“When you come to McMaster, we appreciate that our job is to get you jobs … we’re going to make sure that you come out of the program employable, broad minded, critically engaged and well trained.”

Tristan Carter
Professor, Anthropology

Careers for Graduate Students

Anthropologists work in a wide array of areas, from government and large corporations, to NGOs and education.

Skill Development

Many employers are interested in the skills which Anthropology graduate students tend to possess. These include:

• Knowledge about biological, ecological, cultural and long-term historical factors that influence human behaviour
• Theoretical approaches and practical methods for enhancing cross-cultural understanding
• Knowledge of a variety of ethnic groups, as well as many cultures in other countries
• Skills in social research, qualitative interviewing and fieldwork, as well as quantitative methods
• Experience in both writing descriptive and analytical reports
• The ability to analyze the root causes of social problems, and to work towards solutions with people from a wide variety of cultural and socio-economic backgrounds

Professional Development Workshop

The Professional Development Workshop is a student-focused bi-weekly workshop that is defined for and by graduate students along with the faculty facilitator.

It is twinned with the departmental visiting speakers’ series on alternate weeks, so that each week (Tuesdays at 3:30) there is a collective forum for intellectual discussion outside of specific course-work.

The Professional Development Workshop covers key skills required in professional development in all fields of Anthropology. Areas covered include proposal writing, getting research projects started, dealing with the different types of data produced, communicating results in various formats, and career paths open to those with a graduate degree in anthropology.

The Professional Development Workshop is mandatory in year one for all entering graduate students. Watch our news and events pages for this and other professional development opportunities and our colloquium series

Careers Pathways for Anthropologists

Graduates of our anthropology programs go on to meaningful careers in a variety of roles and industries.