S kills R equired for C areer in C onsumer S tudies F ield To be successful in the field of consumer studies you need knowledge about consumer protection mechanisms and redressal agencies but you also need soft skills like good communication and interpersonal skills, empathetic and understanding attitude, being a good listener, being creative in developing programmes, advertisements, talks etc. for consumer awareness. You should have writing skills for developing educational material for consumer education, reporting consumer tests of consumer products and a willingness to help fellow consumers and public at large. A person desirous of entering this field as a professional must have thorough knowledge about quality standards of various kinds of products, adulteration and detection of adulterants as well as consumer protection laws, consumer rights and responsibilities.
Several career options in the area of consumer education and protection will be open to you after pursuing courses at the under graduate and post-graduate levels. These programmes aim at creating an overall awareness and training on Consumer Affairs with special emphasis on Consumer Protection. One has the option of doing a degree course in B.Sc. Home Science/ B.A.
Home Science, B.Sc. Family Resource Management/B.Sc. Home Management/B.Sc. Resource Management/Bachelor of Business Adminstration (B.B.A.) / Bachelor of Business studies (B.B.S.), etc .
In different institutions the subject may be called Consumer Studies, Consumer Education, Consumer Behaviour, Consumer in the Market.