Choose an area of applied sociology and learn as much as you can about it. What is the current state of the field? What types of work are being done? Who are the leading practitioners? Are these practitioners academics, consultants in private practice, consultants in firms, government or NGO employees, or full-time employees of for-profit companies? Who hires and who pays? What theories and methods seem to be most frequently used? What are some of the seminal articles/books in the field? What are the big questions in this area? And what are the unique insights that sociologists can bring to these questions? What is the history of the area? Who were the pioneers and pivotal figures in the development of the field?