The Scholar Online

Issue One –

Lewis — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 08:00:01 +0000

Congratulations to our competition winners and to the others who have made the first edition of The Scholar. We’ve had an unimaginable level of interest from students and universities, and have encouragingly received a real number of concise and intriguing articles which have kept us up for hours reading and discussing. We hope you enjoy the first issue, remember that we are accepting articles for The Scholar so if you’ve got an concise and egnaging article that you think we’d like, then send it to us submit@thescholaronline.com

Who’s going to win the £150?

Andrew McFarlan — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 15:58:44 +0000

Responses to our Short Essay competition so far include Doctoral Candidates from Imperial, Masters students from Leicester and LSE and 1st-4th year undergraduates from Manchester, Leeds, East Anglia and UCL. All attempting to win the maximum of £150 for their summer spend. Could this be you? If you have an .ac.uk email address and have something interesting to say, whether it’s original research into or a condensed version of a paper you’ve already sumbitted, you could well be winning the money. Arts or Sciences, modern or medieval, junior or senior…get involved! http://www.thescholaronline.com/competition

Universities Beginning to Spread the Word…

Andrew McFarlan — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 12:53:12 +0000

We’ve been having great meetings this week with Glasgow Caledonian University and AGCAS Scotland, all focused on making students more employable. And thank you to the Heads of Department at UCL, Imperial, Durham, Manchester and Leicester Universities for all their help in promoting The Scholar. You are helping us all to shape a future, where students can use their own work during their university years to make themselves more employable. Thanks!

Short Essay Competition heating up!

Andrew McFarlan — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 07:31:11 +0000

Well, as the Olympic torch makes its way around the UK via Glasgow courtesy of the nation’s unsung heroes, athletes, Coca-Cola employees and Jedward, our own Short Essay competition is hotting up nicely with some great contibutions. Some fantastic undergraduate essays, some magically obscure condensed theses and dissertations and some hard-hitting articles from all levels of academia! Send in your short essay to us via our site – you’ll automatically be entered into our prize draw to win three prizes…the first totalling as much as £150!! Good luck… http://www.thescholaronline.com/competition

The Scholar invited to join The Guardian’s Youth Unemployment Panel

The Scholar Online — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 11:24:11 +0000

Yesterday TheScholarOnline was invited by The Guardian to join their panel for a live discussion on youth unemployment in Europe. Joined by students, graduates and employers, the debate ranged from working visas to networking skills and CV-building. Central to the debate was the issue of employability and the need for students to differentiate themselves within the European labour market. A key theme emerging from the debate was that of academic publishing. It was agreed that students, through publishing their work, stood a greater chance of securing that all-important interview.

Accepting articles

Andrew McFarlan — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:11:01 +0000

Win a month's free subscription to The Scholar

Accepting articles

Andrew McFarlan — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:55:01 +0000

Win a month's free subscription to The Scholar

Accepting articles

Andrew McFarlan — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:49:12 +0000

Win a month's free subscription to The Scholar

Accepting articles

Andrew McFarlan — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:36:13 +0000

Win a month's free subscription to The Scholar

Are People Buying into You?

Andrew McFarlan — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:32:30 +0000

Hi, my name’s Andrew McFarlan and I’m a Director of the Scholar. After gaining a First Class Honours degree from the University of St Andrews, I’ve spent the last year and a half working with some of Britain’s leading businesses and most powerful government agencies, condensing very complex Communications Strategies into simple, understandable key messages. As a Director of The Scholar, I combine my experience in both academia and communications to manage the process of converting academic research into a form that’s interesting, that’s credible and that’s accessible. How was that? Did I get my ‘distinctive competence’ across? Did you feel bought into my product? How about me as an individual? I was asked these questions this week at the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurialism by the distinguished Dr. Jonathan Levie, an expert in the science of entrepreneurialism. He described a vital component of any pitch as ‘distinctive competence’, without which many pitches fail. The term neatly sums up your unique capability to deliver that service or product, based on your background, current situation and personal ability. It’s vital in demonstrating credibility, but it’s often missing. It’s often said that people make up their minds about you in the first few seconds of meeting you. Telesales execs will tell you that you have to get people to respect you within 10 seconds or you’ll be met with a ‘click’ and no sale. The 90/90 rule dictates that people will make up 90% of their opinion of you in the first 90 seconds. Our very own Jim Duffy claims that you can tell whether or not somebody will be successful in the first few seconds of meeting them. So why do we launch into talking about our product, its amazing features and its ‘uniqueness’ (another pet hate) without first giving you a reason to listen to us. Note that when the BBC Breakfast Show invites an expert on to the show, a caption will run underneath detailing their position of authority. Military spokespeople will wear uniform when addressing the media. Sir Chris Hoy will sport his three gold medals proudly when speaking to groups of school kids. So why would we start pitching to investors, without that credibility and without proving that they should listen to us in the first place? The trouble is that many of us, as young, inexperienced or first-time entrepreneurs, often question our distinctive competence. What can we possibly offer that would sound impressive to a room of investors? Why is my 18 months’ experience in Communications impressive to a room of people who communicate with senior figures in global organisations every day of their lives? It’s a fair question, but the answer is always the same: as the owner of your business, you know more about it than anyone else. Only by establishing why somebody should buy you will you demonstrate credibility, and progress on to the next stage of your presentation: why should they buy the product? This week, I’ve been speaking to our Peer Review team and welcoming them aboard The Scholar. Each individual has a technical ability way beyond my own and has academic credentials that would look good on anyone’s CV. They have instant credibility. What’s more, this comes across when talking on the phone. It’s very impressive to hear somebody speak with a confidence and a clarity that reflects both their experience and their product/service as complementary pillars of credibility. That’s what we’re all aiming for – and that’s how people will separate us from the average man, woman or punter on the street. Here’s some important questions to ask yourself: What key skills do I bring to the business? What alliances have I set up within the industry? Why do people respect me? Why is my current situation preferable to competitors’? What makes me unique? So next time you deliver a pitch or hear a pitch, ask yourself these questions in advance and afterwards, question whether you’ve been sold on the distinctive competence. It may just be the missing link.