Joint TWU-UNT Sociology Job Search Workshop 1. Don’t worry about aggregate statistics on placements, the job market, etc. The academic job market is tough, it’s been tough since the late 1960s, and it will continue to be tough. There’s nothing anyone can do about it. 2. All you can do is work very hard, and anticipate going on the market up to 3 years in a row. If you don’t get any job the third time around, it’s time to try something else. Think of the process as a poker game: you can only go ‘all in’ so many times before you have to cut your losses and begin to consider non-academic jobs. This is especially the case if you are offered a post-doc, a lectureship, or some kind of adjunct position. In each case you have to be very honest with yourself, and your advisor needs to be honest with you, about whether such positions will lead to a tenure-track position down the road (if that’s what you’re after). 3. Your primary sources of information on job openings are the ASA job bank