Career options for Sociology at Murdoch University

Our Degrees are changing.

In 2014, Part I (first year) units will be introduced with Part II (second year and higher) units becoming available in subsequent years. Detailed information about Part II will be available here from mid-2014.

Find out more about our new degrees, or to get in touch and ask us what this means for you head to AskMurdoch. Continuing students can still access information for degrees commencing 2013 and prior in the Course Handbook.

Career options

As a Murdoch Sociology graduate, your career prospects are strong because both the general and the specific skills and knowledge you will have developed are needed in many work places. You will have developed a wide range of skills enabling you to listen, read and analyse, talk, write and present arguments in ways that will be of relevance to a range of careers.

In addition sociology will have given you an understanding of social processes that range from face to face interaction through organisational structures to global processes, and the linkages between them; understandings that will benefit your employer.

If you complete a double major (eg with Psychology; Security, Terrorism and Counterterrorism; Politics; or Community Development to name a few, or perhaps a double degree with Law) then a more specific set of specialist options may be open to you.

While the title 'sociologist' is not used as often as, say, the title 'psychologist', the skills of the sociologist are used more widely. The following listings from the Australian Sociological Association website provides some sense of the breadth of opportunities open to sociology graduates.

Where do sociology graduates work?

Many areas of the public and private sectors employ graduates with social science skills. For example:

  • Federal, State and Local Governments: social services, teaching, industrial relations, social research, criminal justice work, policy development and implementation, case management, group work with youth or the elderly, urban planning, general administration, multicultural and Indigenous affairs etc.
  • Community and Non-profit Organisations: administration, overseas aid and development agencies, social research, policy development, lobbying etc.
  • Business: consumer/social research, public relations, publishing, personnel work, training.
  • Further Study and Academic Work: Honours, Masters and PhD study, university and TAFE teaching, research work.
  • Sociology also provides useful insights in non-work situations.

Some of the jobs recent sociology graduates have taken include Youth officer, Multicultural affairs liaison, Welfare officer, Social Planner, Journalist, Community project officer, Development officer, Social Researcher, Senior Policy Analyst, Age and disability officer, Social Sustainability Consultant, Principal Research Officer, Electorate officer, Personnel administrator, Communications Officer, Market analyst, Sales office manager, Service adviser, and Client service manager.