Professional careers in sociology require education beyond the bachelor's degree. The most common professional careers are:
- College professor
- Research project director or analyst
- Administrator in a public or private social agency
Most full-time positions in college or university sociology departments now require the Ph.D. In recent years competition for these jobs has been intense but opportunities may expand as teachers from the baby-boom generation start retiring and as their children's generation enters their college years. At larger universities scholarly research is a normal and expected part of the job and may be essential for advancement. Community college teaching is possible with a master's degree.
Research organizations and offices employ sociologists at all degree levels but often reserve the highest positions for those with the highest degrees and the most experience. Research sociologists may work either for organizations entirely devoted to contractual research or for public or private organizations needing some research to support their other activities. These jobs require quantitative and/or qualitative skills especially statistics computer skills and writing ability. Research outside of academic settings is often applied research rather than theoretical research for such purposes as evaluating social programs or studying markets.
Sociologists are especially likely to be employed in the government or in the non-profit sector. They may hold any number of specific job titles such as policy analyst consultant human resource manager program manager counselor statistician gerontologist planner community developer or demographer.