The theme of our next print edition is going to be “Self promotion through online/social media”. If you want to contribute or would like us to cover a specific issue/topic please contact STEPS on Twitter, Facebook or by email (steps@manchester.ac.uk).

Labour Market Information is split into four sections along with a guide to using the resource:

• Sector information profiles the main industries doctoral students go into.
• Occupational information looks at the 60 most common occupational profiles for doctoral graduates.
  
• Discipline Information provides career paths and information specific to your area of study.
  
• Researcher development framework aims to help researchers enhance their career development.

Let us know what you think of Labour Market Information, or any other resources you have found useful, by commenting on the blog or contacting us via Facebook or Twitter.

This week we published the remaining articles from Issue 21:

• Robert Phillips from Manchester Enterprise Centre gave his “Top Tips for Being an Enterprising Researcher” and is a must read for those who want to get ahead as an enterprising researcher.
• STEPS editor Ellen Van Reuler reviewed resources available to those interested in Social Enterprise rather than big bucks!

On Twitter and Facebook this week we let you know about:

• the NUS pound in your pocket survey.
• New JRUL Info Skills Training Bulletin.
• Vitae’s Developing Digital Literacy Survey.

Plus lots of opportunities for EPS students!

• The Manchester branch of the British Science Association was recruiting for members at Kro Bar. If you missed it you can still contact them here.
• The Royal Institution is looking for engineers to take part in an exciting new project making films for the Ri Channel.
• Sense About Science is now taking applications for a free Standing up for Science media workshop.
• British Science Association Media Fellowships.
• The British Science Association Award Lectures for researchers who are also talented communicators.
• Prove it! an online video competition created for National Science & Engineering Week 2012.
• Poetry competition for Scientist and Engineers.
• The return of the “I’m a Scientist/Engineer Get Me Out of Here!” competition.

And on top of all that we updated the Events page on the blog!

See you next week!

Social enterprises come in various shapes and sizes, but share a common purpose of adding social or environmental value. They reinvest the profits instead of trying to maximise profit for the owners. The reviewed resources are accessible via Vitae’s website, but are an outcome of collaborative work between this organisation and the University of the West of England. Dr Paul Spencer (Researcher Skills Development Officer, University of the West of England) describes the commonality between social entrepreneurs and academic researchers as follows: ‘… the people behind social enterprises are passionate about solving problems and making a difference to society. It is this that drives them to succeed rather than being motivated by generating personal wealth and researchers tend to share this same motivation.’

The collaboration has produced several types of resources, including videos of interviews with successful social entrepreneurs. These come in two series: a broad overview that includes interviews of entrepreneurs talking about their work and motivations; and a more detailed case study of the social enterprise producing a product named Ketso. One of the more general videos, “What is Social Enterprise” can be found in this post [below] the rest are available here.

The more general interviews could be interesting for PGR students unfamiliar with social entrepreneurship. The Ketso case study is more suitable for those considering starting a social enterprise and looking to see which issues they might have to take into account. One of the strengths of the videos in general, and of the Ketso footage in particular, is that the relationship between the skills you acquire as an academic researcher and those qualities that may be needed to succeed as a successful social entrepreneur is addressed explicitly.

On the down side, I’m afraid that the resources do not suffice as a main source of information for those looking into practical advice about setting up a social enterprise. Many interviewees make remarks about things you should do, like acquiring specific skills or finding funding, but they are not explicit about how you could do this. A relatively easy solution to this issue would have been to add a few external links – for example the ones at the end of this article – to the webpage. However, on the whole I find the production of these resources by Vitae and the University of the West of England a welcome initiative that certainly holds some useful information and inspiration for PGR students.

Review by Ellen Van Reuler

Useful Links:

Vitae Social Enterprise webpage

Social Enterprise UK

Business Link on how to set up a social enterprise

Setas (Social Enterprise Training and Support)

An enterprising researcher is someone who can spot opportunities, works effectively with people from a variety of backgrounds, understands the impact of their research in a wider commercial and social context, is flexible to changing demands and is able to use their specialist skills in new situations in whatever career they enter. Top tips for becoming an enterprising researcher are:

1. Network. Enterprising people are great at making connections. This includes not only looking for potential collaborators and jobs, but also informational networking such as finding people a few steps ahead of you in their career who can explain how they reached their current position and how you can reach that goal. LinkedIn is a useful networking tool, but is no substitute for face to face contact.

2. Develop your transferable skills. These will help you apply your specialist knowledge in new situations. Not being able to do this is the key criticism industry has of employing researchers. Understand what you are good at and learn to communicate that to others.

3. Plan ahead. Try to prepare for your next career position now. You will then be able to show an employer that you have a sustained interest, rather than coming to the end of a project and are looking for anything you can get.

4. Make the most of the University’s resources. Many things the University subscribes to are free for us to use but are very expensive in the outside world. For example, any training you want to do is free here but is a thriving and expensive business once you leave. Courses exist here at Manchester from finance, starting a business or applying for grants to more specialised skills.

5. Move out of your comfort zone to be more interdisciplinary. Many fascinating collaborations have been tried such as biology with art, and geography with computer science. Grant bodies and employers will be impressed if you can manage to collaborate across different subject areas. Indeed, many grants now insist on it.

6. Make the most of opportunities to get involved. For example, write a review article, help file that patent, review journal papers, or try communicating your research to the general public. If you’re interested in starting a business then why not enter the University’s Venture Further competition?

The Manchester Enterprise Centre is based within Manchester Business School and is helping the University achieve its vision to be ‘an innovative institution that values and encourages the transfer of knowledge and technology to influence and advance economic development regionally, nationally and internationally.’  For information, opportunities and further study visit their website.

On the blog we posted about the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey. The survey is now closed and results are being analysed. Did you take part? Surveys are a great way of getting your opinions heard and being involved in improvements and changes to the student experience. There are also often prizes on offer!

STEPS were at the screening of the PhD comics movie this week! Did you go? Let us know what you thought of how it portrayed the “grad student” experience.

And it’s the last day of term (though we know that doesn’t always mean much for postgrads) so have a very merry holiday from everyone at STEPS!

The results of the survey are currently being analysed by the University and will be used to shape PGR experiences in the future. Prof. Nigel Vincent, Associate Vice-President for Graduate Education, said ‘The University really values the feedback from all students about their experience, so a big thank you to all the PGR students who took time to complete the survey. We are very grateful for your views and your co-operation’.

By completing the survey participants had the opportunity to win an iPad. The lucky winner was Georgios Angelis from the School of Cancer and Enabling Sciences in the Faculty of Medical & Human Sciences. He completed the survey whilst having a small break from reading papers and writing code and believes the survey results have ‘the potential to further improve the quality of postgraduate education, since it is based on the valuable opinion of more than 1000 students’.

Through future editions of STEPS and the STEPS blog we’ll let you know more about the results and how your opinions are changing the University.

Written by Laura Sadler

If you fancy being the next Richard Branson and want a chance to develop transferable skills like managing and team-working then enter Engineering, Environment or Biotech YES! See our post for web-links.

And keep checking Vitae’s website for the opportunities they offer. We’ll also bring you any news of new Vitae events on our Events page of the blog, this week: “Using social media to benefit your research. 12 January 2012, Liverpool”

On Twitter and Facebook this week:

Postgrad Enterprise Event: Enterprise Futures 2012. Places are limited so book soon!

We all know how difficult it can be to distil a complex PhD project into a few sentences, and we know how stressful an interview for that perfect job can be, so what is the best way to pitch yourself in such a short space of time?

This is exactly the task that faced the entrants in Vitae’s Elevator Pitch Competition, sponsored by Times Higher Education, on 5 September 2011.  Postgraduate researchers and post-docs from universities around the country travelled to the Midland Hotel on Peter Street and competed to pitch themselves to local employers.

The judges represented various industries in the Greater Manchester area and evaluated the pitches based on a range of criteria, including the researcher’s knowledge, their understanding of their own skills, personal effectiveness, experience and engagement, and governance and organisation of their research activities.

The candidates all gave impressive, polished pitches, and though each had a different approach to the competition, all were confident in their presentation, and had prepared meticulously in order to be able to answer any question the judges might ask.

Giving feedback, the judges highlighted that they thought the BBC’s The Apprentice had influecned the pitches, but also provided some salutary lessons for researchers entering the job market, whatever the industry.  As we might expect, researchers are advised to remember their skills and to sell the value of their expertise, and that it is important to demonstrate the value of a PhD generally, whatever the topic.  However, researchers should also remember that they are not just a skill-set.  Employers are keen to remind those of us entering the job market that they want to see what we as individuals can bring to any particular role.  One employer said, “the pitches I enjoyed the most were the ones with personality.”

The competition winner, Rhiannon Pursall, who currently holds a post-doctoral fellowship at Birmingham University and completed her PhD at Sheffield University, was rewarded with a year’s subscription to the Times Higher Education, and was delighted to have won.  She said that the event was a great opportunity not only to develop skills that can be used in interviews, but also to network with employers and other researchers.

Further details of Vitae’s events can be found on the website, and a full report of the competition is available on their website, and researchers may also be interested in Vitae’s regular and insightful PGR Tips bulletin.

Written by Edward Poole

The discipline-specific YES competitions involve groups creating a hypothetical company related to their field of research. The groups then have to develop business models, plans and forecasts and ultimately pitch to a panel of judges, convincing them to invest in their companies.

You’ll be in good company if you decide to enter the competition as the University of Manchester has a great track record. This year a team from the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPS) were the overall winners of Engineering YES and in 2010 a team from the Faculty of Life Sciences (FLS) won the UK final of Biotech YES and were flown out to Houston, Texas for the grand final!

The ^Pinnacle team.

STEPS spoke to the two winning teams, ^Pinnacle (Engineering YES) and Microbe Solutions (Biotech YES), to get an insight into what it’s like to enter the competition. It seems the entrants not only had a great deal of fun but also enjoyed meeting new people. Chris Cobb from Microbe Solutions said, ‘The people we met along the way, whether it was other students, mentors or judges were always so friendly and contributed towards a huge network of support both during and after the competition’. Michael Conti-Ramsden from ^Pinnacle added, ‘Working with team ^Pinnacle was great fun (bar a few tiffs at four in the morning over pitch structure!) and I enjoyed developing our business proposition as part of this able and dynamic team.’

Microbe Solutions — Left to Right; Elizabeth Wright, Carmine Cicelli, Christal Fisher, Chris Cobb, Laura Davies.

As with any rewarding endeavour the competition isn’t without its challenges. When we asked Christal Fisher from Microbe Solutions what she found challenging she didn’t beat around the bush: ‘Everything! I didn’t know anything about running a business when I started out in the competition. It was a steep learning curve but there was plenty of help and information provided along the way, and once you’ve learnt the language it’s all a lot easier.’

The personal and professional gain from rising to these challenges can be well worth it. Several past entrants of Biotech YES have started their own businesses, three of which have attracted over £5 million in investment. Even if you don’t want to start your own business the skills gained can help in your future career. More than three quarters of the previous entrants have secured jobs in the private sector. Laura Davies (Microbes Solutions) said, ‘I am now much more confident that I can look for a career outside of academia. I have a great example of team leading and team work to put on my CV and have learned a lot about biotechnology and enterprise.’

So what advice would the previous winners give to people considering entering the 2012 competition? Elizabeth Wright (Microbe Solutions) said, ‘I would tell anyone who is thinking about entering to take part – we learned so much from the competition and had a great time doing it. We made so many contacts from the industry and got the chance to attend a lot of incredible events such as the BioIndustry Association gala dinner in the natural history museum, as well as the Rice University Business Plan Competition in Houston.’ Her team mate Chris added, ‘I would thoroughly recommend entering the Biotechnology YES competition, or one of its sister competitions in Engineering or Environment, to any postgraduate student.’

If you’re interested in entering the Engineering, Biotech or Environment YES competitions keep your eyes peeled for details from your faculty skills trainer and updates on the STEPS blog, Twitter feed and Facebook page. You can read more about the ^Pinnacle team here.

Written by Elizabeth Granger

Editor’s note ~ This article has been ammended. The print edition stated that ^Pinnacle made it to the final of Engineering YES.

UPDATE! Engineering YES 2012 opened for booking on 21 November. Visit their website for more details and to book a place. There are over £2000 worth of cash prizes up for grabs!