Bi-modal job cycle?

[First time at the rodeo]

I am currently ABD with a top-239 program so, obviously, this is my first year on the job market. As such, I am learning about the ebbs and flows of the cycle, and have come to observe that job postings tend to take the form of a relatively normal distribution, with the peak in postings occurring sometime during the fall (it seems we are on the back end of that curve, from what I can tell). I was chatting with a doctoral student from another discipline yesterday, who mentioned that one of her faculty advisors indicated that the job market in their discipline has two cycles:

The first cycle consists of new positions or positions replacing retirees (what we are currently in).

The second cycle is occurs as departments seek to replace faculty members who moved on to "greener pastures" during the first wave.

My question is, can any "veterans" of the sociology job cycle share their insight, as to whether the sociology job cycle is, like this other discipline, bi-modal? As someone who is still ABD, and not from a top-50 program, the realist in me thinks that this sort of second wave is my best chance at a job this year.

Thoughts?

[veteran]

You could say that the market is bi-modal, I suppose. But I don't think it is really accurate to characterize it that way.
I suggest you look at the "where are all the jobs" thread in the "misc. discussion" section. The number of job postings tends to be quite steady throughout the cycle.

That being said, from my experience the last 2 years, the majority of job adds come out in late summer/ early fall with application deadlines that range from mid-Sept. to Dec 1. There is a relatively dry patch of new job adds around the holidays (Thanksgiving through the first of the year). Then the ads pick up again in the winter with deadlines ranging from early Feb. through mid-March. After that there tends to be a small round of VAP/Adjunct ads that last into the early summer.

In my experience I have not found the jobs posted after the holidays to be primarily replacement positions for faculty who have "jumped ship" so to speak. In fact, I have gone on numerous interviews for jobs after the holidays and all of them were either replacement positions for retiring faculty or new TT lines. If anything, the VAP/adjunct jobs are replacements for faculty who have moved on to another institution

[socdog32]

I don't think there is a huge "second wave" of jobs - more like a slow trickle between now and March. I think it is usually due to getting late approval for hires (or occasionally a replacement position). The best thing you can do is just keep applying for jobs. I know it gets old and it's painful, but you just have to keep checking for new jobs every day (or few days) and keep applying. You just never know! The fall is when the vast majority of the R1s hire, but many other universities hire now and in the spring as well. Good luck!

[Original poster]

Thank you both for your sage advice

I check the major job boards, the wiki, and this message board every day, and will keep doing so. Onward!