviewing, conducting original research, cataloguing objects, evaluating published data, and working in teams.
See the following resources for information on these skills:
There are a number of resources on campus that will help you learn more about anthropology career options. Attend events and keep current on the resources available to you.
The Magner Career Center has a wealth of information on everything you need to get started in your career, help with résumés, an internships database, job fairs, etc.
To find all clubs and the latest events, search for the names of clubs and sign in to RSVP for the events you would like to attend.
The American Anthropological Association provides detailed information for those interested in going into the field of anthropology. The association has a search engine for careers in the field and internships.
Review the Vault Guides to learn about careers. For example, you may want to review Vault Guide to Nonprofit Jobs, Vault Career Guide to Curating, Vault Guide to Education, or Vault Guide to Government Jobs, to name a few.
Occupational Network (O*NET) offers occupational statistics such as salaries and growth potential for all occupations. Additionally, you can search occupations by name or by your own interests, skills, abilities, etc.
Occupational Outlook Handbook gives you information on the training and education needed for the job, earning potential, expected job prospects, what you would be doing on the job, and what the working conditions are like.
Students interested in pursuing a career in anthropological or archaeological science would be well served in joining at least one of the many existing anthropology and archaeology organizations:
CUNY Meetups hosts various events throughout the semester open to all CUNY students and alumni.
