Career Options after 12th Humanities: A Comprehensive Guide to Pursue a Successful Career

If you are reading this blog, it is probably because you have taken Humanities in Class 12th and you must have heard the common question, “What are the Career Options after 12th Humanities?” Well, gone are the days when jobs after a humanities degree used to hold little or no scope. 

So, today we will provide you with an answer to the question as we discuss the various career opportunities after 12th in the Humanities stream. Without wasting more time, let’s dive into it!

What is Humanities?

Humanities are academic disciplines that involve the study of different aspects of human society and culture. These aspects include anthropology, archaeology, classics, human history, ancient and modern linguistics, law and politics, literature, philosophy, religion, performing and visual arts, and many more.

Humanities is all about studying the human condition revolving around socio-economic and political scenarios. It uses critical, philosophical, and analytical approaches in deriving answers, speculations, and premises in understanding humans. Moreover, it prepares you to think creatively and critically, to question and derive answers. All in all, it is a holistic approach to education as it offers an expansive foundation across multiple academic disciplines.

Why study humanities?

Firstly, education in humanities or liberal arts will lead you to a number of career options after the 12th. You will be well equipped with the latest skills such as communication, creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, etc. that are most in demand by the recruiters.

Also, the world today is rapidly changing as we become more globally connected. This opens the road to various non-automated (i.e which can not be performed by machines) employment opportunities.

Likewise, humanities stream subjects go hand in hand with other areas of study. Moreover, a combination of soft skills and hard skills is becoming imperative in most workspaces nowadays. Therefore, a degree in Humanities or Liberal Arts would equip the students with the skills that are significant to succeed and thrive in the competitive workforce of the future.

As per the latest statistics, 75% of employers consider life skills such as problem-solving and critical thinking as the major employable skills. Employers seek potential workers’ ability to think creatively and find solutions to problems. Hence, the relevance of basic life skills and thinking out of the box is higher than it was decades ago.

Last but not least, According to reports by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU), almost 74% of recruiters say that they would recommend 21st-century liberal arts education for students to prepare today’s young students for success in their professional lives.

Skills you Develop after Career options in Humanities

According to the World Economic Forum, complex problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, people management, and emotional intelligence are some of the top skills students need to thrive in the future workplace.

Besides, there is a number of high on-demand 21st-century skills that the humanities stream helps develop. Learning these top skills in today’s time has become the need of the hour as the career options after 12th humanities are integrated with almost all major disciplines. Therefore, let’s have a brief overview of some of the skills you develop after the humanities stream:

Creative and Critical thinking

• Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally to understand the logical and practical interconnection between ideas and concepts.
• Also, it is very important to have the ability to think out of the box, challenge the status quo, raise questions, and ask the right questions.
• Furthermore, critical thinking skills are one of the top skills for students to be able to adapt to complex workplace structures and environments as a professional.
• Besides, to develop a critical thinking approach, you need to learn observation, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, identification, explanation, problem-solving, and decision-making skills. You can learn them through ideas and concepts in humanities streams.
• To end with, creative thinking also allows you to expand and discover possibilities in almost every aspect of your life.

Observation

• Observation is the ability to take notice of key facts and important events around you. Awareness of small to bigger aspects is both beneficial in the short-run and long run.
• Observation is a necessary life skill. Therefore, today’s young minds are already well equipped with advanced technology, and observing and being aware of their actions and surroundings becomes vital to living a successful life.

Empathy and Insight

• Empathy is important not only in the workplace but also in one’s personal life. Also, learning in-depth about human life and culture makes one more acceptable and understanding.
• Empathizing is about deeply understanding problems. When design thinking is applied in real life, students learn to empathize and understand themselves and others better.
• Similarly, using insights and observing the details, students get to make bigger life decisions more effectively.

Communication

• One of the most important skills to have irrespective of any field is communication. Communication is the basis of all our interactions and is perhaps the most valuable skill one picks up after studying humanities.
• Communication skills are not something someone is born with but are developed over a while. However, these basic life skills may as well take a lifetime to master.
• Effective communication skills will help you a lot while applying for jobs or looking for promotion or even reaching out to your supervisors. Communication skills are required to speak properly at the same time maintaining good eye contact, listen effectively, and present your ideas accurately. Many of these are important life skills that most managers seek.

Now that you are aware of what humanities are and what skills you develop, let us now take a quick look at the list of subjects under Humanities:

Explore different streams career options after 12th

Top 25 Humanities Stream Subjects

After plus two humanities courses or liberal arts teaches you to study engaging and interesting multiple disciplinary subjects. Well, there are more than 100 career options to choose from. But first, understand that these humanities courses after 12th arts are branched from the following list of humanities stream subjects.

Some of the humanities courses after 12^th you might take in the humanities stream include:

1. Anthropology
2. Archaeological Anthropology
3. Archaeology
4. Communication Studies
5. Criminology
6. Economics
7. Education
8. Environmental Studies
9. Foreign Languages such as English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, and other
10. Geography
11. History
12. Home Sciences
13. Indian Languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Odia, Assamese, Punjabi, Kannada, Maithili, Urdu, Sanskrit, Bhojpuri, Kashmiri, Konkani, and other
14. International Relations
15. Liberal Arts
16. Linguistics
17. Media Studies
18. Philosophy
19. Political Science
20. Politics
21. Psychology
22. Social Sciences
23. Social Work
24. Sociology
25. Women’s Studies

These subjects help develop and enhance skills such as communication and critical thinking and an understanding of the workings of the interconnectedness of the world and open a pool of humanities career options after 12th.

Some humanities career options after 12th require you to major in particular subjects, but it is possible to go into some fields such as law and publishing after having studied a variety of subjects.

Must read- 11 Reasons Why Liberal Arts Education is Worth it!

When you’re deciding what career options after 12th humanities should you focus on, take both your interests and the subject you majored in into consideration. There are many more career options than those listed below for people with a bachelor’s degree in humanities, the following are only a few examples to give one a flavor of the possibilities there are.

Top 101 Career Options in Humanities after 12th

Not only are there more than 100 career options after 12th humanities but also plenty of scope in each one of them. Moving forward, let’s take a look at the list of careers in humanities and social sciences you can choose from:

1. Anthropologist
2. Archaeological Anthropologist
3. Archaeologist
4. Art conservator
5. Archivist
6. Art curator
7. Art Dealer
8. Author
9. Art Historian
10. Bio Archaeologist
11. Biolinguist
12. Biological Anthropologist
13. Blogger
14. Career Counsellor
15. Cartographer
16. Child Psychologist
17. Children’s Rights Activist
18. Clinical Linguist
19. Cognitive Linguist
20. Communications Consultant
21. Computational Anthropologist
22. Computational Linguist
23. Content Writer
24. Computational Psychologist
25. Content Marketer
26. Counselling Psychologist
27. Creative Writer
28. Criminologist
29. Cultural Anthropologist
30. Cultural Consultant
31. Cyber Psychologist
32. Cultural Program Director
33. Developmental Linguist
34. Developmental Psychologist
35. Digital art Curator
36. Diplomat
37. Eco Linguist
38. Ecologist
39. Economist
40. Education Policy Consultant
41. English Litterateur
42. Entrepreneur
43. Environmental Economist
44. Environmentalist
45. Epistemologist
46. EthnoArchaeologist
47. Evolutionary Linguist
48. Experimental Archeologist
49. Family and Marriage Counsellor
50. Financial Advisor
51. Forensic Archaeologist
52. Financial Economist
53. Forensic Anthropologist
54. Forensic Linguist
55. Fundraising Coordinator
56. Forensic Psychologist
57. Geo Economist
58. Gerontologist
59. GIS Analyst
60. Health Economist
61. Health Psychologist
62. Historian
63. Historical Linguist
64. Industrial Economist
65. International Economist
66. Journalist
67. Labour Economist
68. Legislative Aide
69. Librarian
70. Linguist
71. Linguistic Anthropologist
72. Media Correspondent
73. Medical and Health worker
74. Medical Anthropologist
75. Mental Health Counsellor
76. Museologist
77. Museum Anthropologist
78. Neuro Linguist
79. Non-Profit Organization Executive
80. Political Advisor/Analyst
81. Paleontologist
82. Political Economist
83. Political Scientist
84. Psycholinguist
85. Psychologist
86. Public Affairs and Policy Expert
87. Rehabilitation Counsellor
88. Social Psychologist
89. Sanskrit Litterateur
90. Social Anthropologist
91. Scriptwriter
92. Social Media Strategist
93. Socio Linguist
94. Social Worker
95. Sociologist
96. Sports Psychologist
97. Social Scientist
98. Teacher
99. Technical writer
100. Theologist
101. Translator 

Other Career Options in Humanities after 12th

One problem that has troubled students for generations and will continue to do so is when they aren’t sure what they want to do later and are confused while deciding on their major. So, even if you earlier had no idea about the 101 career options after 12th humanities, you don’t have to worry if you couldn’t pick the major you now to pursue a career in.

Well, here’s the good news! Here are some more career options after 12th humanities irrespective of what you chose to major in.

Several careers do not depend on your graduate degree or the subject you graduated in. So, here are a few examples of career options after 12th humanities that do not require any specific major:

• Law
• Journalism
• Editing
• Publishing
• Marketing
• Work for not for profit organizations
• Indian Civil Services

So, to end with we can say that there is no end to career options after 12th humanities as students with an education in humanities and liberal arts are all-rounders. Moreover, they possess ample knowledge of the world and are better equipped with the top skills that employers want. Hence, with holistic know-how of the world and skills of the 21st century, students in the humanities stream are bound to be successful in the future of the workplace.

Is humanities a good stream: Conclusion

Yes absolutely! Even though people say it is difficult to find a job after a humanities degree and that the humanities are inferior to the sciences, we are assured that there are plenty of career options after 12th humanities.

Whether it is based on the skills you have acquired or on what you majored in there is a pool of opportunities awaiting you. Perhaps a few decades ago there were limited job options available to those who had done a bachelor’s degree in humanities, but today that isn’t true as we saw in this article.

However, this is one of the most important decisions you will make in your life, and it’s important to not make a hasty decision. Therefore, it is important to choose wisely whether after talking to your friends and family, or someone more professional such as a career counsellor.

Well, that’s it for today. Hope this article was helpful. Thank You!

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Anushree Rastogi

Anushree has 4+ years of experience in the career counseling industry as a Senior Content Writer. She has also worked as a Social Media Marketing Expert for a startup and Content Quality Analyst for Publishing and E-learning Industry. She has done her Master’s in Commerce and PGDM in Finance & Trade and Marketing & HR, but she is currently following her passion for writing.