This article is aimed at research scholars in the area of humanity studies. Often, when students of PhD choose fuzzy topics which they lack clarity about, it only leads getting frustrated. Therefore, keep your topic to the point. Most PhD students emerge to start their PhDs with over-ambitious projects which runs into many disciplines (subject areas). The key to ensure success in research is to check whether your big topic can be fit into one central research question. The problem statement (research question) of your study is the most important because it guides you and others involved in the research towards significance of the study. It helps in setting objectives of the research, writing the hypothesis and framing the questionnaire for data collection. The entire research revolves around the problem statement. It helps you to narrow down your focus. It is therefore important to place the topic into a particular context that defines the parameters of what you are going to investigate.

Choosing the right research topic is quite often a tricky and complicated task, especially for new PhD students. I have observed so far that students with five to ten years experience in the either industry or academics are comfortable with the initial process. The PhD supervisor/guide must offer help to decide on a suitable PhD topic in the initial stage. Also, please remember that the research topic must have social relevance. It must be able to satisfy some social problems. Topic selection is the beginning of your research journey.

Each researcher has unique capabilities: Each researcher has a capability of his own; each one traces the research problem from different angles. For instance, some may concentrate on the groundwork; some may concentrate on the cause of the situation; some on the behavioural factors; and some on the historical and current consequences.  For example, let’s consider the topic is “Importance of mentoring in workplace.” Somebody might only concentrate on various issues at workplace, somebody may concentrate on different needs and practices according to organizational structures, somebody might give case examples (good and futile) in the workplace, and somebody may concentrate on comparative study between two-three organizations of different nations.

Review accessible literature to choose the right topic: The fact is that there is vast data available on Internet on any given topic; disregarding that data often leads to negative results. The biggest job in research is scientifically reviewing the literature, picking only some information from Internet will skew your research findings. Also please remember that somebody somewhere is also working on your chosen topic and might be working on profound consequences. I see that sooner or later all theses will be uploaded on the Internet; the world will be viewing your work. Therefore, maintaining quality from beginning till end will be essential. Please be aware of that in India, University Grants Commission (UGC) wants scholars to upload their thesis on their online Union Catalogue of Indian Universities called IndCat. UGC also has ShodhGanga – Reservoir of Indian Theses. ShodhGanga is a repository platform available for research students to deposit their Ph.D. theses for making it available to the entire scholarly community in open access.  If only Universities and UGC get serious about the process, I am sure we will get a lot of serious research work to view.

It’s advisable to choose a research topic related to your career: When you work on a topic related to you interest area and work area, identifying minute facts, collecting primary data, finding existing research gaps and devising strategies for addressing them becomes easier. A research gap is defined as a topic or area for which insufficient information is available and this creates limitations for devising a questionnaire or schedule for the researcher. When you work sincerely on your topic, basically when you start reviewing literature from all sources such as Internet, news papers, journals, previous research work from University libraries, books and periodicals etc, addressing the research problem by devising strategies becomes easier. And, you can identify the research gaps also easily. You need to read up a lot because only the depth of information that you collect helps in designing your research work. It therefore becomes imperative to choose a meaningful research topic and a well-chosen research question can lead to a persuasive research work.

Researchers who publish a lot during after their PhD work are well-cited and can easily find satisfying jobs in academia or industry. Choosing the right research topic, thus, can open doors to getting desirable opportunities worldwide.

Check these strictures: Is your topic stimulating you to pursue it? And, will it sustain your interest in it till end? Is your research problem solvable? Is your topic contemporary in nature? Will it solve some social issues?  Can you manage the vastness of the topic? Can you design research problem easily in spite of its vastness? Is your topic making a novel contribution to the literature in the field? Will your research help you progress in your career? Please ponder on these points before topic selection.

Regular contact with your guide: After your topic selection, it is advisable to brainstorm thoroughly with your guide, established researchers, agencies and industry experts. Attend seminars, workshops to strengthen your network with the right people. Also, discuss with established researchers to get further insights. I advise taking up the relevant coursework (especially for interdisciplinary research areas) to simplify the process of research topic selection.

Conclusion: Choosing the right research question helps researchers stay focused and motivated throughout their career. Meaningful research questions eventually lead to meaningful discoveries and inventions, which is need of this hour.

It is extremely important to invest your time, efforts, money, and energies in the specialization of your choice. Many of us are good at many subjects. And, many of us try to get adjusted in an area of specialization and try to ‘fit’ into it all through our professional lives. Specialization is a specific area in which you can make a career. When you chose a profession which gratifies your passion, you are the most fortunate person on earth. And, therefore, it is a wise decision to invest in a career of choice.  When we get career in which we find our passion our existence becomes very fascinating.

As Confucius said, “choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” It’s great advice, but it’s not always that simple. It is very difficult to figure out what we love, and how to change that liking into a career. There are many elements one needs to weigh before entering a job. A friend of mine who is very knowledgeable in the area of finance; he has loads of information in the stock market, banking, FDI, accounting, behavioral finance so on and forth. But he does not like to talk and does not like elucidation of concepts. Now this gentleman is a lecturer in a college. Because he does not like talking too much and explaining things in details, he obviously does not make a good teacher. Very few students attend his lectures.

A famous physician practices in heart of the city. He is famous for his diagnosis and prognosis. The problem with this physician is – he gets hyper when his patients ask him more than two questions. He feels his patients should listen to him and obey his instructions. He does not listen much to what patients speak; each patient has some or the other question regarding diet, after effects of medicines, life style, sleep etc. He does not like to listen. He breezes into the exam room with his own agenda and hardly has the time to find out what the patient expects. This common complaint his patients have. Therefore, he is considered as a conceited man.

Matching up our personality with a suitable role is extremely vital to our career. In fact it can become a career challenge. Our personality has so many facets; most of the times we fail to break it down into separate traits. And, even if we are aware of our characteristics, it’s important to know which jobs they’re suited for. I mean, how many people know which career is appropriate for which personality type. Often we have knowledge of one or two careers.

The present trend of education in universities is that students study degrees that sound highly, and at times narrowly vocational. Nevertheless, the trend of students opting for traditional subjects, such as History, English Literature and the Natural Sciences, Commerce is not wiped out completely. Many universities still regard themselves as seats of pure learning. I frequently think is it still sensible and desirable to study for love of a subject alone? On a second thought, a person can get trained up in a job rest of his life, whereas the time you spend in university is the only time in your life when you can study purely because you enjoy it.

Look at the recent changes in the global job market people do not shy away from changing and hopping into new jobs. The old traditional philosophy of sticking and retiring from one job is disappeared. In today’s job market very few people experience the stability of working for only one or two employers throughout their careers. In fact, most workers entering their first job today will change career paths at least seven to ten times before they reach retirement age.
With workers hopping from one job to other, more frequently very few companies can afford to invest heavily in into employee training and development. Therefore, more and more employers prefer job seekers to develop their own skills before joining a company. As a result, the demand for workers with college degrees has skyrocketed over the past few decades. I want to bring the point of loving your work, loving your career, doing what you love to do. Then job hopping is out of question.

Therefore, one needs to invest a little time and energy before taking decisions about career.

1. Make a list of your interests.
2. Make an honest list of your personal characteristics and your talents.
3. At the same time, make a list of your limitations and things which bore you to death.
4. Carry out some research about what kind of life style each of your interests might bring if it would turn to a job. Gather details in order to build up a realistic image of those professions.
5. Talk to people who have been in those professions for years. Gather the present trends in those particular professions.
6. Now take some more time and try to remember what you loved as a child. Often, our truest passions emerge in childhood. We stifle our childhood passion as we grow older by real life pressures. So think about what you loved in your childhood, what made you happy – was it mathematics, numbers, puzzle solving, reading stories, making collage, drawing, singing, scientific research, navigation, being close to nature…..what was that made you happy. Try to remember. Getting back in touch with those instincts is an important step in finding your passion.
7. Pease remove the materialistic element from your passion. Please don’t let the financial objective spoil your choice. While we all know money can’t be ignored, but don’t allow money dictate your choices. Listen to what your heart is saying.
8. Discuss about your thought process with your best friends who know you well. Sometimes you might not be able to make up our mind. You might misjudge your own decisions. Ask the people who know you personally, they might tell you when you seem the happiest and what you do most enthusiastically. Their answers might surprise you. Listen to your friends.
9. While choosing your educational programs check which subjects scare you to death, which ones do you find boring, whether you would love wasting your time studying them, Think, think and then decide on the choice.
10. Identify your professional hero. We all like one of the professions; we imagine being in it and hero-worship the topper in it. Whom would you most want to emulate? Reach out to him/her to learn more about how that person got to where he is.
11. In short, think of what you enjoy the most. Focus on things that you both enjoy and do well. It could be cooking, gardening, teaching, singing in opera, acting in drama, handicraft, painting …………… it could be from the funniest sounding thing to very serious sounding topic such as aeronautics or medicines. Don’t bother what others would think of you. Follow your heart.
12. Make a list of the top three or four profession which fascinate you; narrow the list to the top one thing. Keep it handy, review it often, and use it as your jumping-off point when you’re plotting your career move.

The movie ‘3 idiots’ gives the same message: chose a career which allows working with passion, believe in yourself, chase excellence and success will follow you automatically, and most important sometimes be idiotic it helps you to bring in the best in you.

Soft skills are personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people. It is a term associated with a person’s emotional quotient (EQ). Soft skills are collective traits of personality such as social graces, communication, language proficiency, expressiveness, personal habits, friendliness, and buoyancy that characterize relationships with other people.

Whereas Hard Skills are specific, technical abilities those can be defined and measured. Examples of hard skills include accounting skills, mathematical ability, software, hardware, written ability, typing, project management etc. Hard skills are essentially, any skills that can be measured in a test. Most aspects of administrative, technical, and accounting knowledge involve hard skills. Career choices are based on hard skills.

When it comes to choosing professional services of a doctor, an accountant, a lawyer, an architect or a copywriter whom do we prefer choosing? Think about it. If you are looking for a doctor, you will certainly want the most competent doctor, but if you have quite a few of them with equal competence, then you would most likely pick the one who listens to your concerns patiently; am I right? You would prefer a doctor who obviously shares information with you and offers suggestions, and above all the one who is most considerate. Likewise, among lawyers, accountants, you would look out for somebody who is the most ethical, professional and easy to work with. None of us would knowingly pick someone who is arrogant, self-centered or miserable to deal with. It’s a ‘No-No’ for someone who has poor work ethic, someone who constantly interrupts or demeans us.

Like us, business organizations also are cautious and over concerned while hiring employees. Of course technical skills are very important, knowledge is very important but, if a candidate is accompanied with soft skills besides the knowledge and technical background he/she will surely get picked up. In today’s highly competitive world, it is often the softer skills that differentiate applicants, and determine who will get hired, who will be successful and who will move up in the organization.  One survey conducted by American Express found that more than 60 percent of project managers and leaders in organizations agreed that soft skills are the most important factor when evaluating an employee’s performance.

So which are the most important soft skills a person should have?

Communication Skills: Its one of the most importantskill to succeed in life. Being able to communicate effectively helps one stand out in crowd. Whether it is spoken, written, visual or non-verbal communication one needs to constantly learn and improve the art. You don’t have to be a great orator or writer, but certainly you need to express yourself clearly in your communication. Whether it is a personal or official letter, a memo, a presentation, or a casual note the message needs to be coherent and logically presented. While speaking the tone, pitch and selection of words do matter. And in non-verbal communication body language says it all. So many times we communicate many a things which we haven’t spoken or written.

Be a good team player: Know a little bit about your coworkers; this will keep your going with them, make an effort of familiarizing others about you. Isolation from other does not help you or others and certainly not the organization. You cannot always be leader in the team; learn to sometimes be a follower. Pitch in that small information which you are aware, share it if it’s going to make a positive change. Be reliable. Offer constructive help to others. Don’t be afraid to speak up and give your thoughts during group sessions or meetings. Offering your thoughts will keep you an active helper in the decision-making process and prove you have an interest in the team. It’s very important to respect others. Don’t gossip or ridicule about your coworkers behind their backs. By gossiping you only spoil the work atmosphere.

Be adaptable: it is one of very important qualities to survive in today’s hyper-competitive and fast-paced work place atmosphere. New technologies, changing corporate structures, downsizing, outsourcing, ever changing business priorities require one to be adaptable. With such rapid, unpredictable and disruptive change all around us, it calls for patience and a spirit to react coolly in the troubled situations. It is again not important whether you emerge as a winner or loser; it simply counts on whether you can take change in your stride or not. Responding positively to change not only enables you to deal with the new and untried, but paves the way for career success, growth and satisfaction too. By being flexible and adaptable, you can move up the ladder, build new skills, increase productivity and achieve your goals. What’s more, it makes the work appealing and gratifying too. In the ever-changing workplace, this basic skill even becomes the key to survival.

Problem Solving: Problem solving is again a key skill, and it’s one that can make a huge difference to your career. At work, problems are at the center of what many people do every day. You’re either solving an internal problem or external problem, by supporting those who are solving problems, or discovering new problems to solve. The problems you face can be large or small, simple or complex, and easy or difficult, stuck or unstuck to solve. Please understand this, our brain cannot find solutions if we only focus on the problem. This is because when we focus on the problem, we in fact feed ‘negativity’ which in turn activates negative emotions in the brain. These emotions block potential solutions. Don’t ignore the problem but, find workable solutions by remaining calm. It helps to first acknowledge the problem and then move focus on creating a mindset to think practically. Stop lingering on what went wrong, who created the problem, what intentions the problem maker has, whose fault is it etc.etc. Instead think what approach to assume, view the problem neutrally, think laterally, stop using negative self talk, and simplify the course of action.

Creative thinking:It’s not enough to be able to collect data and manipulate it. You must also be able to analyze and interpret it. It’s important to make yourself creative and evolving as a better person at each juncture in life. It’s in your best interests to help improve the creative performance of your team. Creative meetings are a great opportunity to spot gaps and close them. There are many creative ideas which might not have struck you, but when confronted with others who are passionately arguing for highly creative yet hardly strategic concepts, some idea might strike. Creativity is not only your domain; learn to spot the creativity in others around you. It’s perfectly alright to accept other’s ideas and shape them. Don’t forget to give credit to the person whose idea you are utilizing.

Negotiation skill:Negotiation is a method by which people settle differences. It is a process by which conciliation or agreement is reached while avoiding argument and dispute. Negotiation is inevitable in life. It has to be adopted from time to time. Conflict and disagreement will arise as the differing needs, wants, aims and beliefs of people change. Without negotiation, such conflicts may lead to disputes and resentments resulting in one or all of the parties feeling disappointed. The point of negotiation is to try to reach agreements without causing future barriers to communications. In any disagreement, individuals understandably aim to achieve the best possible outcome for their position, or an organization they represent. However, the principles of fairness, seeking reciprocated benefit and maintaining a healthy relationship are the keys to a success. Therefore the negotiation skill is vital.

Leadership: The ability to lead effectively is one of the most important skills. This skill can boost your career in effect. It involves dealing with diverse people with diverse cultures, diverse ideas, and diverse personalities. The leader has to be people’s man/woman. The leader should create a motivated and enthused team of people to archive organizational goals and objectives. A leader is the one knows the way, goes the way and shows the way. Leaders establish the behavioral realities at the workplace. They establish and embody the real values of the organization and, by extension, its rela­tionships with customers, suppliers, competitors, policy makers, government, and to environmentalists – to all out there. A leader’s canvass has to be large enough to support the details, objectives, methodology, scope and the goals to be achieved. He is required to provide true perspective. He should create a picture of future with lots of colors in it – making it striking for his followers.  Because if the picture of future is absurd no matter how he convinces his subordinates, they will start searching for the truth. Each one believes what is seen. There is no other powerful shaper of behavior in the organization than the leader of it. In an organization the leader is considered an archetype. Therefore, practice what you preach.

Competent lawyers are the courtroom heroes. Law is an integral part of nearly every area of our life – from the environment, trade, education, medicines, entertainment, marriage, childbirth, sports to death. When things go wrong in society we first think of lawyers. Be it a divorce, stealing, bribery, bankruptcy, IP theft, corporate slip-ups; when fundamentals and practicalities begin to crumble, lawyers swoop in like heroes to protect their clients against the offenders. Taking help of lawyer is a simple instantaneous action, born out of necessity. People call lawyers not because they wantto, but because itnecessitates to.

Can a lawyers’ role be narrowly defined as an antidote to conflict? Are they required only to avoid or manage disputes? The common most notion of a lawyer is – the one who is skilled at finding ‘loopholes’ in the system and help his/her client escape from a sticky situation. But this is our narrow-mindedness if we define their role in such tapered frame. And, we cannot deny that to one up the law one must know the law.

Law is the way society regulates its behavior. It creates rules of conduct that are widely understood and gives us parameters for resolving disputes and defining acceptable codes of conduct. Our centralized, state, and local laws regulate everything from how we do business with each other to how we behave in public places, our duties and responsibilities in society, how we keep our surrounding to where we can park our cars. Because law is considered a technical profession not easily comprehended by the untrained, individuals and companies hire professionals-lawyers-to help them realize it and conduct the procedures it defines. The role of lawyers cannot be limited or underrated. Lawyers have enormous power, which they use daily to effect change for their clients. Without law and order we cannot live peacefully in this world. In some or the other way we permanently depend on lawyers.

Law has been one of the popular career choices for youngsters. Those who come from families of lawyers usually opt to study law. Anyone can choose to study law as long as one has the passion for it. There are many areas of specialization in law these days. Maritime Law, Cyber Law, Business Law, Civil Rights Law, Entertainment Law, Environment Law, Immigration Law, Health Law, Intellectual Property Law, International Law, Labor Law, Taxation Law and many more. I listed just few of them. Today for every action and every activity we find a specialized lawyer. Traditionally, students could specialize in either civil or criminal laws.

People who enter this demanding and comprehensive profession do so for many reasons. It is a great paying career and it is a challenging career which requires lot of research and people skills. If you love it make a career in it. To be precise, lawyers can have a broad range of responsibilities depending on the specific area of law they practice. But if you think being a lawyer mainly involves making speeches and grilling witnesses in a courtroom, think again. Even trial lawyers-those who specialize in courtroom litigation spend surprisingly little time before a judge or jury. For every hour in the courtroom, many more are spent doing research, conducting interviews, or writing documents in preparation for proceedings. Many lawyers, in fact, never set foot in court. They work in the back office.

In broad terms, lawyers apply their interpretation of the law (the codified rules of their society) to advise their employer or client on completing transactions in compliance with the law or resolving disputes based on current understanding of the law. At its most basic level, a lawyer’s role is that of a supporter and adviser. Attorneys use specialized knowledge to research and interpret the intent of the law and apply it to whatever circumstances their clients face. It’s an imperfect practice, as the interpretations of the law may vary significantly based on the circumstances of the situation.

The legal profession can be divided into two major categories: litigation and transactions. Litigation, which concerns both civil and criminal law, is the process of arguing a dispute between two parties. Transactions relate to business and personal matters that usually do not require courtroom argumentation. For example, a lawyer may counsel a client in the transactions of preparing a will, contract, or lease; to help secure venture capital for a new company; or to prepare a patent for a new technology. However, if the will is contested or if the venture capitalists sue the business owner for fraud, that would then require an attorney with litigation skill.

Depending on the type of law they practice, lawyers will spend their time on paperwork; researching, preparing for, or participating in trials and advising clients. They spend hours in law libraries, online databases, and case studies for researching legal precedents. They prepare contracts, to the point note, and other documents, assembling boilerplate paragraphs (it is the sections of code that have to be included in many places with little or no alteration) or writing from scratch. They need a sharp mind, sharp focus and razor-sharp communication skills. Humor and wit is an added advantage as it can lighten the courtroom atmosphere.

They plan and conduct depositions or interviews with witnesses. In complicated cases, these can generate thousands of pages of testimony-all of which have to be read, analyzed, and refined into usable information. They present their evidence-the information they’ve gathered about a case and about the laws relevant to a case-in a court of law, arguing before a judge and/or jury. Alternatively, they may present their research findings to clients, advising them on business or other issues.

If you want to make a splendid career in law, you need to sharpen your analytical ability, attention to detail, logical reasoning, persuasiveness, sound judgment and of course writing ability.  I want to list here one of the most essential element for the career and that is of emotional intelligence. They need to empathies with their clients, they need to respect and honor their colleagues, and most important they need to be good listeners.  Impassive, unemotional and detached lawyers are never in demand. The market does not want a lawyer who is only half a person. They also need to be tech savvy and good in time management.

If you are interested in making a career in law – you can either do a three-year law course after graduation in any discipline or a 5 years’ course after 12th class. In fact, the 3 years’ course is now giving way to the 5 years’ one which is seen as a better option. In most cases, colleges run the 3 years’ course only for those whose main discipline in graduation is something other than law, or working professionals who want to do an LLB as an additional qualification. The five year course is meant for those who want to take up law as a career – be it as a litigator, or any other kind of legal professional. For the five years course the national law entrance exam, CLAT (Combined Law Admission Test) which basically tests the student’s general English, legal aptitude, general awareness, logical skills, etc needs to be cleared.

The LLB course is regulated by the Bar Council of India which sets rules and regulations regarding legal practice in the country. Any specialization is done at masters, M. Phil or PhD stage. A higher degree helps candidates in their career advancement. It is an honorable career.

Our nation needs competent and efficient lawyers for enhanced law and order. People like Mahtma Gandhi, Dr. Amedkar, Lokmanya Tilak, Abraham Lincoln, and Nelson Mandela were some great people who had donned the Lawyer’s coat sometimes in life.