Home Historian Resume template
Historian resume template
A clean starting structure with example content grounded in what historians actually do day to day, not generic filler. Download and replace the bracketed placeholders with your own details.
Which resume format should you use?
Reverse chronological
You have a steady work history. This is the format almost every recruiter and ATS expects by default.
Functional
You're changing fields or have gaps in your employment. Leads with skills rather than a job-by-job timeline.
Combination
You're early career or have worked consistently but for only a few employers. Blends a skills summary with a shorter chronological history.
This template uses the reverse chronological format: the one most historians should default to, since most Australian recruiters and ATS software expect it.
Professional summary
Historian with experience in archival research, historical interpretation and public engagement. Skilled in analysing primary and secondary sources, writing for diverse audiences, and using digital tools to make history accessible. Committed to evidence-based research that serves communities and institutions.
Key skills
- Archival research
- Primary source analysis
- Historical interpretation
- Oral history
- Content creation and writing
- Community engagement
- Zotero
- NVivo
- ArchivesSpace
- PastPerfect
- Microsoft 365
- Presenting and data storytelling
- Attention to detail
Experience: example bullet points
- Conducted archival research across state and national collections, uncovering records that informed a major exhibition on migration history.
- Analysed oral histories and personal papers, producing a peer-reviewed article that offered a new interpretation of a regional industry.
- Wrote and edited interpretive materials for a museum website, improving online access to the collection for remote audiences.
- Presented research findings to community groups and at conferences, building partnerships with local historical societies.
- Curated a digital history project using ArchivesSpace, making previously inaccessible records available to researchers and the public.
- Managed a team of volunteers to catalogue a photographic collection, ensuring accurate metadata and long-term preservation.
Education
A postgraduate qualification is typical for historians: a Master of History or a PhD, following a Bachelor of Arts with a history major. Some roles accept a Bachelor degree with relevant experience, and a Graduate Diploma in Public History or Archives Administration can also lead into the field.
Keywords an ATS is likely to scan for
Applicant tracking systems match your resume against terms in the job ad before a person ever sees it. Only include the ones that actually apply to your experience, but if a term below matches something you've done, use the same wording the job ad uses.
- Australian Historical Association
- National Archives of Australia
- State Records Office
- Trove
- Public Record Office Victoria
- cultural heritage
- oral history
- historical research
- archival research
- museum curatorship
- public history
- peer-reviewed publications
- grant applications
- heritage consultancy
Getting past ATS screening
- Match the specific skills, certifications and terms used in the job ad, not just your own wording for the same thing.
- Keep formatting simple: no tables, text boxes, columns, headers/footers or graphics. Parsers frequently drop content placed in these.
- Submit as .docx or PDF unless the job ad specifies otherwise.
- Use standard section headings (Experience, Education, Skills) rather than creative alternatives.
- List your core skills and technical competencies in their own section so a keyword scan can find them instantly.
This is a starting point, not a guarantee of interviews. Tailor every bullet point to your own real experience and the specific job ad.