This article explores some of the consequences of the widening participation agenda for the teaching of sociology, particularly in the new university sector. Recent research within the Department of Sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) suggests that we are increasingly facing new demands from students who take a more instrumental approach to their higher education experience. That is, in many cases we are finding that students are motivated more by the desire to find rewarding employment than by the desire to pursue academic study for its own sake. Amongst the many problems for teaching staff that are generated in this new environment are the questions of what we are preparing students for and how best to address the new instrumentalism within the context of an education in sociology. Additionally there is concern about embedding the learning of transferable skills and improving employment opportunities within the context of learning about the theoretical and methodological approaches of sociology. This article reports on two pilot projects that have been established to address these concerns. It reports on their development, explores the rationale and supporting evidence for their introduction and highlights the issues and problems they raise.