|
1 - Length of the CV
Medical CVs are notoriously long because the nature of the
profession imposes that you should list all your skills,
courses, presentations, audits, research and publications. If
possible, try to keep your CV to a maximum of 6-8 pages. PRHOs
should be able to produce 2-3-page CVs and SHOs should be able
to limit their CV to 4-5 pages. In some cases, the CV may be
longer (e.g. Consultant Surgeons), though the main body of the CV
should still be concise. If you have pages of publications etc
they may best be fitted into an appendix to the main document.
Size is not everything. Content is
what matters. Be thorough but concise in your descriptions. Do
not fill your CV with unnecessary words just to make it longer.
It will reflect badly on your ability to express yourself in a
clear and concise manner. Instead, if you feel that your CV
lacks content, you may want to consider getting involved in a
number of activities such as audits, publications, training
sessions etc to increase the quality of the content.
2 - The first two pages
The first two pages will make the biggest impression on the
recruiter. They therefore deserve particular attention.
-
Do not fill-up most of the
first page with personal details. Your name, address and
various contact details should be able to fit at the top of
the fist page over 4 or 5 lines (like headed paper). At a
push, no more than one-third of the front page should be
taken by personal details.
-
Stick to the essentials. For
example, there is no need to mention your Hep B immunisation
status (as many people do). Your status will be checked when
you start your new job. If you are not immunised,
Occupational Health will soon sort you out. Similarly,
although your driving licence status, your MDU membership
number, your marital status and number of children may be
interesting facts, they are best kept for a "Miscellaneous"
section at the back of the CV as they will not directly
affect your employment (unless you have been banned from
driving in which case you may choose to keep this fact
quiet)
-
Having a short Personal Details
section on the front page will ensure that you start
describing your education and current employment on the
first page or the beginning of the second page, where they
are most accessible.
3 - General CV Format
The format for a medical CV is generally as follows:
-
PERSONAL DETAILS
-
Name
-
Address
-
Date of birth
-
Telephone number (2 numbers
maximum)
-
Email address - avoid
casual addresses like karmaqueen@xxxxx.com or
superdoctor@xxxxxx.co.uk [Yes, some people do put these
on their CVs ...]
-
GMC Reg. number
-
Date of entry to Specialist
Register & NTN if relevant
-
CAREER AIM
-
This should be no more than
a few lines. No recruiter will read beyond that length.
Instead they will seek to explore this area further
during the interview.
-
This section (provided it
is short and to the point) is best placed at the front
of the CV as the content constitutes an important part
of your motivation to apply for the job. Placing it
after a long list of audits, publications and courses
will almost ensure that it does not get read at all.
-
QUALIFICATIONS (& PRIZES)
-
List your qualifications in
reverse chronological order
-
List relevant dates and
place of study
-
List qualifications you are
currently studying for (e.g. MRCP/MRCS)
-
CURRENT APPOINTMENT
-
PAST APPOINTMENTS
-
For these two sections, try
to avoid the format whereby appointments are summarised
in a header table and then developed later in the CV in
individual sections. It makes the reading of the CV
tiring.
-
List each job in reverse
chronological order, including the relevant dates and
hospital names & locations. For each job where you
should list the relevant experience, skills and
procedures that you have learned.
-
Use bullet points, not
sentences. Interviewers will be able to pick out the
essential much more efficiently.
-
Remember to list all your
skills, not just clinical. Your management and teaching
experience is just as important.
-
VERY IMPORTANT:
Avoid personal statements such as "I really enjoyed this
post because it gave me the opportunity to ... etc". The
CV is designed to present facts. Its role is two-fold:
to get you short-listed and to provide talking points
for the interview. Keep your personal statements until
the interview, where you will be able to use them most
effectively.
-
If you have held a
significant number of posts you may wish to present them
across several subsections e.g.: SpR positions, SHO
positions, PRHO positions.
-
MANAGERIAL EXPERIENCE
[Only if you have enough content to justify a separate
section, otherwise integrate it within the relevant
positions. This section is particularly relevant for those
applying for SpR & Consultant jobs]
-
TEACHING EXPERIENCE -
Same comment.
-
COURSES
-
List all relevant courses.
-
Avoid mentioning courses
such as Revision courses for MRCP/MRCS exams (especially
if you failed the exam) as you will have already said
that you were studying for the exam.
-
Indicate the dates (month
and year is enough) & the duration of the courses
-
MEETINGS/CONFERENCES
-
List all relevant meetings
and conferences, together with a short description of
the content
-
Avoid casual meeting (e.g.
bonding exercises, days-away at the Deanery, etc) unless
your CV demonstrate clearly that it has some relevance
to your experience
-
PUBLICATIONS
-
Make sure you are telling
the entire truth (including your ranking on the authors
list). Interviewers have been known to check the
database in front of candidates at the interview.
-
List the title, authors and
relevant dates together with a 1-2 line summary of the
content (unless the title is as explicit as possible)
-
PRESENTATIONS
-
AUDITS
-
List the title and date of
the audit
-
For each audit you should
provide a short summary, providing the aim of the audit, your role, the conclusions drawn and actions
taken as a result (2-3 bullet points, 5 or 6 lines
maximum).
-
If you have done no audits,
it may be preferable to leave the whole section out
rather than say "I am awa
-
RESEARCH PROJECTS
-
COMPUTER AND LANGUAGE SKILLS
-
Include all relevant
software e.g. Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher,
Internet etc, as well as medical-specific software
-
Do not dwell too much on
your internet experience as it could be misinterpreted,
given recent problems. Most interviewers will assume
that everyone can use the internet.
-
By any means state the
languages that you can speak if in small number as well
as your degree of fluency (e.g. German - basic, French -
conversational).
-
If you speak several
dialects due to your ethnic origin, it is best to place
them under an umbrella definition (e.g. fluent in 7
Indian dialects ) rather than list them all separately.
-
PERSONAL INTERESTS
-
MISCELLANEOUS
-
This section can be used
for information in which you feel the interviewer may
have an interest but that does not have major importance
as far as your eligibility for the job is concerned
(e.g. driving licence, marital status & number of
children, etc). You should keep this section to the bare
minimum.
-
REFERENCES
4 - Should you include a
paragraph at the beginning summarising who you are?
Although this is common practice at executive level in
normal business CVs, it is not a developed practice in the
medical profession. In order to ensure objectivity, the medical
profession is moving gradually towards standardised formats
(hence the increasing popularity of application forms) and we
would recommend that you stick to the more formal approach as
set out above.
Purchase our
guide to CV writing, including a Word template
(Only £14.99 - 20% discount for MDU
members) |
