Career options for sociology masters

[liziegarb]

I have a bachelor’s degree in econ but currently pursuing a funded masters in sociology at a state school in the US. I don’t want to do a PhD. What would you advise I begin to do to prepare myself for an exit from academia?

[letsgetit21]

I’m also in a funded MS soc program. I’d definitely start by talking to your program about where people end up. Here are a few places I know people from my program have gotten jobs (this is only graduating with the MS in Sociology):

- adjunct Prof of sociology

-full time lecturer of sociology (yeah, you don’t need a PhD to be a lecturer!!)

- local food bank owner/operator, employee

-policy analysis (local, state, & national govt)

- NORC

- Several nation wide non profits (you can find a large non profit in your area of interest. For example, I’m interested in sociology of higher education so I’d navigate toward ASHE, AREA, NEA, etc) 

- several internships available on Capitol Hill. Check with your Congressperson and Senator office 

[whooshboosh]

Think about what hard skills you've learned during your degree (or at least what skills you could pretend to know). Then consider jobs that would use those. 

• Qual research: focus groups, market research, UX research
• Quant research: market research, UX research, survey company (Qualtrics, NORC, YouGov, Ipsos)
• Subject area: nonprofits in that area, government agencies in that area

 

Government jobs need lots of social scientists, so search "sociology" and/or "statistics" on USAJobs.gov. Similarly, government contractors (RTI International, American Institutes for Research, RAND) use them too, so they're good places to look too. 

If you know of national associations for your area, they might have job boards. AAPOR has a great one for survey researchers. As @letsgetit21 said above, ASHE, AREA, and NEA would have similar for educational fields.

Lastly, if you're a member of ASA, the section on sociological practice and public sociology sends out a weekly digest of jobs outside of academia. If you're an ASA member already, it's worth it to purchase the section membership. If you aren't, maybe see if a faculty member in your department is willing to purchase a section membership (or even you just pay them back for it) and send you the links.