We are often asked about career options for sociology majors. What do our sociology majors actually do after graduation? What kinds of careers do they pursue? How many go onto graduate school and what further education do they pursue? In 1998 we decided to conduct an extensive survey of our own graduates to collect data that we hope will begin to shed some light on what our sociology graduates do after leaving our program. The main goal of this survey is to provide current students with ideas and examples from our alumni of the varied possibilities for careers and further studies.

Our survey asked alumni to report their primary activities in each of the years following their graduation (i.e. employment, graduate school, time off, etc.). We asked them to list each position held since graduation, including employer, location, dates, and to provide a description of their current or last position. We also asked them to list any post-undergraduate education and/or training and the details of that. In addition to profile data, we had them provide information and advice on 1) resources and/or strategies used in job searches and advancements, 2) experiences used in preparing for their career, 3) how their experience in sociology influenced them both personally and professionally, 4) things they would like current students to know or think about, and 5) optional salary information on their first and current job.

As you can see, we collected an enormous amount of data. In order to provide more comprehensive examples of the kinds of work our graduates do, we decided to evaluate all of the positions held by each respondent, over 1600 positions total. We categorized these occupations using a classification system from the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) developed and published by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is easily accessible on the internet and in most public libraries. Not all of the occupations listed by our survey respondents fit well into this classification system, so we added a few new occupational categories to the OOH list to make the list more useful given the occupations reported by our respondents. We also were forced to leave some positions out and make judgment calls on others.

After each position was coded into one of these occupational categories, we counted the number of positions in each category. The counts (in parentheses) represent all positions reported to us in each area, including people who may have held more than one position in that same area. By looking at the total counts in each category, we are able to see which occupations had the most positions represented by our group of respondents. The top 15 occupations represented in this alumni survey are:

1) School teachers-kindergarten, elementary, and secondary (100)

2) Administrative services and facility managers (78)

3) Administrative Assistants (77)

4) Researchers (71)

5) Lawyers and judicial workers (57)

6) Advertising, marketing, and public relations managers (50)

7) Non-profit and community organization managers (49)

8) Paralegals and legal assistants (49)

9) Social workers (48)

10) Counselors (46)

11) Management analysts (44)

12) Education administrators (43)

13) Human resources, training, and labor relations specialists and managers (38)

14) Law clerks (34)

15) Recreation workers (33)

There are many more occupations represented in our survey, most falling into the categories of Management, Professional and Technical, Sales, Administrative Support and Service occupations. Please refer to the Occupations List attached to this report.

First Jobs: We found it interesting to look at the type of jobs our alumni held first either right after graduating from our program, or right after other activities pursued (i.e. grad school, time off, etc.). These jobs range from entry-level to management positions in all types of workplaces. Some of the most common first occupations, including the number of first positions represented in these areas, are:

1) Administrative Assistants (32)

2) School Teachers (29)

3) Researchers (23)

4) Paralegals and Legal Assistants (22)

5) Administrative Services and Facility Managers (19)

The positions listed above represent only 28% of the first jobs reported by the respondents; therefore alumni are by no means restricted to these areas. Furthermore, the average amount of time respondents spent at their first jobs was 1.9 years. This average represents many who left their first position after 6 months to a year, as well as those who remained at a job for several or more years. Occupations such as administrative assistant were often entry-level positions from which respondents quickly gained some experience and leverage for promotion. Upon leaving their first jobs, respondents sought an array of different positions or, in some cases, enrolled in educational or other training programs.

Salary Info: We provided the option for respondents to comment on their salary, focusing on their first and current position. Many did provide this information, but it is difficult to summarize their comments in any meaningful or accurate way. Salaries varied greatly depending on the type of occupation and employer, number of years of experience, what years the respondent was employed in the field (salaries may be higher now than 12 years ago), and many other factors that contribute to varied levels of salaries in any given position. In the future, we may try to tie salary comments to specific employment information provided by the respondents in particular career fields, since it helps to view salary information in context.

Graduates of the UC Berkeley Sociology Department do not always end their education with a BA degree. Rather, responses from our alumni indicate that they have pursued a wide variety of post-graduate programs and degrees that have influenced their career paths. The following list outlines the different types of programs respondents have chosen. The numbers shown represent the total number of respondents who indicated that they entered, although did not necessarily complete, a program in each of the specific fields.

- Teaching credential (40)

- Master’s degree (132)

- PhD (28)

- Professional degree (53)

- Continued undergraduate work: second BA, AA, etc. (7)

- License and certificate programs (45)

- Job or company training programs (11)

- Individual courses, seminars, etc. (42)

Although the above list provides a good sense of the programs undertaken by our Sociology graduates in this survey, more detail is useful with regard to post-graduate education and training. For example, 29% of all respondents had enrolled in a master’s program at some point after graduation, yet the types of programs they entered were quite diverse. They participated in master’s degree programs in sociology, social work, education, public policy, business, sports, and many more. The same is true for respondents who participated in license or certificate programs, whose areas of certifications range from brokering and real estate to paralegal work and desktop publishing. Along these lines, several alumni have received master’s degrees in education simultaneously with teaching credentials.

As for PhD students and those enrolled in professional schools, respondents are more concentrated in several distinct fields. PhD programs in sociology and also psychology were the most common with our respondents. Furthermore, 91% of respondents who sought professional degrees were enrolled in law school.

For more information on our survey findings and the occupations mentioned, please refer to our survey web pages (forthcoming in April 2001), accessible from the Alumni section on the Sociology Department website (sociology.berkeley.edu).