Summary
- The Wizarding World offers a range of exciting career options for witches and wizards after their education, including inventors, duelist, and Knight Bus drivers.
- The Ministry of Magic provides various career opportunities, with roles in research, spell development, and understanding the Muggle world.
- Other intriguing career options in the Harry Potter universe include healers, curse-breakers, magizoologists, and wandmakers, each with their own unique challenges and responsibilities.
The Harry Potter series mostly takes place at Hogwarts, so much of what fans see in terms of the Wizarding World surrounds school life, but this leads to many Harry Potter joibs and careers that the students will eventually take on. J.K. Rowling has branched out in her canon, and even before she did, there was talk of the careers someone could pursue after Hogwarts. Throughout the list of potential careers, a few stuck out to fans as interesting for various reasons, and the main members of the Harry Potter universe each began to slide into different occupations based on their skills.
The Wizarding World continues to expand and with it, the many Harry Potter careers that a witch or wizard could find themselves in once their education is over. After leaving Hogwarts or one of the other many Wizarding schools, there's really a whole range of possibilities of what someone can do with their future. These jobs include some of the best of the magical world, with each one offering a unique and enjoyable path; or perhaps a dangerous and excitingly alternative career. People like Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom, and even Luna Lovegood had Harry Potter jobs they could be proud of.
15 Magical Inventor
The Wizarding World needs inventors as much as the Muggle one. There are wizards and witches who understand the art of creating something new, and they manage to invent products that people just can't get enough of. Fans have already seen these Harry Potter careers in action with the Weasley twins. While not traditional inventors, they put their wit and intelligence into action by inventing a range of jokes and tricks which delight their customers. They even opened up their shop, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, which showcases their many creations. On top of the Weasley twins, another notable inventor is Bowman Wright, who created the Golden Snitch.
14 Duelist
Dueling is as much of a sport as sword-fighting or fencing is in the Muggle world. It showcases some of the best of a wizard's or witch's skills and is an art that continues to be honed with each passing match. It's one of the Wizarding World's most respected sports as well. While dueling is an important aspect of defense and combat in times of struggle, the process can also be a brilliant spectator sport. These athletes have to be quick-thinking, skilled with a wand, and able to withstand some of the best spells and curses in the game. It's as tactical as it is brutal.
This played out when Harry Potter helped lead Dumbledore's Army, a group set up as a Defense Against the Dark Arts. Harry himself taught dueling in this group, mostly starting with the Disarming Charm. Interestingly enough, Professor Filius Flitwick was rumored to be a champion duelist, but it is not known if this was in competition or battle.
13 Knight Bus Driver
The Knight Bus worker gets to control one of the most magical objects in the Wizarding World. Responsible for the safety of countless people, it's quite an exciting job to have and showcases the best of the Muggle and Wizarding worlds, with the night bursting with magic. The bus itself is cursed to be able to withstand plenty of situations, stretching, curving, and splitting in half to accommodate for the strange occurrences that might take place. While not the most glamorous Harry Potter career, it's a people-facing job, with plenty of opportunities to meet new and diverse sorcerers.
12 Ministry Official
The Ministry Of Magic offers a range of career options, many of which will be very attractive to a graduate straight out of Hogwarts. The Ministry's various departments are responsible for incredibly important research and the everyday running of the wizard community. Whether it's overseeing the use of wands, the development of spells, or perhaps even the understanding of the Muggle world, there's something that could interest anyone. The changing leadership of the Ministry was often quite concerning at times.
This is where some of the most popular Harry Potter careers ended up - including that of Hermione Granger. A huge moment for a half-blood, Hermoine ended up as the Minister of Magic in 2019 and began to turn things around for the Ministry, putting one of the bravest and smartest wizards in the lead role. Not only that, but Harry Potter himself took up the role of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in the Ministry.
11 Broom Maker
Broomsticks are an incredibly important part of everyday life. It's a crucial mode of transport and is also involved in a number of sports, including Quidditch, the number one sporting activity in the Wizarding World. There are always new discoveries to be made in the field. It may be that the speed of the broom needs increasing, or perhaps visually, the designs need updating. Some broomsticks have to carry out specific tasks in certain Harry Potter careers and therefore have to be fitted and created to match the criteria. It's definitely a vibrant community to be a part of. Some of the most renowned are Gladys Boothby and Elias Grimstone.
10 Obliviator
Obliviators work for the Ministry of Magic and are one of the more fascinating Harry Potter jobs there, even if it probably does put the witches and wizards who have this career in a moral crisis. It involves keeping the Wizarding World safe from being found out by the Muggle world. Most often, this means showing up to scenes where Muggles have witnessed magic or some trace of it and wiping their memories, so they forget it and can’t speak of it to anyone.
They have questionable ethics, but also an interesting job since it involves poking through people’s minds and removing their memories. Not to mention they probably show up after some really wild scenes. The first person to hold one of these Harry Potter careers in the Ministry was Mnemone Radford.
9 Healer
Healers work for St. Mungo’s, a wizard hospital in London. Like Muggle doctors, there seem to be many different types of healers that work for different departments of the hospital, such as accidental spell damage and so on. A healer would probably be just as important a job in this world as a doctor would be in the Muggle world. It seems there’s no limit to the damage spells can do, and the results are often way more bizarre than anything a Muggle accident might produce. This isn't an easy Harry Potter job to get, as a healer has to have five N.E.W.T.s with Outstanding or Exceeds Expectations to get the job.
So although a healer would probably be one of the tougher Harry Potter careers, it would most likely be fulfilling. One of the most famous in the Harry Potter world was Madam Poppy Pomfrey, who helped several people in need of aid, including Harry himself. Other known healers include Augustus Pye, Hippocrates Smethwyck, and Hannah Abbott.
8 Curse-Breaker
Curse-breakers can be employed by the Ministry of Magic, but the ones fans hear about more often are employed by Gringotts - such as Bill Weasley. Almost the equivalent of archeologists, they’re tasked with bringing back gold from tombs and often have to break curses to enter them, hence their title. But the job can extend to breaking any curses, especially when it comes to the Ministry; it’s just Gringotts who tends to focus on the gold side of things. It took an O.W.L. in Arithmancy and some banking and transaction was also needed for these Harry Potter jobs.
This would be a fascinating Harry Potter career, not least because it involves traveling. Bill, for example, had the whole Weasley family come and visit him in Egypt when he was working. Bill wasn't the only Weasley to hold the position, as Matilda Weasley was one in the 19th Century.
7 Professor
One of the more obvious professions would be a teacher - more specifically, in the UK, a Hogwarts professor. Not only are the subjects at Hogwarts truly fascinating, but the school itself is also a hive of activity. With all the trouble it seems to attract, especially when Harry’s around, there’s probably never a dull moment as a professor of Hogwarts. People were probably warned off the Defense Against The Dark Arts position for a while, though, considering there was a curse placed on it.
Looking at the history of the books and movies, it was clear that a lot of top students went on to become professors at Hogwarts over the years. Names like Severus Snape, Remus Hagrid, and Remus Lupin went from top students to professors before the stories began. Even students at Hogwarts in the Harry Potter years went on to teach, with the biggest name being Neville Longbottom, who began teaching Herbology after a career as an Auror. He was also Head of the Gryffindor House.
6 Magizoologist
These Harry Potter careers are for all the animal lovers out there and were pretty much made famous thanks to Newt Scamander. Magizoologists are people who study creatures and animals, to learn more about them. Luna and her husband Rolf also went on to become magizoologists, so it seems this is a thing passed down in the Scamander family. Mostly, this job just involves the care of magical creatures and studying them to learn more about them and fill the gaps in people’s knowledge.
It can be assumed that a qualification in Care of Magical Creatures at school would be handy for fulfilling these career requirements. While Newt was the most famous Magizoologist, Rubeus Hagrid also became the Care of Magical Creatures Professor, and a Magizoologist as a result. Also, one of Harry's friends and allies while in school went on to join these Harry Potter careers, as Luna Lovegood became a Magizoologist while teaching Field Studies at Hogwarts.
5 Wandmaker
There are very few wandmakers in the world, probably because it’s such a hard thing to do. It’s also difficult to imagine how someone like Garrick Ollivander made all of those wands on his own, but it’s a rare skill, so he must have. Being a wandmaker involves making wands. This is no easy feat since what’s needed to make a wand is rather rare. The wood is probably the easy part, but Harry Potter wands contain unusual and fascinating cores such as phoenix feathers, unicorn tail hair, dragon heartstring.
For example, in the United States, wandmakers sued things like the Thunderbird feather and Rougarou hair. In Britain, it was more Phoenix feather and Unicorn hair. This was also one of the Harry Potter careers that did not require a person to be magical to join. Muggles could be wandmakers as well, with James Steward in the United States as an example.
4 Quidditch Player
This is the career that Draco Malfoy wanted but, alas, wasn’t quite good enough for, because only the best of the best can become Quidditch players professionally after school. Charlie Weasley apparently could have played for England if he hadn’t gone to Romania, and Harry is described as being just as good, but these Harry Potter careers weren’t for them. It involves fame and a lot of pressure—to know more about it, just look at the world cup scene from Goblet of Fire, and the number of people who were watching that game.
These Harry Potter careers would be like being an extremely famous soccer player in the Muggle world. Professor McGonagall was actually good enough to become a professional when in school and playing for Gryffindor, but she suffered a serious injury in her final year and ended up becoming a Professor instead. After the Harry Potter story ended, Ginny Weasley went on to become a professional Quidditch player for the Holyhead Harpies.
3 Auror
Auror is by far one of the most interesting professions in the Potterverse. Although they’ve been compared to the police by a lot of people, this isn’t actually accurate. Hitwizards and Hitwitches are more like the police in the Ministry of Magic; Aurors are described in the books as more like the Secret Service. They’re responsible for tracking down dark wizards and capturing them and, at one point, were even authorized to use spells such as Unforgivable curses against them.
This means that Aurors have a lot of trust and responsibility and, as such, it’s extremely difficult to become one. Unsurprisingly, this became Harry Potter's chosen profession, and he became the Head Aurors before moving up to the position of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in the Ministry. Both Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom became Aurors as well, although both retired. Ron worked at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes after leaving and Neville became a Hogwarts professor.
2 Dragonologist
Charlie Weasley’s job of choice rather than being a Quidditch player is a dragonologist, which might just be one of the most interesting career choices someone could possibly have in the Wizarding World. Not only does it involve travel, but it involves being up close and personal with one of the most dangerous but interesting and awe-inspiring creatures in the Harry Potter world–dragons. Although the qualifications for this job aren’t quite clear, it’s safe to assume that they’re pretty strict and someone has to prove they’re worthy.
A lot could go wrong with this job, considering dragons aren’t known to be friendly towards people. When it comes to these Harry Potter careers, dragonologists are most often employed by the magical wildlife reserves, such as the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary. These are also the people who bring the dragons to the Triwizard Tournaments and keep them under control.
1 Unspeakable
Unspeakables somehow manage to be the career fans know least about and the most important Harry Potter careers. Unspeakables work in the Department of Mysteries, which is just that–a department of mysteries. The department deals with things that the outside world is allowed to know nothing about, and it’s often alluded to in the series that this includes the mystery of death. The people who work for this department are sworn to secrecy about their work. Dumbledore said that some worked in the Love Room and others in the Time Room. They also worked in the Death Chamber, which is where Sirius Black fell in battle.
These Harry Potter careers saw the people involved working almost on their own, as they didn't need to answer to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, which Harry Potter ran, or the Minister of Magic, which is Hermione's position. There were several known members from the past, many of whom Voldemort corrupted, but when it comes to the Harry Potter era, it remained mostly a mysterious and unknown occupation.