How can a friend of mine get a job in academia as a sociologist?

Question

My friend has a PhD from the LSE in Sociology, a Masters form Cambridge, and a Bachelors from the LSE. She has some teaching experience and a couple of papers under review. She is not an outgoing but rather a very serious and reserved person with really in-depth knowledge of her subject matter. She has not enough guidance and support from existing academic contacts and as time goes by she becomes more & more disillusioned about the prospects of getting in academia. Any advice please? It is such a shame to see a great person that can contribute a lot to slowly give up.

Answer 1

(1) papers
papers papers papers papers papers papers

the universities are obsessed by the Research Assessment Exercise and the number one scorecard item is published papers. She has to target the top journals in her field and write for them. She can be a co-author; best if she's the lead but co is OK. Can she dig down into the depths of what she's done and see if she can pull together any material that could make up a decent paper, maybe in collaboration with someone working on something complementary? Or more to the point, can't she just publish the same thing six times? That's what everyone else does. You just have to tweak it each time.

(2) academics are (not exclusively, but often) a bunch of depressing, petty, irritating, self-absorbed shites. She's been neglected by her supervisors - that is not a new story. I'm guessing she needs to shift location and find someone to work for who's hungry and who will treat her fairly. From your question I'm guessing she's a genuine person who's not really up for the machiavellian nonsense that goes on in academia. She needs to toughen up and fight for herself, or failing that, find someone who will champion her.

Answer 2

I'm in a very similar position to your friend at the moment. A colleague gave me what I consider to be a very good piece of advice which was to go and do something else for a year or two (at least it will get the 2008 RAE out of the way!) then re-apply for jobs in academia after the break. In my own field it would be particularly appropriate to take a professional (as opposed to academic) qualification, but the same would hold true for any job in an area loosely related to your friend's academic specialism. Apparently my colleague's husband did this a few years back and is now in a very senior position in the academic world. On a purely practical note I assume she does get e-mail alerts from jobs.ac.uk and THES?

Answer 3

If she can't get a position in academia, then she should look into where her credentials would apply.
I know there is great need for sociologists in the field of Child Welfare.
I also think that a career in International Relations would be a fascinating thing to look into.

Maybe she should pray about it for awhile and then see what comes her way. Just be patient.

Answer 4

Publishing one's work is important, but so are connections. Perhaps by participating in Soc. conventions, like the ASA annual convention, could help her network. Also, if she is willing to relocate to an area/university that is in need of Soc. profs, could open doors as well.