Career Resources

Sociology graduates enter the job market already in possession of a wide array of in-demand skills, and work in a growing range of career fields.

If you're a graduating senior, here are just a few links to help get you started. For additional career and internship resources, please visit the Betty and B. Frank Matthews II ’49 Center for Career Development (Matthews Center). 

Online Resources

American Sociological Association

Select "Employment Bulletin" for current positions in and out of academia.

Government Jobs

Select "Job Opportunities" then "Public Health" for a listing of current public sector positions in the social and health services.

Jobs In Government

Select "Seeking a Public Sector Job", then either "By Job Category" or "By Employer and Location" for a listing of current positions.

Local Government Institute

Select "Local Government Job Net" then on the appropriate category for a listing of current government positions.

Career Fields

Students with sociology degree are in high demand in a variety of career fields.

Management-related Occupations (Private and Public)

All business and organizational activities involve getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. Training in sociology Includes considerations of how to plan, organize, staff, leading, and directing human, financial, technological, and natural resources. Applications of such comprehensive understanding of social structures and interpersonal relations have multiple professional applications.

Editors, Writers, and Digital Media

Training in close observation and analytical skills allow sociology majors to enhance skills in summarizing, reporting, and explaining the social world around them, including people, organizations, and events.  Interviewing and data analysis compliment the ability to craft descriptive narratives. Theoretical training provides skills in reviewing and critiquing policies and group behaviors. 

Research (Associates, Analysts, Assistants)

Sociology majors learn how to ask and evaluate research questions as well as problem-solve ways to answer important questions-questions that are timely, relevant, and critical. With training in both qualitative and quantitative analysis, sociology majors are prepared to gather data, frame information in formats for coding and analysis, use specialized statistical and textual analysis software, and uncover significant patterns for reporting.

Marketing, Advertising, Sales, and Public Relations Specialists

Sociology majors engage the study of the use of goods and services as well as the promotion of goods and services based on needs. Training in analysis of social behavior alongside greater awareness of interpersonal skills opens avenues for work in marketing and media relations fields that seek to inform the public regarding the mission, policies, and practices of an organization or industry.

Counselors (Educational and Vocational)

With broad awareness of broad processes of social change and particular challenges of individuals and their biographies, sociology provides excellent preparation for entry to counseling fields.

Religious Workers

For professions in religious fields-whether administrative, interpersonal, or both-sociology provides insights to interpersonal relationships, group and ritual dynamics, the nature of bureaucratic and alternative organizational structures, and comparative and global perspectives as well as specifying productive approaches to ethics and strategic thinking.

Computer and Social Media Occupations (eg Programming, Searching Data Bases, Finding Information Online, Managing Digital Information)

Fields centered on the growing technological capacity of computing and networks of digital communication increasingly expect personnel with higher levels of expertise in understanding individual and social behavior in addition to their sophistication in gathering and evaluating data. The sociology major provides exposure and context for the operation and consequences of global communication.

Medicine and Public Health Occupations (Including Technicians Aids)

The expectations for medical and public health professionals now include at least a basic understanding of sociological processes. Graduate schools appear to favor students who have included the social sciences as part of their preparation. Many of our best sociology majors have gone on to productive careers in medicine and public health.

Criminal Justice

The training available through the sociology major includes preparation as state and local criminal justice jobs, including courts, law enforcement, forensics, probation, corrections, rehabilitation, and prevention programs. Occupations in criminal justice also include Federal Law Enforcement Agents, Security Analysts in Cybersecurity and Counter Terrorism, and Forensic Scientists are expanding alongside the continuing need for recently trained Lawyers and Attorneys, Judges and Mediators, Correctional and Probation Officers, Police and Detectives, and Counselors and Social Workers.

Social and Human Services

Whether you're interested in direct care, administration, community organizing or advocacy, a multitude of government agencies, hospitals, insurance companies, private treatment facilities, and non-profits routinely require the skills and training a sociology degree provides.

Law

Many sociology majors, a sociology degree is an excellent foray into law school.

Education

In addition to teaching at the elementary, middle, and high school levels or in higher education, positions as counselors, or in library services and school administration are also avenues that sociology graduates often pursue. Sociology majors teach in both public and private institutions, and many offer their volunteer service to programs like Teach for America.

Government

Multiple federal, state, and local governments seek the sociological research skills of graduates for positions involving social statistics, program analysis, demography, public administration, policy analysis, and city planning.

Social Science Research

Universities, think tanks, research organizations, consulting firms, and private businesses all hire graduates with a sociology degree.