How to Write an Outstanding NHS Consultant CV: The Complete Guide

Before we explore each section in detail, here's a summary of the essential principles that every successful consultant CV should follow.

• Tailor your consultant CV to the specific NHS role and person specification rather than using a generic document.
• Highlight your strongest achievements within the first few pages, making it easy for recruiters to identify your suitability.
• Demonstrate leadership, teaching, research and quality improvement alongside your clinical expertise.
• Use clear headings, concise bullet points and evidence-based examples to improve readability.
• Focus on the impact you've made throughout your career, not just the responsibilities you've held.
• Review and update your consultant CV regularly so it's ready when new opportunities arise.

There is no shortage of advice online about how to write a CV. Much of it is perfectly sensible: use clear headings, keep your formatting consistent, use active language and remember to proofread.
Writing a CV for an NHS consultant post, however, is rather different.

This guide draws on ISC Medical's experience of working with doctors preparing for NHS consultant applications and interviews over many years, including reviewing and discussing a very large number of consultant CVs. It reflects the questions candidates repeatedly ask us, the mistakes we commonly see and, importantly, the practical advice we actually give when helping someone decide what should and should not go into their CV.

For that reason, this isn't intended to be a generic CV template or a collection of rigid rules. There is no single perfect consultant CV. A CV for an academic cardiology appointment should not necessarily look like one for a clinically focused emergency medicine post, and an experienced locum consultant will have a very different career story to someone approaching their first substantive consultant appointment directly from training.

Instead, the aim of this guide is to explain the principles behind a strong consultant CV: how an appointment panel is likely to read it, what information they need to find, what deserves prominence, what can safely be left out and how to present your experience without either underselling yourself or disappearing into pages of unnecessary detail.

Some of the advice is deliberately opinionated. That is because it comes from experience rather than from trying to devise a set of rules that will please everybody. There will always be people who insist that a consultant CV must contain a contents page, must be a particular length or must follow a particular order. We don't believe it is quite that simple. Throughout the guide, where there are different reasonable approaches, we explain them and give you our view.

Above all, we have tried to keep the advice practical. A consultant CV has a job to do. It needs to make your experience easy to understand, demonstrate that you meet the requirements of the post and give an appointment panel good reasons to want to meet you.

It does not need to tell them everything you have ever done.

And it certainly doesn't need to sound like everybody else's.

Unlike applications for junior training posts, NHS consultant recruitment is a major investment for an NHS Trust. Appointment panels are looking far beyond clinical competence. They want someone who can provide excellent patient care but can also contribute to teaching, clinical governance, service development, leadership, research and the long-term success of the department. Because of that, and the fact that they will be working with you for the next 30 years, if not more, the NHS consultant recruitment process is a lot more complex (in fact it is very close to the recruitment process of executives in the business world) and the expectations that come with it are that much higher.

Your consultant CV is often the first impression the panel will have of you. Before you reach the interview stage, they will decide whether your experience aligns with the needs of their service. A well-written consultant CV makes that decision easy by clearly demonstrating how your skills match the job description.

Think of your CV as answering one central question: "Why should this Trust shortlist you instead of the other applicants?"

Every section should contribute towards answering that question.

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What makes a great NHS consultant CV?

A strong consultant CV is:

• Easy to navigate
• Tailored to the specific role
• Evidence based rather than descriptive
• Focused on achievements instead of responsibilities
• Organised around the person specification
• Concise despite containing substantial information

Many candidates assume that because consultant CVs are considerably longer than standard business CVs, they can simply include everything they have ever done. No one wants a date dump! This creates a document that is difficult to read and fails to highlight the candidate's greatest strengths.

The aim is not to produce the longest CV or even the most comprehensive. The aim is to produce the clearest one. The one that tells them just what they need to know.

Don’t lose sight of your goal! Ultimately, the only thing you need is to get shortlisted and invited to an NHS consultant interview. Not to write your memoirs.

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How long should an NHS consultant CV be?

When we coach candidates for NHS consultant posts, one of the most common questions we get asked by applicants is whether their CV is too long.

Unlike most professional CVs, which are typically limited to two or three pages, consultant CVs need considerably more space to demonstrate the breadth of experience expected at senior level.

This usually includes:

• Clinical experience
• Leadership and management
• Teaching
• Audit and quality improvement
• Research
• Publications
• Presentations
• Continuing professional development

As a result, most medical consultant CVs are around 10 pages, while surgical consultant CVs may extend to 15 pages or more, particularly where extensive operative experience or research output needs to be presented.

However, do not use length as an excuse for poor organisation. The fact you have space does not mean you have to use it. Put yourself in the shoes of a recruiter who needs to sieve through 20 CVs, all of which are 25 pages long. That’s 500 pages! And often it’s 500 pages of waffle. So when they see a 5-page CV that is well structured and gets to the point, they might give it preferential treatment. You won’t stand out by following the norm. You will just come across as ‘normal’. So, it is worth thinking through the structure and wording of your CV carefully to optimise your impact.

Recruiters should be able to identify your key strengths within the first few pages. If your most impressive achievements are buried halfway through the document, there is a real risk they will receive less attention than they deserve.

As a general principle:

• Prioritise quality over quantity
• Remove unnecessary repetition
• Present information logically
• Make important achievements immediately visible

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Choosing the right font and formatting

Presentation plays a much larger role than many candidates realise. In fact there is no point in having massive achievements if no one can find them buried in the sea of information that the CV contains.

Your CV must look professional, consistent and easy to read. Using large blocks of text will discourage your future employer from paying proper attention. And if your formatting is inconsistent, you will give the impression that you rushed the application.

Therefore, when you describing your experience, use bullet points instead of long paragraphs. Appointment panels need to identify your level of responsibility, independence and impact quickly. Bullet points separate distinct areas of evidence. They make important achievements easier to find and they allow the reader to distinguish routine responsibilities from contributions that demonstrate consultant readiness.

Each bullet point should communicate one clear idea. It should start with an active verb and, where possible and relevant, describe an outcome. The aim is not simply to make the text shorter, but to make sure that the significance of your experience is effortlessly visible.

Typically fonts that are suitable are the standard business-type fonts such as:

• Arial 10
• Calibri 11
• Times New Roman 11

Use larger versions of the same font for headings to create a clear visual hierarchy. Avoid decorative fonts, excessive colours or complicated layouts. These are more likely to distract the reader from the content rather than enhance the information you present.

Keep formatting consistent throughout. Use:

• Uniform heading styles
• Consistent spacing
• Clear bullet points
• Logical section breaks
• Appropriate white space

Consultant CVs are often printed as well as viewed electronically, so readability is key.

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Your CV creates an emotional response

There is something else going on when somebody reads your CV which is easy to forget.

They are not just absorbing information about you. They are also forming an impression of you. And sometimes that impression is surprisingly radically different to what you were trying to achieve.

Imagine I am reading your CV and the information is all over the place. I can't work out what you did, when you did it or where to find the things I am looking for. After a while, I may start thinking that you are a bit disorganised.

Perhaps you're not. Perhaps you're the most organised person in the department. But your CV has just made me feel otherwise. You can’t argue with my feeling. It just is what it is.

The same thing happens with language. If it takes you 200 words to explain something that could have been explained perfectly well in 50, at some point I am going to start wondering what it would be like to sit in a meeting with you.

If every project was ‘transformational’, if every contribution was ‘instrumental’ and everything you have ever done was ‘highly successful’, I will probably start to wonder whether you suffer from some kind of delusion and lack of self-awareness.

And if your CV runs to 25 pages because you have included every course, committee, audit and presentation since medical school, instead of concluding that you are incredibly experienced, my cynical side my conclude that you can't decide what is truly matters.

Is that fair? Not necessarily. But it is human. When we meet people, we constantly form impressions from small pieces of information. Reading a CV is no different. And at consultant level this matters particularly because the panel isn't simply deciding whether you are technically capable of doing the job. They are considering whether they want you as a colleague, potentially for the next 20 or 30 years.

They are imagining you in meetings. They are imagining you dealing with a difficult complaint, supervising a trainee, discussing a problem with management, disagreeing with another consultant or trying to persuade the department to change something.

So somewhere in the background, while they are reading about your qualifications and achievements, there is another question being answered: ‘What would this person actually be like to work with?’

If I am recruiting someone who will be working with me for the next 20 or 30 years, I want to make sure they can get things done without bothering me every 5 minutes, they can think outside the box and they can get on with people. So if you’re CV is disorganised, keeps saying that you were part of a team that achieved various things and only talks about projects, I might conclude otherwise

Your CV starts answering that question before you have even met them.

Think about some of the messages your CV may be sending:

• Clear and well structured: This person can organise information and communicate clearly.
• Concise and selective: This person understands priorities and knows what matters.
• Detailed where detail matters: This person has good judgement.
• Evidence based: This person doesn't just make claims. They can back them up.
• Accurate about your own contribution: This person seems credible and self-aware.
• Thoughtfully tailored to the post: This person has taken the trouble to understand what we need.
• Repetitive and waffly: I wonder whether this person ever gets to the point.
• Chaotic or inconsistent: Is this how they organise their work as well?
• Overwritten and self-congratulatory: This person might be rather hard work.
• Full of absolutely everything you have ever done: This person doesn't seem able to distinguish the important from the unimportant.
• Generic and impersonal: Do they actually want this job, or have they sent the same CV everywhere?

Of course, none of those conclusions is necessarily fair. A chaotic CV does not prove that you are a chaotic doctor, any more than a beautifully formatted CV proves that you are a brilliant one.

But that isn't really the point. You have created the impression anyway.

Even small things contribute. If headings change style halfway through, tables don't line up, dates are presented in three different formats and there are obvious spelling mistakes, none of these things will lose you a consultant post on their own. But collectively they say something about the care you took over an application for a job you supposedly really want.

This is why formatting isn't simply decoration and editing isn't simply about reducing the word count. The way you present information becomes information about you.

So when you have finished your CV, try something slightly different. Don't proofread it again. Put it away for a day or two, then come back and look at it as though it belonged to somebody else. Better still, give it to someone who doesn't know your career intimately.

Don't just ask them whether they spotted any mistakes. Ask them: “What sort of person do you imagine wrote this?”. That can be much more revealing.

Ultimately, you don't need the panel to finish your CV thinking: “What an impressive document”. You want them thinking: “This looks like someone I would like to meet.”

Although the structure vary slightly between specialties (for example some are more academic than others, surgical specialties often include a sample log book etc), most successful consultant CVs follow a broadly similar structure.

Typically this would be:

1. Personal Details
2. Personal Profile
3. Qualifications
4. Awards and Prizes
5. Current Appointment
6. Career Summary
7. Clinical Experience
8. Audit and Quality Improvement
9. Leadership and Management
10. Teaching Experience
11. Research
12. Publications
13. Presentations
14. Professional Interests
15. References

Using this simple and fairly predictable structure allows recruiters to move naturally from your qualifications through your clinical expertise before examining your wider contributions to the organisation. It also makes it easy for them to find what they need. For example, if one of the recruiters want to see your academic experience, they can jump straight to the relevant sections.

Having said that, there is no single format that suits every consultant post. Read the person specification carefully before deciding the final order of your sections.

For example:

• Academic consultant posts should give greater prominence to research and publications.
• Educational leadership posts should move teaching experience much earlier.
• Management focused roles should highlight leadership and service development near the beginning of the CV.

The order in which you present the various sections of your CV should reflect the priorities of the appointment panel rather than following a rigid template.

And then there is the issue of candidates who don’t have much to place into some of the sections (e.g. not much experience of research etc). We deal with this in each of the relevant sections within this comprehensive NHS consultant CV guide.

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Should your consultant CV include a cover page?

Spending a considerable amount of time designing an attractive front cover complete with logos, colours and professional graphics won’t make much difference on shortlisting decisions.

Recruiters are interested in your experience, not your graphic design skills.

A simple cover page is perfectly acceptable if you prefer a polished presentation, but it should never delay the reader reaching the substance of your application. In fact it may well give the impression that your priorities are ill judged. Professionalism is far more important than decoration.

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Do you need a contents page?

The answer is usually no.

Some NHS consultant CVs include a detailed contents page to help readers navigate the document. While this may seem helpful, it often provides little practical benefit. A well-structured CV with clear section headings should be easy to navigate without requiring a separate index.

There is another disadvantage.

A contents page encourages reviewers to jump directly to the sections they personally find most interesting. While that may sound beneficial, it can prevent them from appreciating the breadth of your experience across clinical work, leadership, teaching and research.

A well organised document encourages the reader to build a complete picture of your career rather than viewing isolated sections.

Many doctors are uncomfortable with the idea of ‘selling themselves’. That is understandable. Medicine tends to reward modesty, teamwork and recognition of other people’s contributions. Most of us have also worked with someone who is rather too keen to tell everyone how brilliant they are. You probably don’t want to become that person.

But there is a danger in going too far the other way. If you spend all your time toning things down, qualifying your achievements or making bland statements because you are worried about coming across too strongly, you risk making yourself sound rather unremarkable.

Think about it outside medicine. Would you trust a plumber with your heating installation if all they told you was:

or:

Probably not. You would want to know what they are actually good at, what they have done before and why you should trust them with your house. An appointment panel is not so different.

So don’t be afraid to make an impact. Be clear about what you are good at and what you have achieved. Just make sure you can back it up.

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Bragging makes claims. Selling yourself provides evidence

There is an important difference between bragging and selling yourself. Bragging is about making claims. Selling yourself is about presenting evidence.

Look at these two statements:

and:

The first asks the reader to take your word for it. The second gives them something on which to form their own judgement.

That is the key.

In a CV, you don’t need to tell the appointment panel that you are an excellent leader, teacher or clinician. What you need to do is show them what you have done and, where possible, what happened as a result. Let them reach the conclusion themselves. Your CV should provide the evidence. How you think, behave and approach situations can often be explored much more effectively at interview. We return to this distinction below.

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Don’t undersell your contribution. Take credit, but only where it’s due

Doctors sometimes go too far in the opposite direction. In order not to sound boastful, they use phrases such as “I was involved in”, “I participated in” or “I helped with”.

Those phrases are often accurate, but they also often seriously undersell what the candidate actually did. If you designed the project, say you designed it. If you led it, say you led it. If you established a new service, say that you did. Your potential employer is not recruiting your team, they are recruiting you! Giving an accurate account of your contribution is not bragging.

At the same time, don’t take full credit for the work of the whole team. Consultant practice is inherently collaborative, and panels know that major improvements are rarely delivered by one heroic individual.

If twelve people were involved in redesigning a service, writing “I redesigned the service” may give a rather misleading impression. It’s especially bad and embarrassing if the person who led it is sitting on your consultant interview panel later down the road (one of the major downsides of being a local candidate!).

Equally, you don’t need to retreat to “I was involved in a service redesign project” if you actually made a substantial contribution.

The trick is to describe the team’s achievement and your part in it separately. Here are a few examples of how you can achieve this:

If this is what happened...	Avoid saying...	Better
You were one member of a team that redesigned a service	I redesigned the service	Contributed to a multidisciplinary redesign of the service, with particular responsibility for the new referral pathway
You led one part of a much larger project	I led the service transformation programme	Led the clinical pathway workstream within a wider service transformation programme
You developed something jointly with colleagues	I developed a new ambulatory pathway	Co-developed a new ambulatory pathway with emergency medicine and nursing colleagues
The team introduced a change and you coordinated the work	I introduced a new triage system	Coordinated the multidisciplinary work to introduce a new triage system
You implemented an initiative developed elsewhere	I developed and introduced the programme	Led local implementation of the programme within the department
You contributed specialist expertise to a project	I led the project	Contributed specialist clinical expertise to the project, advising on...
You were genuinely part of the team but had no particular leadership role	I delivered the project	Worked as part of the multidisciplinary team that delivered...

This isn’t about being excessively modest. It is about being accurate.

There are some useful phrases that allow you to signal collaboration without making your own contribution disappear: “co developed…”, “as part of a multidisciplinary team…”, “led the X workstream…”, “with responsibility for…”, “in partnership with…”, “contributed to…” and “led local implementation of…”.

They can actually make an achievement more impressive because they tell the panel something about how you work with other people, not just what the project eventually achieved.

And be careful with the word “led”. If you led the whole project, absolutely say so. If you led one part of it, say which part. If somebody else led it and you made an important contribution, describe that contribution.

There is no need to borrow somebody else’s achievement to make your CV stronger. Your own contribution should be enough.

Take full credit for what you did. Just don’t take credit for what everyone else did as well.

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Use numbers when they actually mean something

Numbers can help too, but only when they mean something. A reduction in waiting times, improved uptake, better patient feedback or a programme delivered to 150 trainees gives the reader useful evidence. Filling every sentence with percentages simply because somebody once told you to ‘quantify your achievements’ can start to sound like a sales brochure.

The aim is not to make yourself sound impressive.

It is to make your contribution clear.

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The Three Question test

A useful test is to ask yourself three questions:

1. What did I actually do?
2. What changed because of it?
3. Am I claiming only the part that was genuinely mine?

If you can answer those honestly and clearly, you are not bragging.

You are giving the panel the information they need to decide whether to appoint you.

One of the easiest ways to make a CV too long is to expect it to do the job of the interview as well.

It doesn't need to.

Your CV and your consultant interview have different purposes. They obviously overlap, but they are not simply two versions of the same thing.

The CV is particularly good at establishing facts and track record.

It can show that you have led a service development, taught regularly, completed quality improvement work, supervised trainees, published research or taken on significant leadership responsibilities. It can tell the panel what you did, the scale of the work, what your contribution was and what happened as a result.

What it is much less good at doing is explaining everything you thought, felt or learned along the way. That is where the interview comes in.

Take a service improvement project. In your CV, I probably want to know what the problem was, what you did and what changed. I don't necessarily need three paragraphs explaining the resistance you encountered, how you adapted your leadership style, what you learned about stakeholder engagement and how the experience changed your approach to leadership.

Those may be excellent things to discuss.

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But save them for the interview.

The same applies to clinical incidents. Your CV might briefly establish that you contributed to an investigation and helped implement changes arising from it. At interview, you can talk about the difficult decisions, the human factors, how you communicated with those involved, what you learned and what you would do differently now.

Teaching provides another example. Your CV can establish that you designed a programme, delivered it to 60 trainees and improved it following feedback. At interview, you can explain your educational philosophy, how you deal with a struggling learner or why you changed your teaching approach after a session went badly.

Leadership is similar. Your CV can show evidence that you have led. The interview allows the panel to explore how you lead.

This distinction is useful because candidates often try to make their CV prove things that are almost impossible to prove on paper.

Writing: “I am a compassionate and approachable clinician who values multidisciplinary working and always puts patients at the centre of my practice.” doesn't really establish any of those things.

Anyone can write it.

Similarly, describing yourself as dynamic, resilient, innovative, empathetic or an excellent communicator doesn't make those qualities true in the mind of the reader. In fact, the harder you try to tell people what sort of person you are, the less convincing it can sometimes become.

Instead, give them the track record.

If you established a multidisciplinary service, tell them. If you supported trainees, tell them. If you managed a difficult service problem, tell them. If you changed something that improved patient care, tell them.

Then let the panel explore the person behind those achievements at interview.

A useful way of thinking about the distinction is:

CV

• What have you done?
• What responsibility have you held?
• What have you achieved?
• What evidence is there that you are ready for this role?

Interview

• How did you do it?
• Why did you approach it that way?
• What difficulties did you encounter?
• What did you learn?
• What would you do differently?
• What does all of this tell us about the consultant and colleague you are likely to be?

There are exceptions, of course. A small amount of interpretation can make a CV much more meaningful, particularly in your personal profile. And sometimes a sentence explaining why an achievement matters is essential. The answer isn't to produce a CV consisting entirely of dates and statistics.

It is about knowing when to stop.

If you find yourself explaining the emotional journey behind a project, giving a lengthy account of what you learned from an experience or trying to persuade the reader that you possess a particular personality trait, ask yourself: “Would this be more powerful if they asked me about it at interview?”. Quite often, the answer is yes.

There is a related principle worth remembering: anything you put in your CV is fair game at interview. If you mention an achievement, project or area of expertise, be prepared to explain your contribution, what happened and what you learned from it. Don't include something simply because it looks impressive if you would be uncomfortable discussing it in detail.

And there is another advantage to leaving something for the interview: you need something interesting to talk about when you get there.

A good CV gives the panel reasons to ask questions. It doesn't need to answer every one of them in advance.

Think of it as laying out the evidence rather than delivering the closing argument. Establish a strong, credible track record, make the important things easy to notice and give the panel enough information to want to know more.

Then, at interview, you can bring that evidence to life.

Your personal details should appear at the top of the first page. They don’t need to occupy much space. They are really there as a formality.

Include:

• Full name
• Postnominal qualifications
• GMC registration number
• Postal address
• Telephone number
• Professional email address

There is generally no need to include information such as:

• Marital status
• Number of children
• Nationality
• Driving licence (unless specifically required)
• Occupational health information
• BMA/MDU/MPS/MDDU membership number

These details do not strengthen your application and may introduce information that is irrelevant to the recruitment process.

The purpose of this section is simply to allow recruiters to identify you and contact you easily. Everything else can wait until after appointment if required.

If there is one section capable of transforming a consultant CV, it is the personal profile. You don’t want to waste this opportunity by writing vague career objectives such as “I am seeking a challenging consultant role where I can develop my skills”.

Generic statements like these tell recruiters almost nothing. They could apply to any number of candidates and do little to distinguish you from the competition.

At the other extreme, some candidates simply turn the personal profile into a condensed version of the CV. They list every post, qualification, publication and area of interest, usually in the order they appear later in the document. That isn’t particularly helpful either.

But this does not mean you should avoid mentioning things that appear elsewhere in your CV.

Quite the opposite. Your personal profile is prime CV real estate. If you have particular strengths, significant achievements or experience that makes you especially well suited to the post, this is exactly where you should draw attention to them. The trick is to be selective. You are signposting the evidence you want the panel to notice, not trying to squeeze your entire career into three paragraphs.

The strongest personal profiles therefore do two things.

• They give the reader some insight into how you think as a clinician. What motivates your practice? What have you become particularly good at? What sort of problems do you enjoy solving? What contribution do you tend to make to a team or service?
• They give the panel a few good reasons to keep reading. If you have led an important service development, developed particular clinical expertise, built a strong teaching portfolio or delivered a significant quality improvement project, say so. A well-chosen achievement gives substance to what might otherwise sound like a collection of nice sentiments.

For example, saying that you are “passionate about service improvement” tells the panel very little. Saying that you have led the redesign of a referral pathway and reduced waiting times gives them a reason to believe you.

A good personal profile should make the appointment panel feel that they have met the person behind the CV, while also drawing their attention to the evidence that makes that person a strong candidate. It should complement the rest of the CV rather than simply duplicate it.

By the time the reader moves on to your qualifications and employment history, they should already have a sense of your clinical identity, your particular strengths and the kind of consultant and colleague you are likely to be.

Depending on the post and your own experience, your profile might therefore draw attention to some of the following:

• Your clinical specialty and particular areas of expertise
• One or two significant clinical or service achievements
• Leadership experience
• Teaching and educational roles
• Research or academic interests
• Audit and quality improvement work
• Service development experience
• The particular strengths you would bring to the department
• Your aspirations for the consultant role

You certainly don’t need to mention all of these. In fact, you probably shouldn’t. Choose the things that make the strongest case for this particular appointment.

Crucially, the personal profile should be tailored to the post you are applying for. Before you start writing, study both the job description and the person specification carefully. What does this department actually need? Which parts of your experience answer those needs? Those are the things that deserve prominence.

If you can, have a preliminary chat with the clinical lead as well. Person specifications can sometimes be a little vague, and a conversation may tell you far more about what the department is really looking for. Why has the post become available? What are the current pressures? Are there services they want to develop? Is teaching particularly important? Is there a leadership gap they are hoping the new consultant will fill? The more you know, the better you can decide which of your strengths to bring to the front of the CV.

This can be particularly useful if you are an external candidate. An internal candidate may assume they already know what the department wants because they work there. Don’t make the same assumption. Ask.

As a simple test, imagine that a busy consultant only reads the first page of your CV. Would they understand what kind of clinician you are? Would they know what your particular strengths are? Would they have noticed two or three things that make you an interesting candidate for this post?

And, most importantly, would they want to keep reading?

If the answer is yes, your personal profile is doing its job.

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Examples of a strong personal profile

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

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Why these examples are effective

Notice that none of these examples tries to cram the candidate’s entire CV into a few paragraphs. They don’t list every qualification, publication or post. But they do deliberately draw attention to the experience and achievements that help define the candidate and make them relevant to the job.

That distinction is important.

A strong personal profile should be selective rather than repetitive. If someone has led a major service improvement, developed particular clinical expertise or built a strong teaching portfolio, there is nothing wrong with mentioning it here. In fact, you probably should. The detail can come later. The profile simply makes sure the panel notices the things you most want them to notice.

Each example also establishes a clear professional identity. The candidates explain how they think, what motivates them and where they have chosen to invest their time and energy. Their achievements then provide some evidence to support that story. It is much more convincing to demonstrate an interest in service improvement by briefly mentioning something you have improved than simply describing yourself as “passionate about quality improvement”.

Importantly, none of the profiles tries to tick every box in the person specification. Doing that usually produces something rather bland of the type “I have experience of doing clinics, audits, teaching and service improvement”. Instead, each candidate selects a handful of strengths and uses them to give the reader a sense of the clinician, colleague and future consultant behind the application.

There is also a balance to strike between confidence and humility. This is not the place to be shy about your achievements, but neither is it an awards ceremony. The strongest profiles let the evidence do much of the work. They sound confident because there is substance behind what is being said, not because the candidate has filled the paragraph with words such as “outstanding”, “dynamic” or “exceptional”.

Most importantly, they should sound like a real person.

By the end of the profile, the reader should know more than what the candidate has done. They should have started to form an impression of what that person might be like as a consultant and as a colleague.

Ultimately, a good personal profile should leave the appointment panel thinking two things:

• This person has the experience and strengths we need.
• I’d like to meet them.

List qualifications in reverse chronological order, beginning with the most recent. Include specialist qualifications and fellowships, your CCT or expected CCT date, postgraduate degrees, your primary medical qualification and any relevant qualification currently in progress. State the awarding institution and date. There is usually no reason to include school qualifications such as A levels.

A qualifications section should be extremely easy to scan. A simple table usually works best.

Date	Qualification	Awarding institution
2027	CCT in Respiratory Medicine and General Internal Medicine	General Medical Council
2024	Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Education, with Distinction	University College London
2022	MRCP(UK)	Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom
2028	MBBS	King's College London
2016	BSc Clinical Sciences, First Class Honours	King's College London

A few practical principles:

• Put the most recent qualification first
• Make your CCT date or Specialist Register status immediately visible
• Include qualifications currently being studied, clearly labelled as such
• Include an intercalated degree if relevant
• Add distinctions or honours where genuinely meaningful
• Do not include A levels, GCSEs or routine course certificates
• Put educational courses elsewhere under continuing professional development
• Put prizes in the awards section rather than crowding this table

For each relevant award, include the date, awarding organisation and reason it was granted. If it assists understanding, explain its scale or competitiveness. For example, state whether it was a national award or first prize among 60 presentations.

Avoid minor social prizes that do not strengthen your case. A presentation prize may appear here and again beside the relevant presentation when the repetition provides useful context.

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Example of tabular presentation

Date	Award or prize	Awarding organisation and context
2025	Trainee of the Year	Awarded by the North Central London Respiratory Training Programme following nomination from consultants, trainees and multidisciplinary colleagues
2024	First Prize, National Research Presentation	Awarded at the British Thoracic Society Winter Meeting for an oral presentation selected from 74 submitted abstracts
2023	Quality Improvement Award	Awarded by St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for leading a project that reduced delays in reviewing abnormal imaging results
2022	Clinical Teaching Excellence Award	University College London Medical School, based on medical student nominations and teaching feedback
2020	Research Training Fellowship	£35,000 competitively awarded by the British Lung Foundation to support research into severe asthma outcomes
2018	Distinction in Clinical Medicine	King's College London, awarded for performance in final clinical examinations

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Examples of linear presentation

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A useful formula

A strong entry usually contains:

Award title + awarding organisation + reason + evidence of significance

For example:

This is stronger than just saying:

The second version gives the panel no indication of what was achieved, who recognised it or how competitive it was.

Only provide context you can verify. If you do not know how many candidates or submissions were considered, describe the selection accurately without inventing a number.

If you are currently working in a senior role, such as a locum consultant, associate specialist or senior clinical fellow, consider presenting your current appointment separately from your earlier career history.

The purpose of doing so is not simply to describe your latest job. It is to show that you are already working at a level that represents a credible progression towards substantive consultant practice. This section provides an early opportunity to demonstrate seniority, clinical independence, responsibility for complex decisions and readiness to assume the wider duties of a consultant. If you mix it with all the other jobs, it will become “just one more line”.

Include:

• Job title, organisation and dates
• Scope of clinical practice
• Level of independent decision making
• On call and emergency responsibilities
• Subspecialty activity
• Leadership and management responsibilities
• Teaching and supervision
• Service development and quality improvement
• Selected achievements that demonstrate impact

Although your clinical, teaching, leadership and management experience will be explored in greater detail later, it is appropriate and useful to highlight the most important examples here.

A degree of purposeful repetition is useful. The distinction is one of perspective. In this section, you are presenting the current post as a whole and showing how its responsibilities and achievements have prepared you for consultancy. Later sections will reorganise the evidence thematically, bringing together relevant examples from across your career.

For example, instead of writing:

write:

Where possible, include one or two achievements that show what you have contributed beyond routine service delivery:

The section should leave the panel with a clear impression: you are not merely occupying a senior post, but using it to demonstrate the independence, judgement and wider organisational contribution expected of a future substantive consultant.

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Example

Present your career history in a concise table, in reverse chronological order. For each post, include the month and year, job title, specialty or subspecialty, and hospital or organisation. Exact dates and full legal Trust names are unnecessary.

At consultant level, the panel is primarily interested in what you can contribute today. Lengthy descriptions beneath every previous appointment make the CV repetitive and can obscure the senior skills and experience most relevant to the post. Use the career summary as a clear map of your professional progression, rather than attempting to document the responsibilities of every job.

Some appointments deserve greater prominence. A recent consultant post, associate specialist role or relevant fellowship may provide particularly strong evidence of independence, specialist expertise or consultant readiness. Rather than burying this evidence within the career table, give the appointment its own section and describe its scope, responsibilities and principal achievements.

Account briefly and factually for any significant career breaks. Your clinical experience section can then bring together the capabilities you have developed across different appointments and present them according to the needs of the post.

There are several ways in which you can present the information:

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Full tabular presentation

Dates	Appointment	Specialty or subspecialty	Hospital or organisation
Aug 2024 to present	Locum Consultant	Acute and General Internal Medicine	St Mark's University Hospital, London
Aug 2023 to Jul 2024	Senior Clinical Fellow	Same Day Emergency Care	Royal Victoria Hospital, London
Aug 2021 to Jul 2023	Specialty Registrar, ST6 to ST7	Acute and General Internal Medicine	North London University Hospitals
Aug 2020 to Jul 2021	Specialty Registrar, ST5	Intensive Care and Acute Medicine	City General Hospital, London
Aug 2018 to Jul 2020	Specialty Registrar, ST3 to ST4	General Internal Medicine	South Thames Training Programme
Aug 2017 to Jul 2018	Clinical Teaching Fellow	Medical Education and General Medicine	University Hospital Lewisham
Aug 2015 to Jul 2017	Core Medical Trainee, CT1 to CT2	Medical specialties	East London Core Medical Training Programme
Aug 2014 to Jul 2015	Foundation Year 2 Doctor	General Practice, Emergency Medicine and Psychiatry	Kent Foundation School
Aug 2013 to Jul 2014	Foundation Year 1 Doctor	General Medicine and Surgery	Kent Foundation School

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Hybrid tabular/linear presentation

Dates	Appointment
Aug 2024 to present	Locum Consultant, Acute and General Internal Medicine St Mark's University Hospital, London
Aug 2023 to Jul 2024	Senior Clinical Fellow, Same Day Emergency Care Royal Victoria Hospital, London
Aug 2021 to Jul 2023	Specialty Registrar, ST6 to ST7, Acute and General Internal Medicine North London University Hospitals
Aug 2020 to Jul 2021	Specialty Registrar, ST5, Intensive Care and Acute Medicine City General Hospital, London
Aug 2018 to Jul 2020	Specialty Registrar, ST3 to ST4, General Internal Medicine South Thames Training Programme
Aug 2017 to Jul 2018	Clinical Teaching Fellow, Medical Education and General Medicine University Hospital Lewisham
Aug 2015 to Jul 2017	Core Medical Trainee, CT1 to CT2, Medical Specialties East London Core Medical Training Programme
Aug 2014 to Jul 2015	Foundation Year 2 Doctor Kent Foundation School
Aug 2013 to Jul 2014	Foundation Year 1 Doctor Kent Foundation School

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Which format should you use?

Both approaches are acceptable, and the four-column table can work well where the specialty attached to each appointment needs to be made particularly explicit.

However, for most candidates I prefer the hybrid format. It gives the appointment more space, avoids unnecessary repetition and makes career progression easier to see at a glance.

Remember that the purpose of the table is not simply to store information neatly. It is to help a busy reader understand your career in a few seconds.

Whichever format you choose, look at the finished page and ask yourself: where does my eye go first? Ideally, it should be immediately obvious where you are now, how you got there and how your level of responsibility has progressed.

Formatting isn't decoration. It controls what the panel notices. 

Choosing the right clinical headings

Organise this section around the clinical domains most relevant to your specialty and the advertised post, rather than around individual rotations. Review the job description and person specification carefully, as these will help you identify the experience and capabilities the appointment panel is seeking.

Suitable headings might include:

• General specialty experience
• Acute and emergency care
• Outpatient or ambulatory care
• Inpatient care
• Subspecialty expertise
• Procedural or operative experience

Choose only the headings that reflect the requirements of the role. Do not attempt to include every possible category.

For example, a paediatrician might use General Paediatrics, Neonatology and Paediatric Intensive Care. A psychiatrist might use General Adult Psychiatry, Community Psychiatry, Substance Misuse and Psychotherapy. An anaesthetist might use General Anaesthesia, Obstetric Anaesthesia, Intensive Care and Patient Transfer.

The structure should reflect the work the successful candidate will be expected to undertake. A panel member should be able to compare your headings with the job description and immediately see the relevance of your experience.

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Demonstrating consultant level capabilities

Cross cutting capabilities such as independent decision making, multidisciplinary working, supervision and management of clinical risk should normally be demonstrated within the bullet points under each clinical heading rather than presented as separate sections.

This allows you to show how these capabilities apply in a meaningful clinical context.

For example:

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Writing effective clinical experience bullet points

Use concise bullet points to describe your clinical capabilities. Each bullet point should begin with a strong verb and communicate one clear area of evidence. There is no need to write in the first person, as it is already understood that the CV describes your experience.

For current responsibilities, begin with the base form of the verb:

• Manage independently
• Lead
• Supervise
• Coordinate
• Provide senior advice on
• Perform independently
• Assess and manage
• Chair
• Deliver
• Interpret
• Undertake
• Contribute to

For completed projects or previous achievements, use the past tense:

• Designed and implemented
• Introduced
• Developed
• Established
• Improved
• Reduced
• Redesigned
• Evaluated
• Completed
• Led

For example:

Avoid weak expressions such as “involved in,” “exposed to” and “responsible for”, as they often conceal your actual contribution. Replace them with precise descriptions of what you personally do.

Expressions such as “instrumental in”, “played a fundamental role in” and “transformed the service” can sound inflated unless supported by clear evidence. If you contributed to work but did not lead it, say “Contributed to” and explain the nature of your contribution.

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Using numbers to demonstrate scale and impact

Where appropriate, include numbers to demonstrate the scale, breadth or impact of your experience. These might include:

• Number of clinics undertaken
• Approximate annual patient volume
• Frequency of on call commitments
• Number and range of procedures performed
• Waiting time reductions
• Changes in admission rates
• Improvement in compliance with clinical standards

Numbers are particularly useful because they give the panel some context. There is a considerable difference between saying that you “regularly perform colonoscopy” and saying that you have performed more than 250 procedures.

But numbers should clarify your experience rather than replace an explanation of your capability.

For example, stating that you have performed 250 colonoscopies demonstrates volume, but it still leaves several questions unanswered. How many were performed independently? What was your caecal intubation rate? What level of complexity can you manage?

The strongest descriptions combine scale with evidence of capability or impact:

Rather than simply saying...	Consider
Performed over 250 colonoscopies.	Performed over 250 colonoscopies, the majority independently, with a caecal intubation rate of 94%. Independent in diagnostic colonoscopy and routine polypectomy, with experience of more complex procedures under appropriate supervision.
Performed over 80 bronchoscopies.	Performed over 80 flexible bronchoscopies, progressing to independent practice in routine diagnostic procedures, including experience in acutely unwell patients.
Regularly undertake acute medical clinics.	Undertake two acute medical clinics each week, reviewing approximately 20 to 25 new patients and independently managing a broad range of acute medical presentations.
Regularly participate in the consultant on call rota.	Participate in a 1:8 acute medicine on call rota, with responsibility for the assessment and management of approximately 35 acute admissions per shift.
Improved the ambulatory referral pathway.	Redesigned the ambulatory referral pathway, reducing median waiting time from 11 to 6 days and increasing the proportion of patients managed without admission.
Improved compliance with VTE assessment.	Led a quality improvement project that increased documented VTE risk assessment from 71% to 96% over six months.
Developed a regional teaching programme.	Developed and delivered a regional teaching programme for 60 internal medicine trainees, achieving a mean feedback score of 4.8/5.

The number is useful in each case because it tells the reader something. It demonstrates volume, provides scale, shows an outcome or puts an achievement into context.

Be careful, though, not to turn the CV into an annual report. Not every achievement requires a percentage, and numbers are only useful when the reader understands what they mean. “Improved compliance by 17%” tells us very little if you haven't explained what was improved, why it mattered or what you did to achieve it.

Think also about how you want to present your numerical achievements. For example if you have reduced length of stay from 4 days to 3 days, you can either just say that, or you can say that you reduced length of stay by 25%. How you present it depends very much on the impact it is likely to have.

If you are applying for surgical consultant posts, you may consider adding a concise one-page summary of operative logbook data showing the procedures that are the most relevant to the post you are applying for and the level at which they were performed. Showing the procedures under the headings ‘observed’, ‘assisted’, ‘supervised’ and ‘independently performed’ may be just as important as the total number. Further detail can be placed in an appendix if required.

Ultimately, the objective is not simply to demonstrate how much experience you have accumulated.

It is to show what that experience means you can actually do.

The panel needs to be confident that you can undertake the clinical work described in the proposed job plan safely, independently and at the required level of seniority.

What the appointment panel is looking for

Audit and quality improvement provide evidence that you can look beyond the care of an individual patient and take responsibility for the quality, safety and effectiveness of a service.

At consultant level, the panel is not simply interested in the number of audits you have completed. It wants to know whether you can:

• Identify an important clinical or operational problem
• Select an appropriate standard or measure
• Analyse performance accurately
• Engage relevant colleagues and stakeholders
• Design a realistic intervention
• Implement change within a clinical service
• Evaluate whether the intervention worked
• Respond constructively when it did not
• Embed and sustain improvement
• Share learning beyond the immediate team

A project carries more weight when it demonstrates leadership, collaboration and a measurable effect on patient care, safety, efficiency, staff practice or patient experience.

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Selecting which projects to include

Do not include a detailed account of every audit or quality improvement project you have ever undertaken. A very long list can make substantial work difficult to distinguish from small projects completed primarily to meet training requirements.

As a general guide, select four to six important projects for detailed presentation. Prioritise projects that:

• Are recent
• Relate to the advertised post
• Address an important clinical or service problem
• Demonstrate personal leadership
• Produced a measurable improvement
• Completed the audit or improvement cycle
• Led to a sustained change in practice
• Were presented, published or adopted more widely

The objective is to show the quality and significance of your work rather than the size of your audit collection.

If you have completed many projects, add a short section entitled Additional Selected Projects after the detailed examples. Present these in a concise table containing the year, project title, your role and the principal outcome. Include only work that adds something distinct to your application.

Older, minor or repetitive projects can usually be omitted. The CV is not required to function as a complete audit archive.

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How to present a major project

List your selected projects in reverse chronological order. Give each project a clear title and date, followed by a small number of bullet points.

For each project, explain:

• The problem or reason for undertaking the work
• The clinical standard, guideline or target used
• Your personal role and level of responsibility
• The method used to measure current practice
• The colleagues or services you engaged
• The intervention introduced
• The result following implementation
• Whether repeat measurement completed the cycle
• How the improvement was embedded or sustained
• Any presentation, publication or wider adoption

Keep the description focused on your contribution. A project may have involved a large team, but the panel needs to understand what you personally identified, designed, coordinated or delivered.

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Demonstrating leadership and collaboration

Quality improvement is rarely achieved by one person working alone. Strong examples show that you were able to bring together the people required to make change possible.

Relevant stakeholders might include:

• Medical colleagues
• Nursing teams
• Pharmacy
• Therapists
• Laboratory or radiology services
• Information and data teams
• Operational managers
• Primary care colleagues
• Patients and carers

Do not simply state that a project was multidisciplinary. Explain how you worked with others and what your contribution was.

For example:

This is more informative than:

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Showing results and impact

Use numbers where they help establish the scale or effect of the project. Suitable measures might include:

• Compliance with a clinical standard
• Waiting times
• Admission or readmission rates
• Prescribing errors
• Completion of safety checks
• Length of stay
• Patient experience measures
• Staff confidence or knowledge
• Financial or resource savings

Present the baseline and repeat measurement together wherever possible.

For example:

Not every important result can be expressed as a percentage. Other evidence of impact may include adoption of a guideline, introduction of a new pathway, incorporation into induction, approval through a governance committee or spread to another department.

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Demonstrating a completed cycle

A completed cycle is stronger than a project that stopped after collecting baseline data. The panel should be able to see the progression from identifying a problem to implementing change and evaluating the result.

A strong sequence is:

• Problem identified
• Baseline measured
• Change introduced
• Outcome evaluated
• Improvement sustained

Do not describe a project as a completed audit cycle unless repeat measurement actually took place. If the project remains in progress, state its current position accurately.

Sustainability might be demonstrated by:

• Incorporating the change into a clinical guideline
• Assigning responsibility for ongoing monitoring
• Adding prompts to an electronic record
• Including the topic in staff induction
• Establishing regular reporting through governance meetings
• Repeating measurement at an agreed interval
• Securing support from service or divisional leadership

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If the project did not produce the expected result

Not every intervention succeeds, and the CV should not suggest otherwise. A project that produced a disappointing result can still provide strong evidence of judgement and perseverance if you explain what you learned and what happened next.

You might describe:

• Why the original intervention was insufficient
• What feedback you obtained from staff or patients
• Which barriers to change were identified
• How the intervention was modified
• Whether a further measurement cycle was planned or completed
• What you would do differently in future

For example:

• Initial teaching produced no sustained improvement in documentation. Staff feedback identified that the existing electronic form was difficult to locate. Worked with the digital team to introduce a mandatory prompt, after which compliance increased from 54% to 86%.

This is more credible and informative than omitting the unsuccessful first intervention.

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Example of a detailed entry

This is considerably stronger than: “Completed an audit on antibiotic prescribing.”

The detailed version demonstrates the problem, standard, personal contribution, collaboration, intervention, measurable result and plan for sustainability.

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Example of an Additional Projects table

Year	Project	Role and outcome
2023	Timeliness of discharge summaries	Coordinated repeat measurement following a revised workflow; completion within 24 hours increased from 71% to 91%
2022	Documentation of treatment escalation plans	Designed a teaching intervention and electronic prompt; compliance increased from 48% to 79%
2021	Follow up of abnormal imaging results	Contributed to pathway redesign and implementation of a tracking system adopted across the medical division
2020	Appropriate use of urinary cultures	Collected and analysed baseline data and presented recommendations to the antimicrobial stewardship group

This format acknowledges the breadth of your experience without allowing a long project list to overwhelm the more important examples.

What the appointment panel is looking for

Consultants are expected to contribute to the leadership and effective management of their department, not simply deliver clinical care. The panel will want evidence that you can work with colleagues, influence decisions, manage competing priorities and improve the way a service operates.

Relevant experience may include:

• Leading a clinical or multidisciplinary team
• Developing or redesigning a service
• Managing operational pressures
• Planning rotas or workforce arrangements
• Writing and implementing guidelines
• Managing people, resources or budgets
• Resolving disagreement or conflict
• Representing colleagues on committees
• Developing a business case
• Supporting recruitment or induction
• Leading teaching, audit or research programmes
• Responding to patient safety or governance concerns
• Contributing to departmental or organisational strategy

The strongest examples demonstrate not only that you held responsibility, but that you used it to produce a meaningful result.

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Understanding the difference between leadership and management

Leadership and management overlap, but they are not identical.

Leadership involves establishing direction, influencing others, creating engagement and helping a team navigate change. Management involves organising people, time, resources and processes so that work is delivered safely and effectively.

A project may demonstrate both. For example, redesigning an outpatient pathway may require leadership to build agreement around the need for change and management to coordinate staffing, capacity, data and implementation.

There is no need to force every example into one category. Concentrate on explaining what you did and what changed as a result.

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Selecting your strongest examples

Choose four to six examples that collectively demonstrate the breadth of your leadership and management experience.

Give priority to examples that are:

• Recent
• Relevant to the advertised post
• Undertaken at an appropriate level of seniority
• Connected to a significant clinical or operational need
• Multidisciplinary or organisational in scope
• Supported by a clear outcome
• Evidence of your readiness for consultant responsibility

Review the job description and person specification when selecting examples. If the department wants the successful candidate to develop a new service, manage a clinical team or contribute to a particular programme, make the most relevant evidence easy to find.

If you have held many roles, list less significant positions briefly under a separate subheading called Additional Leadership and Management Experience. Do not give every committee or representative role the same amount of space.

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Focus on contribution, not position

Holding a leadership title does not, by itself, demonstrate effective leadership. The panel needs to understand what you contributed through the role.

For example:

This states a position but provides no evidence of activity or impact.

A stronger version would be:

Similarly, attendance at meetings should not be presented as an achievement. Explain the decisions you influenced, problems you helped resolve or changes you implemented.

Simply sitting on an interview panel is not usually strong management evidence. Designing a recruitment process, developing selection criteria, coordinating appointments or improving induction would demonstrate a more substantial contribution.

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How to present each example

Use a clear title followed by two to four concise bullet points. Each example should explain:

• The problem, responsibility or service need
• Your role and level of authority
• The people or teams involved
• The action you took
• The result or impact
• How the change was sustained, where relevant

A useful structure is:

• Situation
• Responsibility
• Action
• Impact

The final CV does not need to label each component, but the reader should be able to identify them easily.

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Example of a detailed entry

This example demonstrates recognition of a service problem, multidisciplinary leadership, practical implementation and measurable impact.

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Demonstrating people management

Consultant leadership frequently involves supporting people as well as managing services. Relevant evidence may include:

• Supervising a clinical team
• Allocating work during periods of pressure
• Supporting a colleague experiencing difficulty
• Addressing concerns about conduct or performance
• Managing disagreement within a team
• Promoting staff wellbeing
• Developing induction or mentoring arrangements
• Supporting professional development
• Creating a more inclusive working environment

Maintain confidentiality when describing sensitive situations. Focus on the approach you took and the outcome rather than including identifiable details.

For example:

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Demonstrating operational management

Operational management examples show that you understand how clinical services function in practice.

These might include:

• Managing patient flow
• Responding to capacity pressures
• Coordinating a rota
• Improving clinic utilisation
• Reducing cancellations
• Managing competing demands for limited resources
• Improving referral or discharge processes
• Contributing to business planning

For example:

A quantified example is even stronger:

The second example allows the panel to understand the scale of the responsibility, the action taken and the measurable operational benefit. Use figures selectively and ensure that you can explain how they were obtained if asked at interview.

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Presenting service development

Service development should receive particular attention because consultant posts are usually created to meet a defined organisational need.

Examples may include:

• Establishing a new clinic or pathway
• Introducing a new procedure
• Expanding an existing service
• Redesigning referral arrangements
• Improving access for underserved groups
• Developing virtual or remote care
• Improving links with primary care
• Reducing unnecessary admissions or follow up appointments
• Developing patient information or support
• Securing resources for a new service

Explain why the development was needed, how you built support, what practical barriers you addressed and what changed following implementation.

A service idea that was proposed but never implemented is weaker than one that progressed into practice. If implementation remains ongoing, state the current position accurately.

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Presenting committee and representative roles

Committee work is relevant when it demonstrates influence, responsibility or contribution to organisational decision making.

For each important role, explain:

• The purpose and level of the committee
• Whom you represented
• Your particular responsibilities
• The contribution you made
• Any decision or change resulting from your involvement

Avoid producing a long list of committees attended. Membership without evidence of contribution adds little value.

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Management courses and qualifications

Relevant management courses or qualifications may be included, but they should support rather than replace practical evidence.

Examples include:

• NHS leadership programmes
• Formal management qualifications
• Quality improvement training
• Human factors training
• Conflict resolution training
• Courses in finance, workforce planning or service design

Place substantial qualifications in the qualifications section. Shorter courses can appear under continuing professional development or at the end of this section. The panel will place greater weight on how you applied the learning than on attendance alone.

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Additional leadership and management experience

If you have a substantial portfolio, present additional roles in a short table.

Year	Role or project	Contribution
2023	Medical rota review group	Analysed gaps in senior cover and contributed to a revised weekend staffing model
2022	Resident doctor representative	Introduced a structured process for escalating training and safety concerns
2021	Departmental induction programme	Coordinated speakers and redesigned content using feedback from new starters
2020	Clinical guideline group	Contributed to the revision and implementation of the deteriorating patient guideline

This demonstrates breadth without allowing a long list of roles to overwhelm the stronger examples.

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Common mistakes

Avoid:

• Listing job titles without explaining your contribution
• Treating attendance at meetings as leadership
• Describing routine administrative tasks as major management achievements
• Claiming to have led work that was led by someone else
• Using vague phrases such as “involved in service development”
• Describing an intervention without stating the result
• Including every committee, rota or representative role
• Listing management courses without showing how the learning was applied

A strong section should leave the panel with a clear understanding of how you lead people, manage services, influence colleagues and translate ideas into practical improvement.

What the appointment panel is looking for

Consultants are responsible not only for the safety of their own clinical decisions, but also for the reliability of the wider service in which care is delivered.

The panel will want evidence that you can:

• Recognise hazards and emerging risks
• Respond appropriately to clinical incidents
• Escalate concerns through the correct governance structures
• Contribute to proportionate and fair investigations
• Identify patterns rather than viewing incidents in isolation
• Translate learning into practical action
• Communicate openly with patients, relatives and colleagues
• Balance individual accountability with a constructive learning culture
• Monitor whether agreed actions have been completed
• Reduce the likelihood of recurrence

The strongest examples demonstrate that you understand governance as practical responsibility for improving systems, rather than simply attending meetings or completing paperwork.

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Selecting your evidence

Choose three to five substantial examples that demonstrate different aspects of clinical governance and patient safety.

Relevant evidence might include:

• Investigation of a clinical incident
• Mortality or morbidity review
• Management of a complaint
• Duty of candour
• Identification and escalation of a recurring risk
• Contribution to a risk register
• Safeguarding work
• Medicines safety
• Infection prevention
• Development or implementation of a clinical guideline
• Human factors analysis
• Introduction of a safety process
• Learning from excellence
• Implementation of national safety guidance

Prioritise examples that are recent, relevant to the advertised role and supported by a clear action or outcome.

Routine attendance at governance meetings does not need detailed description. If you have held a formal governance role, explain the responsibility involved and what you achieved through it.

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Presenting a governance example

For each major example, explain:

• The safety concern or incident
• How the issue was identified
• Your specific role
• The immediate action taken
• How the concern was escalated
• The investigation or review process
• The underlying contributory factors
• The action introduced
• How implementation was monitored
• The resulting improvement or learning

Keep the description concise and maintain patient, staff and organisational confidentiality. The panel needs to understand your judgement and contribution, not the identities of those involved.

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Demonstrating incident investigation and learning

Strong incident examples show that you can examine why an event occurred without reducing the explanation to individual error.

Relevant contributory factors may include:

• Staffing and workload
• Communication
• Clinical supervision
• Equipment or technology
• Environment
• Policies and procedures
• Training
• Handover arrangements
• Access to senior advice
• Team culture

Explain how the investigation moved from understanding the event to reducing the risk of recurrence.

For example:

This demonstrates investigation, pattern recognition, multidisciplinary working, implementation and measurable improvement.

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Identifying and escalating risk

Consultant readiness includes recognising when a problem cannot be resolved through individual effort alone.

A strong example may show that you:

• Identified a recurring or serious risk
• Gathered evidence to establish its scale
• Took immediate action where necessary
• Escalated the concern to the appropriate clinical or managerial level
• Proposed practical mitigation
• Ensured that responsibility for further action was agreed
• Monitored progress until the risk was reduced or formally accepted

If a significant risk could not be eliminated immediately, explain how it was recorded, controlled and reviewed. Contribution to a risk register can demonstrate that you understand how formal escalation can secure organisational attention, resources and accountability.

For example:

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Complaints and duty of candour

Complaints can provide valuable evidence of communication, reflection and service improvement.

Where relevant, explain how you:

• Reviewed the clinical care and relevant records
• Communicated with the patient or family
• Responded openly and respectfully
• Identified whether the concern reflected an individual event or wider problem
• Agreed remedial action
• Shared learning with the team
• Monitored whether the action was completed

Do not include confidential details or write defensively. The aim is to demonstrate openness, fairness and an ability to learn from difficult situations.

For example:

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Mortality and morbidity review

Mortality and morbidity work is strongest when it shows more than attendance at review meetings.

Relevant contributions might include:

• Presenting cases
• Chairing or coordinating reviews
• Identifying themes across several cases
• Improving the consistency of case selection
• Developing an action tracking process
• Connecting learning to audit, education or service change
• Sharing learning across departments

For example:

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Guideline and policy development

Writing or revising a guideline can demonstrate governance experience when you explain the full contribution.

Include:

• The clinical need
• The evidence or national guidance reviewed
• The stakeholders consulted
• Your role in drafting or reaching agreement
• The approval process
• How the guideline was communicated
• How implementation or compliance was assessed

Simply stating “Wrote clinical guidelines” provides little evidence of scale, rigour or impact.

A stronger example would be:

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Demonstrating that the loop was closed

Governance work is incomplete if recommendations are agreed but never implemented.

Show how actions were:

• Assigned to a named person or team
• Given a realistic completion date
• Reviewed through an appropriate meeting
• Supported with training or resources
• Incorporated into policy or routine practice
• Measured after implementation
• Escalated when progress was delayed

At consultant level, the ability to follow action through to completion is particularly important. It demonstrates that you understand the difference between identifying a problem and taking responsibility for resolving it.

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Presenting a large governance portfolio

If you have extensive governance experience, describe three to five of the strongest examples in detail and summarise additional work in a short table.

Year	Governance activity	Contribution and outcome
2024	Review of delayed escalation incidents	Identified recurring communication failures and contributed to a revised escalation process
2023	Medicines safety group	Led implementation of a monitoring process for omitted critical medicines
2022	Mortality review programme	Introduced an action tracker to improve completion and reporting of agreed recommendations
2021	Safeguarding guideline review	Coordinated multidisciplinary revision and implementation of the local referral pathway

This demonstrates breadth without overwhelming the reader with a long catalogue of meetings and incidents.

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Common mistakes

Avoid:

• Listing governance meetings without explaining your contribution
• Describing incident reporting as an achievement in itself
• Focusing only on individual error
• Including confidential or identifiable information
• Stating that recommendations were made without explaining what happened next
• Claiming that risk was eliminated when it was only reduced
• Presenting every complaint or incident as a personal success
• Using vague phrases such as “actively involved in clinical governance”
• Confusing routine mandatory training with governance leadership

A strong section should show that you can recognise risk, respond proportionately, support learning and ensure that improvement becomes part of routine practice.

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Deciding how to organise overlapping evidence

This guide presents Audit and Quality Improvement, Leadership and Management, and Clinical Governance as separate sections. This structure works well for candidates who have enough substantial evidence in each area and makes it easy for an appointment panel to compare the CV with the person specification.

However, these areas overlap considerably. A single project may involve measuring performance, leading a multidisciplinary team, managing resources, responding to clinical risk and implementing service change. This reflects the integrated nature of consultant practice and does not mean that every aspect of the project needs to be described repeatedly.

The structure should reflect both the candidate’s experience and the requirements of the advertised post.

Candidates with substantial experience may use three separate sections:

• Audit and Quality Improvement
• Leadership and Management
• Clinical Governance and Patient Safety

Candidates with more limited experience may produce a stronger CV by combining related evidence under one broader heading, such as:

• Leadership, Management and Service Improvement
• Leadership and Service Improvement
• Audit, Quality Improvement and Clinical Governance
• Leadership, Governance and Quality Improvement

It is better to have one coherent section containing several strong examples than three short sections containing weak, repetitive or artificial distinctions. Empty headings and sections supported by only one minor example can draw attention to gaps rather than strengthen the application.

The job description and person specification should guide the decision. If clinical governance is a prominent component of the post, it may deserve its own section even when the candidate has only a small number of carefully selected examples. If the role places greater emphasis on service development, leadership and improvement work may be more effectively combined.

When separate sections are used, place each project according to its primary purpose and strongest evidence:

• Use Audit and Quality Improvement when the main emphasis is measuring practice against a standard, introducing an intervention and evaluating the result.


• Use Leadership and Management when the strongest evidence concerns influencing colleagues, managing people or resources, building agreement or delivering organisational change.


• Use Clinical Governance when the project primarily concerns patient safety, incident investigation, complaints, mortality review, risk escalation or completion of governance actions.

Avoid reproducing the same detailed account in several sections. Present the project fully where its strongest evidence belongs, then refer to it briefly elsewhere if it demonstrates another important capability.

For example:

Limited repetition is acceptable when it helps the panel identify evidence against a separate requirement. Each additional mention should provide a different perspective rather than repeat the same description.

There is no universally correct arrangement. The best structure is the one that presents the candidate’s evidence honestly, gives appropriate prominence to their strongest achievements and allows the panel to recognise their suitability for the particular post quickly.

What the appointment panel is looking for

Teaching is a core responsibility of an NHS consultant. The appointment panel will want evidence that you can support the development of students, doctors and the wider multidisciplinary team while contributing to the educational work of the department.

Strong teaching evidence demonstrates that you can:

• Identify learners’ needs
• Set clear learning objectives
• Select an appropriate teaching method
• Adapt teaching to different levels of experience
• Create a supportive learning environment
• Provide constructive feedback
• Evaluate whether teaching was effective
• Respond to learner feedback
• Develop or improve an educational programme
• Contribute consistently rather than through isolated sessions

The panel is interested not only in how much teaching you have delivered, but also in its quality, regularity and effect.

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Organising the section

Organise the section around your most substantial educational contributions rather than listing every lecture or bedside session separately.

Suitable headings might include:

• Formal Teaching Roles
• Programme and Course Development
• Undergraduate Teaching
• Postgraduate Teaching
• Multidisciplinary Teaching
• Simulation and Practical Skills Teaching
• Patient Education
• Faculty and Examining Experience
• Teaching Qualifications and Development

Choose the headings that best reflect your experience and the advertised role. Candidates with a smaller teaching portfolio may use one section with carefully selected examples rather than creating several short subsections.

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Selecting your strongest evidence

Give greatest prominence to teaching that is:

• Regular or sustained
• Designed or coordinated by you
• Relevant to the proposed consultant post
• Delivered to an appropriate range of learners
• Evaluated through feedback or assessment
• Improved in response to evaluation
• Adopted as part of a formal programme
• Delivered at regional, national or international level

As a general guide, describe three to five substantial teaching contributions in detail.

Summarise additional sessions or roles in a short table if necessary.

An isolated lecture may be worth mentioning, particularly if it was invited or delivered at a national meeting, but it should not receive the same prominence as a programme you designed and delivered over several years.

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Describing a teaching role

For each major teaching contribution, explain:

• Your role
• The intended learners
• The topic or curriculum area
• The frequency and duration
• The teaching methods used
• Whether you designed or coordinated the programme
• How the teaching was evaluated
• What changed following feedback
• Any measurable educational outcome

Naming representative topics adds credibility. “Deliver regular teaching to junior doctors” is less informative than explaining what you teach and how frequently you teach it.

For example:

This is stronger than:

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Demonstrating a range of teaching methods

Show that you can select teaching methods appropriate to the learners and subject.
Relevant methods might include:

• Bedside teaching
• Lectures
• Small group discussion
• Case based teaching
• Simulation
• Practical skills teaching
• Problem based learning
• Reflective discussion
• Digital learning
• Recorded teaching
• Journal clubs
• Workplace supervision
• Individual coaching

Avoid producing a simple list of methods without context. Explain how you used them.
For example:

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Demonstrating educational impact

Teaching feedback is useful, but “received positive feedback” is too vague. Where possible, describe:

• Number of learners
• Frequency of delivery
• Attendance or completion rates
• Evaluation scores
• Improvement in learner confidence or knowledge
• Changes made following feedback
• Incorporation into a formal programme
• Continued or expanded delivery
• Invitations to teach elsewhere

For example:

Feedback should be presented selectively. There is no need to reproduce long quotations from evaluation forms. Summarise the principal findings and retain the original evidence for portfolios and interview preparation.

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Programme and course development

Designing or coordinating a programme demonstrates a higher level of educational responsibility than delivering an individual session.

Explain how you:

• Identified the learning need
• Defined the intended outcomes
• Developed the curriculum
• Recruited and coordinated faculty
• Selected teaching methods
• Organised delivery
• Evaluated the programme
• Improved it following feedback
• Ensured its continuation

For example:

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Undergraduate teaching

Include relevant work with medical students, such as:

• Bedside teaching
• Clinical skills teaching
• Small group facilitation
• Lectures
• Examination preparation
• Student supervision
• Curriculum development
• Assessment or examining

State whether you hold an honorary university appointment or a formal teaching role. Do not rely on the title alone. Explain what you deliver through the role.

For example:

A more substantial example would be:

An even more developed example would be:

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Postgraduate and multidisciplinary teaching

Consultants teach across professional boundaries. Include relevant education delivered to:

• Foundation doctors
• Specialty trainees
• General practitioners
• Nurses
• Pharmacists
• Advanced clinical practitioners
• Physician associates
• Therapists
• Emergency and community teams
• Consultant colleagues

Multidisciplinary teaching is particularly valuable when it improves shared practice or addresses a service need.

For example:

A more developed example would be:

Where an educational intervention was part of a quality improvement project, describe the project fully in its primary section and refer to the teaching contribution briefly here.

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Patient education

Patient education may be relevant where it forms a substantial part of your clinical role.

Examples include:

• Group education programmes
• Written or digital patient information
• Support for shared decision making
• Education for patients starting complex treatment
• Community engagement
• Public health education
• Training for carers

Explain how patient or public input informed the material and how its accessibility or effectiveness was evaluated.

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Teaching qualifications and professional development

Include relevant formal qualifications and educational development, such as:

• Postgraduate certificates or diplomas in medical education
• Training in educational supervision
• Simulation faculty development
• Courses in assessment and feedback
• Examiner training
• Curriculum design
• Digital education training

Place major academic qualifications in the qualifications section and refer to them briefly here if they support your teaching credentials.

Attendance at a teaching course is not equivalent to effective teaching practice. Explain how you applied the learning where possible.

Option 1: Simple Table

This format is suitable when space is limited or where the candidate simply needs to record relevant qualifications and educational development.

Option 2: Table Showing Application to Practice

This format is stronger when the candidate can demonstrate how the qualification or course influenced their educational practice.

The simple format is clear and economical. The expanded format provides stronger evidence because it shows that the candidate translated educational development into practice. A candidate might also use the simple table for most courses and describe the application of one or two particularly important qualifications elsewhere in the teaching section.

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Presenting a large teaching portfolio

If you have extensive teaching experience, describe three to five major contributions in detail and summarise the remainder in a table.

Dates	Teaching role	Audience and contribution
2024 to present	Acute medicine teaching lead	Coordinate monthly teaching programme for foundation and internal medicine trainees
2023 to present	Simulation faculty	Design and facilitate deteriorating patient scenarios for multidisciplinary teams
2022 to 2024	Medical student tutor	Deliver weekly bedside teaching for final year students
2021 to 2023	Regional teaching faculty	Deliver case based respiratory medicine teaching for specialty trainees

Do not list every teaching session or topic. Select representative examples that demonstrate breadth, continuity and educational responsibility.

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Common mistakes

Avoid:

• Listing topics without explaining your role
• Describing occasional sessions as a regular programme
• Stating that feedback was positive without providing any context
• Including every lecture delivered throughout training
• Listing teaching methods without showing how they were used
• Relying on a teaching qualification without evidence of practice
• Reproducing long learner quotations
• Confusing clinical supervision with formal educational supervision
• Repeating the full description of a quality improvement project

A strong teaching section should show that you do more than transmit information. It should demonstrate that you understand learners, design effective educational experiences, evaluate their value and contribute to the development of the clinical workforce.

Deciding whether to use a separate section

Educational supervision and mentoring may be presented as a separate section when the candidate has held formal supervisory roles or has substantial experience supporting the development of trainees and colleagues.

Candidates with more limited experience may include this evidence within the broader Teaching Experience section. It is better to have one strong and coherent education section than several short sections containing only one or two minor examples.

The job description and person specification should guide the decision. A separate section may be particularly valuable where the consultant will be expected to act as an educational supervisor, college tutor, training programme lead or mentor.

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Understanding the different roles

Clinical supervision, educational supervision and mentoring are related but distinct.

Clinical supervision concerns the safe delivery of clinical work and the development of competence within a particular placement or clinical environment.

Educational supervision involves responsibility for a trainee’s overall educational progress over an agreed period. This may include setting learning objectives, reviewing portfolio evidence, discussing assessments, monitoring progress and addressing concerns.

Mentoring is usually a broader and less formal developmental relationship. It may focus on career decisions, professional confidence, leadership development, research, work life balance or progression through a challenging stage of training.

Describe your role accurately. Do not claim to have acted as a formal educational supervisor if your responsibility was limited to day to day clinical supervision.

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What the appointment panel is looking for

Strong evidence may demonstrate that you can:

• Agree realistic learning objectives
• Review progress regularly
• Provide constructive and honest feedback
• Support reflective practice
• Undertake workplace assessments
• Recognise when a learner is experiencing difficulty
• Develop an appropriate support plan
• Escalate concerns when necessary
• Work with educational and training programme teams
• Support career development
• Maintain appropriate boundaries and confidentiality
• Create a safe environment in which learners can discuss concerns

The panel will be interested in the quality and responsibility of your supervision, not simply the number of assessment forms you have completed.

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Describing formal educational supervision

For each substantial supervisory role, include:

• The role and dates
• The grade and number of trainees supervised
• The duration of supervision
• Your principal responsibilities
• Any formal training or accreditation
• How you reviewed progress
• How you supported trainees experiencing difficulty
• Any wider educational contribution arising from the role

For example:

This demonstrates considerably more than:

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Supporting a trainee experiencing difficulty

Experience of supporting a trainee through difficulty can provide strong evidence of educational judgement, communication and professionalism. Maintain confidentiality and avoid including details that could identify the individual.

Explain:

• How the concern was recognised
• How you explored the trainee’s perspective
• What support was agreed
• Who else needed to be involved
• How progress was reviewed
• What you learned from the experience

For example:

The wording should demonstrate support and appropriate accountability. Avoid presenting a sensitive educational situation as a personal triumph.

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Clinical supervision and workplace assessment

Relevant clinical supervision may include:

• Supervising ward rounds, clinics or procedures
• Observing clinical performance
• Providing immediate feedback
• Supporting graded independence
• Completing workplace assessments
• Reviewing clinical reasoning and decision making
• Supervising quality improvement or research projects
• Supporting preparation for examinations or transition to a more senior role

Avoid presenting the completion of assessment forms as the main achievement. Explain how your supervision helped the learner develop.

For example:

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Mentoring experience

Mentoring may involve formal schemes or sustained informal support.

Relevant examples include:

• Career mentoring
• Support for fellowship or consultant applications
• Leadership mentoring
• Research or academic mentoring
• Mentoring doctors returning to clinical practice
• Support for internationally trained doctors
• Mentoring colleagues from underrepresented groups
• Peer mentoring
• Support during professional transition

Describe the scope and duration without disclosing private information.

For example:

A more developed example would be:

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Supervising projects and scholarly work

Supervision of audit, quality improvement, research or educational projects may be included where you provided meaningful developmental support.

Explain how you helped the learner:

• Refine the project question
• Select an appropriate method
• Navigate governance requirements
• Analyse findings
• Implement change
• Prepare a presentation or publication
• Reflect on the outcome

If the project is described elsewhere in the CV, focus here on your supervisory contribution rather than repeating the full project.

For example:

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Demonstrating impact

Evidence of effective supervision may include:

• Successful progression through a placement or programme
• Achievement of defined competencies
• Improved quality of portfolio evidence
• Completion of a supervised project
• Presentation or publication by a supervisee
• Positive structured feedback
• Appointment to a fellowship or training role
• Continued use or expansion of a mentoring programme

Use outcomes sensitively. A learner’s success is not solely attributable to the supervisor. The wording should demonstrate your contribution without claiming ownership of another person’s achievement.

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Presenting a substantial portfolio

If you have held several supervisory and mentoring roles, describe the most significant one or two in detail and summarise the remainder in a concise table.

Dates	Role	Scope and contribution
2022 to present	Educational supervisor	Supervise four internal medicine trainees annually through structured progress reviews and portfolio oversight
2023 to present	Career mentor	Provide quarterly mentoring for specialty trainees preparing for fellowship and consultant applications
2021 to present	Clinical supervisor	Support graded independence in acute clinical assessment and procedural practice
2022 to 2024	Quality improvement project supervisor	Supervised six foundation doctors through project design, implementation and presentation

This shows breadth without repeating similar responsibilities beneath every role.

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Training and accreditation

Include relevant training such as:

• Educational supervisor accreditation
• Clinical supervisor training
• Coaching or mentoring development
• Training in assessment and feedback
• Supporting trainees experiencing difficulty
• Equality and inclusion in education
• Faculty development

Major qualifications should appear in the Qualifications section. Shorter courses may be listed under Teaching Qualifications and Professional Development.

Training supports your credibility, but practical examples remain more persuasive than attendance alone.

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Common mistakes

Avoid:

• Confusing clinical and educational supervision
• Listing assessment forms without explaining the developmental work
• Claiming formal roles you have not held
• Including identifiable details about a trainee experiencing difficulty
• Describing mentoring as occasional informal advice
• Claiming personal credit for a learner’s achievement
• Listing every trainee supervised
• Repeating teaching activities that add no evidence of supervision
• Giving course attendance greater prominence than practical experience

A strong section should show that you can support development, provide honest feedback, recognise difficulty and balance encouragement with appropriate professional accountability.

Deciding how much prominence to give research

The position of the research section should reflect both the candidate’s experience and the requirements of the advertised post.

For an academic consultant appointment or a post with a substantial research component, move this section towards the beginning of the CV and provide enough detail to demonstrate research independence, methodological expertise, funding, collaboration and future potential.

For a primarily clinical appointment, the section can appear later. The panel will still value evidence that you can interpret research, practise evidence based medicine, support recruitment to studies and contribute to the development of clinical knowledge.

Candidates with limited research experience may combine related material under a broader heading such as:

• Research, Publications and Presentations
• Research and Academic Experience
• Research and Scholarly Activity

It is better to present one or two projects clearly than to create several short sections containing little evidence.

What the appointment panel is looking for

The panel may be looking for evidence that you can:

• Formulate a relevant research question
• Select an appropriate research method
• Understand research governance and ethics
• Collect and manage data accurately
• Analyse and interpret findings
• Work effectively within a research team
• Recruit and support study participants
• Communicate findings through publication or presentation
• Translate evidence into clinical practice
• Supervise or support the research of others
• Develop future research relevant to the department

For academic posts, it may also look for evidence of research leadership, grant income, methodological independence, collaboration and a coherent future research programme.

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Distinguishing research from other improvement activity

Research, audit, quality improvement and service evaluation can overlap, but they are not interchangeable.

Research is generally designed to generate new and transferable knowledge. Audit measures practice against an established standard. Quality improvement tests changes within a service, while service evaluation examines how an existing service is working.

Describe each project accurately. Do not label a local audit or service evaluation as research simply because the results were presented at a meeting.

If a project required formal ethics or governance approval, state this briefly where relevant.

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Selecting which projects to include

Describe three to five of your most important projects in detail. Prioritise work that is:

• Recent
• Relevant to the advertised post
• Methodologically substantial
• Evidence of a meaningful personal contribution
• Associated with funding
• Published or presented
• Connected to clinical practice
• Part of a coherent research interest

If you have an extensive portfolio, summarise additional projects in a concise table. If you have limited experience, give a clear and honest account of the work you have undertaken rather than trying to make the section appear larger.

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Explaining your personal contribution

Research is often collaborative. The panel needs to understand exactly what you contributed.

For each important project, explain:

• The research question
• The study design
• Your role
• The population or data studied
• Your contribution to approvals and governance
• Your role in recruitment or data collection
• The analysis you undertook
• The principal findings
• The resulting publication or presentation
• The relevance to clinical practice

Use precise verbs such as:

• Designed
• Developed
• Recruited
• Collected
• Analysed
• Coordinated
• Supervised
• Drafted
• Presented
• Secured funding for
• Contributed to

Avoid vague expressions such as “involved in research” or “assisted with a study.” If you contributed to recruitment, data collection or analysis, say so directly.

Do not claim to have led a project if another researcher held overall responsibility. An accurate account of a substantial collaborative contribution is more credible than an exaggerated claim of leadership.

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Example of a detailed research entry

This demonstrates the research question, design, scale, personal contribution, analysis, output and clinical relevance.

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Research governance and good practice

Relevant governance experience may include:

• Preparing ethics or regulatory submissions
• Obtaining local research approval
• Completing consent procedures
• Maintaining study documentation
• Protecting confidentiality
• Managing research data
• Reporting adverse events
• Following an approved protocol
• Completing research practice training

Do not list routine research training without showing how it supported your work. Where appropriate, explain your responsibility within the study.

For example:

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Recruitment to clinical studies

Recruitment experience can be valuable for clinical consultant posts, particularly where the department participates in national or commercial studies.

Explain:

• The type of study
• Your role in identifying eligible patients
• Consent responsibilities
• Recruitment numbers, where relevant
• Collaboration with the research team
• Any contribution to improving recruitment

For example:

Recruitment numbers should be placed in context. A total of 10 participants may represent excellent performance in a rare disease study but limited activity in a large observational project.

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Grants, fellowships and funding

Include competitive research grants, fellowships and bursaries.

For each award, state:

• Funding organisation
• Year
• Amount, where appropriate
• Purpose of the award
• Your role in the application
• Whether you were the principal applicant or collaborator

For example:

Do not imply personal ownership of the full grant value where you were one member of a larger funded programme. State your role accurately.

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Research outputs and clinical impact

Research outputs may include:

• Peer reviewed publications
• Conference presentations
• Published abstracts
• Book chapters
• Guidelines
• Changes in clinical pathways
• Further grant applications
• Data contributing to a larger study
• Development of a new research collaboration

Cross reference the relevant publication or presentation without repeating the full citation.

For example:

Research does not need to produce a positive result to be valuable. Negative or inconclusive findings should be presented honestly, together with their implications.

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Research leadership and collaboration

For more senior or academic candidates, include evidence of:

• Leading a research group
• Coordinating a multicentre study
• Acting as a local principal investigator
• Developing research strategy
• Building collaborations
• Supervising junior researchers
• Supporting recruitment across a department
• Establishing links with universities or research networks
• Reviewing grant applications or manuscripts

Explain the scale and outcome of the responsibility.

For example:

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Presenting an extensive research portfolio

Describe the most important three to five projects in detail and summarise additional work in a table.

Dates	Project	Role and output
2023 to present	Multicentre study of acute respiratory outcomes	Local investigator; recruited 34 participants and contributed to national data review
2022 to 2024	Predictors of unplanned medical readmission	Designed study, analysed data and drafted first publication
2021 to 2022	Patient experience following virtual follow up	Coordinated recruitment and presented findings at a national meeting
2020 to 2021	Evaluation of frailty screening tools	Collected and analysed data for a published collaborative study

This demonstrates breadth without reproducing a full research portfolio inside the main CV.

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Presenting limited research experience

A limited portfolio should still be presented positively and accurately.

Focus on:

• Understanding of research methods
• Your specific contribution
• Skills developed
• Outputs achieved
• Relevance to clinical practice
• Interest in supporting future departmental research

For example:

Avoid apologetic statements such as “I have limited research experience.” Present the evidence you have and, where relevant, explain how you hope to contribute to research within the advertised department.

Future research plans

A future research statement is mainly relevant to academic posts or roles with a defined research component. Keep it concise and connect it to:

• Your previous work
• The clinical priorities of the department
• Available local expertise
• Potential collaborators
• Realistic funding opportunities
• Benefit to patients or services

Avoid presenting an ambitious programme without explaining how it could be delivered.

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Common mistakes

Avoid:

• Describing audit or service evaluation as research
• Failing to explain your personal contribution
• Claiming leadership of collaborative work inaccurately
• Listing projects without methods, findings or outputs
• Exaggerating authorship or grant responsibility
• Describing work as published when it has only been submitted
• Including numerous abandoned projects labelled “in preparation”
• Giving excessive methodological detail with no clinical relevance
• Repeating full publication citations in the research section
• Hiding a small but worthwhile contribution behind vague wording

A strong research section should show that you understand how knowledge is generated, can contribute responsibly to research and can connect findings with meaningful clinical questions.

What the appointment panel is looking for

Publications provide evidence of academic engagement, critical thinking, written communication and the ability to bring a project to completion.

For primarily clinical consultant posts, the panel may want reassurance that you can interpret research, practise evidence based medicine and contribute to the academic work of the department. For academic appointments, it will examine the quality, relevance, consistency and independence of your publication record in much greater detail.

The panel may consider:

• Relevance to your specialty and the advertised post
• Quality and type of publication
• Your position in the author list
• Evidence of first or senior authorship
• Consistency of academic output
• Connection with your wider research interests
• Contribution to collaborative studies
• Evidence that your work has influenced clinical practice

A short list of substantial and relevant publications may be more persuasive than a long list of minor or unrelated items.

Deciding how to organise the section

Divide publications into clear categories where this improves readability.

Suitable headings include:

• Original Peer Reviewed Research
• Systematic Reviews and Meta Analyses
• Review Articles
• Guidelines and Consensus Statements
• Book Chapters
• Editorials and Commentaries
• Case Reports
• Letters and Correspondence
• Published Abstracts

Only create a category when there is enough material to justify it. A candidate with three publications does not need three separate headings containing one entry each. Candidates with a limited publication record may combine related material under a broader heading such as:

• Research and Publications
• Research and Academic Experience
• Publications and Presentations
• Selected Academic Outputs

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Ordering publications

List publications in reverse chronological order, with the most recent first. This ensures that the panel sees your current and usually most relevant work before older material. If several publications appeared in the same year, order them consistently, either by publication date or relevance to the advertised post.

For academic appointments, publications may also be grouped by research theme. This can help the panel recognise a coherent programme of work rather than viewing the publications as unrelated outputs.

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Using the Vancouver convention

The Vancouver convention is widely used in medicine and is a familiar, professional format for presenting publications.

A Vancouver reference normally includes:

• Authors, using surname followed by initials
• Article title
• Abbreviated journal title
• Year of publication
• Volume and issue
• Page numbers or article number

For example:

A numbered list is often associated with the Vancouver convention, although numbering is optional when presenting publications in a CV. It can help the reader navigate an extensive publication record but is unnecessary where there are only a few entries.

For example:

Use the official abbreviated journal title where possible. Apply the same citation format consistently throughout.

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Considering a title first format

The Vancouver convention places the authors before the article title. Although this is academically conventional, it is not always the easiest format to scan within a CV, particularly when publications have long author lists.

An alternative is to present each publication as a consistent three line entry:

This format gives each line a distinct purpose:

• The first line shows what the publication is about. Placing the title first and in bold allows the panel to scan down the page and identify the candidate’s principal subjects and research interests quickly.


• The second line shows who contributed. Placing the authors on a separate line prevents a long author list from obscuring the title. Highlighting the candidate’s own name in bold makes their position in the author list immediately visible.


• The third line shows where and when the work was published. Separating the journal and publication details creates a quieter line of supporting information that does not compete with the title.

The repeated three line structure also creates a clear visual rhythm. When every entry follows the same pattern, the reader can move quickly between titles, compare authorship positions and identify journals without having to decode a dense block of text.

This approach is particularly useful when:

• The candidate has several publications
• Author lists are long
• Publication titles demonstrate a coherent research interest
• The panel is likely to review the CV quickly
• The candidate wants their authorship position to be immediately visible
• Different categories of publication are presented on the same page

The format also provides useful white space between entries, reducing the risk that several citations merge into one dense paragraph.

It is not a strict Vancouver citation because the order of the elements has been changed. However, it retains the important bibliographic information and may be better suited to the practical purpose of a CV.

Either format is acceptable. The choice should be applied consistently throughout the section. The priority is to help the panel identify three things without unnecessary effort: what you published, what your contribution was and where the work appeared.

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Making your authorship position clear

List authors in the published order. Never change the order to place your own name first.

You may use bold type to make your name easier to identify:

Where joint first authorship or another formal contribution statement exists, it may be noted accurately: Joint first author.

Do not claim joint authorship status unless it is formally stated in the publication.

For collaborative group authorship, reproduce the citation accurately. If your name does not appear in the main citation, explain your personal contribution in the Research Experience section.

Interviewers may ask what you contributed to a particular publication. Be prepared to explain your role in study design, recruitment, data collection, analysis, interpretation and manuscript preparation.

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Describing publication status accurately

Use publication status precisely:

• Published: The final article has been published.
• In press: The article has been accepted and is awaiting publication.
• Accepted for publication: Formal acceptance has been received.
• Submitted: The manuscript has been sent to a journal but has not been accepted.
• In preparation: The manuscript has not yet been submitted.

Do not describe submitted work as accepted or published.

Published, accepted and in press articles can appear within the main publication list. Submitted manuscripts should be placed under a separate heading and included selectively.

Work in preparation is usually better omitted unless it is highly relevant and genuinely close to submission. A long list of manuscripts “in preparation” can make the section appear inflated and may invite questions about why the work has not progressed.

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Example of a categorised publications section

Presenting publications in a table

A table can work well when the publication list is short and the entries are concise.

Year	Publication
2024	Predictors of unplanned readmission following acute medical admission. Rahman S, Khan R, Morgan T. Journal of Acute Medicine. 18(3):145 to 152.
2023	Patient experience following virtual respiratory follow up. Ahmed L, Rahman S, Lewis J. Clinical Medicine. 23(5):412 to 418.
2022	Ambulatory management of acute pulmonary embolism. Rahman S, Green A. British Journal of Hospital Medicine. 83(7):1 to 8.

Tables can become difficult to read when citations or author lists are long. In those circumstances, a conventional list or title first format is usually clearer.

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Candidates with a limited publication record

Do not apologise for having only a small number of publications. Present the work accurately and give appropriate context in the Research Experience section.

A combined section might look like this:

A case report, published abstract or collaborative paper is legitimate evidence. It should simply be presented in proportion to its academic significance.

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Candidates with an extensive publication record

Candidates with a substantial portfolio should prioritise readability.
Possible approaches include:

• Categorising publications by type
• Grouping publications by research theme
• Presenting selected publications in the main CV
• Including the complete publication list as an appendix
• Providing a separate bibliography where permitted
• Highlighting publications most relevant to the post

For a primarily clinical post, five to ten selected publications may be sufficient in the main CV, with the complete list available in an appendix.

For an academic appointment, the full publication record may be expected. Even then, clear categorisation is essential.

If selected publications are presented, label the section honestly as Selected Publications rather than implying that it is complete.

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Published abstracts

Published conference abstracts should normally appear in a separate category. Do not mix them with full peer reviewed articles, as this may overstate their significance.

Use a full citation where available:

If the work was also delivered as a presentation, it may be referenced in the Presentations section. Limited repetition is acceptable because the two sections demonstrate different outputs.

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Book chapters

For a book chapter, include:

• Chapter authors
• Chapter title
• Book title
• Editors
• Edition
• Publisher
• Year
• Page numbers, where available

For example:

Rahman S, Green A. Assessment of the acutely breathless patient. In: Morgan T, editor. Principles of Acute Medical Care. 3rd edition. London: Medical Press; 2024.

Locally produced teaching handouts or routine departmental documents should not usually be presented as formal publications.

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Guidelines and educational material

National, regional or formally approved guidelines may be included where the candidate made a meaningful contribution.

Explain your role in the Research Experience, Clinical Governance or Leadership and Management section if it is not clear from the citation.

Routine local protocols may be better presented under Clinical Governance or Service Development rather than Publications.

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Verifying accuracy

Check every citation before submitting the CV.

Confirm:

• Spelling of all authors’ names
• Author order
• Article title
• Journal title
• Year and volume
• Page or article number
• Publication status
• Your own authorship position

Interviewers may search for a publication or ask detailed questions about your contribution. Inaccurate citations can undermine confidence in the rest of the CV.

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Common mistakes

Avoid:

• Changing the author order
• Describing submitted work as published
• Mixing abstracts with full articles without distinction
• Listing the same publication several times
• Including incomplete or unverifiable citations
• Presenting local teaching materials as formal publications
• Using inconsistent citation styles
• Including a long list of manuscripts in preparation
• Failing to make your own name easy to find
• Repeating the full research description beside every publication
• Allowing an extensive list to overwhelm the rest of the CV

A strong publications section should be accurate, proportionate and easy to scan. Its purpose is not merely to count outputs, but to help the panel understand the candidate’s academic contribution and its relevance to the advertised post.

What the appointment panel is looking for

Presentations demonstrate the ability to communicate clinical, research, educational or improvement work to a professional audience.

The panel may consider:

• Relevance of the subject to the advertised post
• Level of the meeting
• Whether the presentation was invited or competitively selected
• Whether it was an oral presentation or poster
• Whether you personally delivered the presentation
• Your position within the author list
• Any associated prize or recognition
• Evidence of regional, national or international contribution
• Connection with your wider clinical or academic interests

An invited national lecture and a local departmental poster should not receive equal prominence. The structure should help the reader understand the relative significance of each presentation.

Categorising presentations

Where the portfolio is substantial, divide presentations into clear categories.

Suitable headings include:

• Invited Presentations
• International Presentations
• National Presentations
• Regional Presentations
• Local Presentations
• Oral Presentations
• Poster Presentations

Choose one main method of categorisation. Do not create so many headings that each contains only one entry.

A useful structure for many candidates is:

• Invited Presentations
• International and National Oral Presentations
• Regional Oral Presentations
• Poster Presentations

Candidates with only a few presentations may place them in one reverse chronological list or combine them with publications under Publications and Presentations.

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Deciding the level of a meeting

Describe the level of a presentation accurately.

An international presentation is one delivered at a meeting organised for an international professional audience. It is not automatically international because the conference took place outside the United Kingdom.

Similarly, a national meeting should have a national audience or be organised by a national professional body. A presentation delivered at a hospital attended by speakers from several regions does not necessarily become a national presentation.

Virtual delivery does not alter the level of the meeting. An online presentation to an international conference remains international.

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Distinguishing invited and competitively selected presentations

An invited presentation is one you were specifically asked to deliver because of your role or expertise.

A competitively selected oral presentation usually follows submission and review of an abstract.

Describe these accurately:

• Invited speaker
• Invited lecture
• Keynote presentation
• Competitively selected oral presentation
• Oral presentation following abstract submission
• Poster presentation
• Moderated poster presentation

Do not describe a presentation as invited simply because an organiser accepted your offer to speak.

Information to include

For each presentation, include:

• Month and year
• Presentation title
• Authors
• Meeting name
• Meeting level
• Location or virtual format
• Type of presentation
• Whether you personally presented
• Any prize or distinction

Use a consistent format throughout.

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Recommended presentation format

A title first format is usually easy to scan:

This structure gives each line a clear purpose:

• The first line shows the subject of the presentation.
• The second line shows the authors and makes your position visible.
• The third line shows the presentation type, meeting, location and date.

If the presentation received a prize, add this on a separate line: Awarded First Prize for Oral Presentation.

Example of an invited presentation

Where the presentation was invited, there is usually no need for a full academic author list unless the content arose from collaborative research.

Example of a competitively selected oral presentation

This communicates the subject, authorship, selection process, level of meeting and associated recognition.

Example of a poster presentation

If the poster was selected for a moderated discussion, state this: Moderated poster presentation, British Thoracic Society Winter Meeting, London, November 2023.

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Making it clear who presented the work

Do not imply that you personally delivered a presentation if you were only a coauthor. Where you presented the work, make this clear: Presenting author: Sara Rahman

Alternatively:

Where another author presented:

For a long presentation list, the candidate’s name can be shown in bold throughout, with a short note at the beginning explaining that bold type identifies the presenting author. This avoids repeating “presented by” beneath every entry.

Accuracy matters. Interviewers may ask you to explain your contribution to work that was presented by someone else.

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Presenting prizes and awards

Include presentation prizes beneath the relevant entry.

For example:

The prize may also appear in the Awards and Prizes section. This limited repetition is useful because one entry highlights the recognition while the other places it in context.

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Presenting the section in a table

A table can work well when the entries are short.

Date	Presentation
May 2024	Predictors of unplanned readmission following acute medical admission. Rahman S, Khan R, Morgan T. Competitively selected oral presentation, Society for Acute Medicine Annual Conference, Manchester. First Prize for Oral Presentation.
Nov 2023	Patient experience following virtual respiratory follow up. Ahmed L, Rahman S, Lewis J. Poster presentation, British Thoracic Society Winter Meeting, London.
Jun 2023	Reducing delays in specialist review following emergency referral. Rahman S, Lewis J, Patel N. Oral presentation, Regional Quality Improvement Conference, Birmingham.

Tables become difficult to scan when titles, author lists or meeting details are long. In those circumstances, the three line format is clearer.

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Presentations associated with publications

A study may produce both a presentation and a published abstract or full article. The presentation belongs in this section because it demonstrates dissemination and professional communication. The publication belongs in the Publications section because it is a separate academic output.

Limited repetition is acceptable, but do not reproduce the full research project description in both places.

For example:

or

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Candidates with limited presentation experience

A small number of presentations can be combined with publications or research.

This is stronger than creating a separate presentation section containing only one entry.

Local presentations can still be valuable, particularly when they demonstrate leadership, teaching, quality improvement or dissemination of learning. Present them honestly and in proportion to their significance.

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Candidates with an extensive presentation portfolio

Candidates with many presentations should avoid overwhelming the CV. Possible approaches include:

• Presenting five to ten selected presentations most relevant to the post
• Separating invited lectures from submitted work
• Prioritising international, national and regional presentations
• Summarising local presentations
• Placing a complete list in an appendix
• Combining repeated presentations of the same work

If the same material was delivered at several meetings, avoid listing every occasion as though each were a separate project. A combined entry may be clearer:

Where a complete list is not included, label the section Selected Presentations.

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Common mistakes

Avoid:

• Failing to state whether the presentation was oral or poster
• Implying that you presented work delivered by another author
• Describing a meeting as international solely because it was held abroad
• Mixing invited lectures and local posters without categorisation
• Omitting the name and level of the meeting
• Listing accepted abstracts as presentations when the work was never delivered
• Listing the same presentation repeatedly without explanation
• Giving local and international presentations identical prominence
• Repeating the full research project description
• Using inconsistent formats and incomplete dates

A strong section should allow the panel to identify quickly what you presented, your role, the level of the audience and the significance of the work.

Purpose of the section

Continuing professional development demonstrates that you maintain your clinical knowledge, respond to learning needs and prepare for the responsibilities of consultant practice.

At consultant level, this section should not be an exhaustive record of every course, meeting or mandatory training session attended. The panel is interested in whether your professional development is recent, relevant and purposeful.

Strong evidence shows that you:

• Maintain competence in your specialty
• Develop skills relevant to the advertised post
• Respond to learning identified through appraisal or clinical practice
• Keep up to date with important changes in evidence and guidance
• Develop wider skills in leadership, teaching, research and governance
• Apply learning to patient care, education or service delivery

The aim is to demonstrate a pattern of thoughtful professional development rather than produce a collection of attendance certificates.

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Selecting what to include

Prioritise courses and meetings that are:

• Recent
• Relevant to the advertised role
• Important for maintaining specialist competence
• Connected to a stated subspecialty interest
• Evidence of leadership or educational development
• Required for a specific responsibility
• Associated with a change in your practice

As a general guide, select approximately 10 to 15 of the most relevant activities from the previous three to five years. This is not a rigid limit. Candidates with a highly specialised role may need to include more, while those with only a few substantial activities may include fewer.

Older courses should usually be omitted unless they led to an important qualification, established a continuing area of expertise or remain directly relevant to the proposed post.

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What can usually be omitted

There is generally no need to include:

• Routine mandatory training
• Hospital induction sessions
• Examination preparation courses
• Every departmental teaching session attended
• Repeated annual updates of little relevance to the post
• Expired certificates that no longer demonstrate current competence
• Courses undertaken early in training that have been superseded by later experience
• Meetings attended without a clear professional purpose

Mandatory training is important, but compliance will normally be checked through the employment process. It rarely helps distinguish one consultant candidate from another.

A current advanced resuscitation, procedural or specialist certification may be worth including where it is directly relevant to the clinical role.

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Courses and qualifications

Distinguish between a course and a formal qualification.

Major qualifications, such as a postgraduate certificate in medical education, management degree or specialist diploma, should appear in the Qualifications section. They may be referred to briefly in the relevant teaching, leadership or clinical section.

Shorter development activities belong here. These might include:

• Specialty updates
• Procedural courses
• Leadership programmes
• Educational supervisor training
• Simulation faculty development
• Research methods training
• Human factors training
• Quality improvement courses
• Conflict resolution training
• Digital or information technology development

Do not repeat full details in several sections. A brief cross reference is sufficient where a course supports evidence presented elsewhere.

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Courses versus meetings

Courses usually involve structured learning with defined objectives. Meetings and conferences may provide broader updates, professional discussion and exposure to current research.

Conference attendance can be included when the meeting is important to your specialty or relevant to the post. However, simply attending numerous meetings does not demonstrate expertise.

If you presented work at a meeting, list the presentation in the Presentations and Posters section. The meeting itself may also appear here if attendance made a meaningful contribution to your professional development, but avoid unnecessary repetition.

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Information to include

For each course or meeting, include:

• Month and year
• Title
• Organising institution or professional body
• Location, only where useful
• Relevant qualification or certification obtained
• Application to practice, where particularly important

Name the organiser rather than merely the venue.

For example:

The second version explains who provided the training and gives the panel a better indication of its professional standing.

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Simple table format

A concise table is suitable when the candidate simply needs to record selected development activities.

Date	Course or meeting	Organising institution
Mar 2024	NHS Clinical Leadership Programme	NHS Leadership Academy
Nov 2023	Society for Acute Medicine Annual Conference	Society for Acute Medicine
Sep 2023	Educational Supervisor Training	Royal College of Physicians
Jun 2023	Human Factors in Patient Safety	Regional Patient Safety Collaborative
Feb 2022	Advanced Acute Medicine Update	Royal College of Physicians
Oct 2021	Research Practice Training	National Institute for Health and Care Research

List activities in reverse chronological order.

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Table showing application to practice

Where a course led to a meaningful change, an additional column can strengthen the entry.

Date	Development activity	Organising institution	Application to practice
Mar 2024	NHS Clinical Leadership Programme	NHS Leadership Academy	Applied stakeholder mapping and change management methods when redesigning the ambulatory referral pathway
Sep 2023	Educational Supervisor Training	Royal College of Physicians	Introduced structured learning agreements and scheduled progress reviews for supervised trainees
Jun 2023	Human Factors in Patient Safety	Regional Patient Safety Collaborative	Applied systems analysis during review of delayed escalation incidents
Feb 2022	Advanced Acute Medicine Update	Royal College of Physicians	Revised local practice following updated evidence on ambulatory management of pulmonary embolism

There is no need to explain the application of every course. Use this format selectively where the connection is specific and credible.

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Non-table format

A list format may be clearer when there are only a few important activities.

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Organising a larger portfolio

Candidates with extensive continuing professional development may organise the section into categories:

Clinical and specialty development

• Specialty conferences
• Clinical update courses
• Procedural training
• Subspecialty development

Leadership and management development

• Leadership programmes
• Service design
• Workforce management
• Finance or business planning

Education and supervision development

• Educational supervisor training
• Assessment and feedback
• Simulation faculty development
• Curriculum design

Research and quality improvement development

• Research methods
• Statistics
• Research governance
• Quality improvement methods
• Human factors

Do not create several categories if each contains only one entry. In that situation, one reverse chronological list will be clearer.

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Demonstrating application to practice

Attendance alone is weaker than evidence that learning influenced your work.
Where appropriate, explain how a course or meeting led you to:

• Change a clinical approach
• Revise a guideline
• Develop a service
• Introduce a teaching method
• Improve supervision
• Undertake further audit or quality improvement
• Strengthen a research project
• Share learning with colleagues

For example:

Only claim a change where there is a genuine connection. Avoid adding a generic statement of application beneath every entry.

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Connecting development with the advertised post

Review the job description and person specification before selecting activities.
If the post includes responsibility for:

• A specialist clinic, highlight relevant clinical development
• Educational supervision, include recognised supervisor training
• Service leadership, include leadership and management development
• Research recruitment, include research practice and governance training
• A specific procedure, show current and relevant procedural development
• Clinical governance, include patient safety and human factors training

The section should help the panel see that your development supports the work you are applying to undertake.

Candidates with limited recent development

A short section is not necessarily a weakness if the selected activities are relevant and substantial.

Do not fill space with minor or outdated courses. Instead, include:

• The most recent specialty update
• One or two activities supporting wider consultant responsibilities
• Any current certification directly relevant to the post
• Evidence of applying learning in practice

If there is an unexplained lack of recent development in an important area, consider whether the CV is ready for submission or whether additional preparation is required.

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Common mistakes

Avoid:

• Listing every course attended since medical school
• Giving examination preparation courses undue prominence
• Filling the section with mandatory training
• Naming the venue without naming the organiser
• Including expired or outdated certificates
• Repeating the same course in several sections
• Treating conference attendance as an achievement in itself
• Listing development with no connection to the post
• Giving minor courses more space than substantial clinical or leadership achievements
• Copying the entire appraisal or professional development record into the CV

A strong section should show that your professional development is selective, current and connected to the consultant role you are seeking.

Deciding whether to include this section

A separate digital skills section is useful when the candidate has capabilities that support clinical care, research, education, service management or digital improvement. There is little value in stating that you can use email, the internet or basic office software. These are now expected professional skills and do not normally distinguish a consultant candidate.

Candidates with only routine digital experience may omit the section or include one concise statement. Candidates applying for a post involving digital transformation, clinical informatics, data analysis, virtual care or service redesign should give the section greater prominence.

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What to include

Relevant evidence may include:

• Electronic patient record systems
• Electronic prescribing
• Clinical results and imaging systems
• Remote consultation platforms
• Clinical databases and registries
• Spreadsheet analysis
• Statistical software
• Data visualisation
• Audit and quality improvement tools
• Reference management software
• Literature databases
• Digital teaching platforms
• Website or online resource development
• Clinical system implementation
• Digital pathway design
• Information governance and data security

Select only the skills relevant to your professional work and the advertised post.

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Clinical Systems

Name important clinical systems where this demonstrates useful experience, particularly when the advertised organisation uses the same or a similar platform.

For example:

A more specific entry might read:

Avoid listing every clinical system encountered during training. Focus on systems you use confidently and functions relevant to the role.

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Data analysis and service improvement

Digital skills can strengthen evidence in audit, quality improvement and operational management.

Relevant capabilities include:

• Designing spreadsheets for data collection
• Using formulas, filters and pivot tables
• Cleaning and validating data
• Producing charts and dashboards
• Monitoring service activity
• Analysing waiting times or patient flow
• Presenting data to clinical and managerial teams

For example:

A more developed example would be:

Do not describe basic data entry as advanced analysis.

Research Skills

Relevant digital research skills may include:

• Statistical packages
• Qualitative analysis software
• Reference management systems
• Research databases
• Electronic data capture systems
• Systematic literature searching
• Data visualisation tools

For example:

State your level accurately. If you have used a statistical package only with close supervision, do not claim advanced proficiency.

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Digital education

Relevant educational skills may include:

• Virtual learning platforms
• Interactive presentation software
• Online assessment tools
• Recorded teaching
• Webinar delivery
• Digital resource design
• Learning management systems

For example:

A stronger example would be:

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Virtual and remote care

Experience of digital clinical care may be particularly relevant to posts involving virtual clinics, remote monitoring or regional services.

For example:

A service development example might read:

The clinical significance belongs in the Clinical Experience or Service Development section. The digital section should focus on the technology related capability.

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Digital transformation and clinical informatics

Candidates with substantial experience may include:

• Clinical system procurement or implementation
• Workflow design
• Development of electronic templates or prompts
• Digital safety assessment
• User testing
• Staff training
• Data quality improvement
• Clinical informatics leadership
• Liaison between clinical and technical teams

For example:

Describe the full service or safety outcome in the most relevant section and refer to the digital contribution briefly here.

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Simple presentation format

Candidates with a small number of relevant skills may use concise bullet points:

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Categorised presentation format

Candidates with broader experience may divide the section into categories:

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Demonstrating level of proficiency

Use terms such as:

• Familiar with
• Confident in
• Regularly use
• Proficient in
• Advanced user of
• Designed and implemented
• Led implementation of

Choose the term that reflects your actual experience.

“Advanced user” should indicate substantial practical capability, not simply frequent use. Be prepared to explain what you can do with the system or software at interview.

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Information governance and confidentiality

Where relevant, include experience of:

• Safe handling of clinical data
• Data protection
• Secure research databases
• Appropriate access controls
• Anonymisation or pseudonymisation
• Digital safety and risk management

Routine completion of mandatory information governance training does not normally need to appear in the CV.

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Common mistakes

Avoid:

• Listing email and internet use as professional skills
• Describing basic office software as advanced expertise
• Naming every clinical system encountered
• Claiming proficiency based on occasional use
• Listing software without explaining its professional relevance
• Repeating full project descriptions from other sections
• Filling the section with routine mandatory training
• Including obsolete software that no longer supports your application
• Allowing technical language to obscure the clinical contribution

A strong section should demonstrate how digital capability supports safer care, better analysis, more effective education or improved service delivery.

Deciding whether to include this section

Language skills can be valuable in clinical practice, particularly where they support communication with the population served by the department.

This section should usually appear towards the end of the CV. It may deserve greater prominence where a particular language is relevant to the advertised service, patient population, regional network or international role.

Language ability should be presented separately from nationality, ethnicity or country of birth. These personal details are not required in a consultant CV.

Describing proficiency accurately

Use clear and realistic descriptions of your level.

Suitable terms include:

• Native or bilingual proficiency
• Fluent
• Professional working proficiency
• Conversational
• Basic

Avoid vague terms such as “good,” “reasonable” or “some knowledge.”

Do not describe yourself as fluent unless you can communicate confidently across a wide range of professional and everyday situations.

If your spoken, written and reading abilities differ, describe them separately.

For example:

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Clinical use of a language

Conversational fluency is not necessarily the same as being able to conduct a complex clinical consultation.

Where relevant, explain whether you can:

• Take a clinical history
• Explain investigations or treatment
• Discuss routine management plans
• Communicate with relatives
• Read clinical documents
• Write professional correspondence

For example:

A candidate with more limited ability might write:

This is clearer and safer than simply writing “Portuguese: good.”

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Use of professional interpreters

Language ability can support rapport and routine communication, but it does not remove the need for a professional interpreter where one is required.

Complex discussions may include:

• Consent
• Significant diagnoses
• Treatment risks
• End of life care
• Safeguarding
• Complaints
• Capacity assessment
• Major changes in management

A candidate does not normally need to explain interpreter policy within the CV. However, they should avoid wording that implies they act as a clinical interpreter unless they hold the necessary professional qualification and role.

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Formal language qualifications

Include a formal qualification or recognised proficiency level where this adds useful evidence.

For example:

The qualification date may be included if it is recent or relevant.

---

Simple presentation format

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Table format

Language	Proficiency	Clinical use
English	Native proficiency	Full professional and clinical use
French	Fluent	Able to conduct clinical consultations
Arabic	Professional working proficiency	Able to take histories and explain routine management plans
Spanish	Conversational	Supports basic communication and rapport
British Sign Language	Level 2	Basic communication

A clinical use column is helpful when the candidate’s ability is directly relevant to patient care. It is unnecessary where the section contains only one or two entries.

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Candidates who speak several languages

List each language that adds meaningful information to the application. Do not assume that several related languages or dialects can be represented accurately under one broad label.

If the list is extensive, group it clearly while still indicating the level of each language.

For example:

Be prepared to discuss or demonstrate any claimed level at interview. Some of your interviewers may be more fluent than you in some of the languages you claim to be speaking!

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Common mistakes

Avoid:

• Overstating fluency
• Confusing conversational and clinical proficiency
• Listing a language without describing the level
• Using vague descriptions such as “good”
• Including nationality as evidence of language ability
• Assuming ethnicity determines language proficiency
• Claiming to provide formal interpretation without appropriate training
• Listing languages in which you know only a few phrases
• Giving a long language section disproportionate prominence

A strong section should allow the panel to understand quickly which languages you speak, how confidently you use them and whether they are relevant to professional practice.

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Purpose of the section

Professional memberships can demonstrate engagement with your specialty and the wider medical profession. However, membership alone usually carries limited weight because many candidates will belong to the same organisations.

The section becomes more valuable when it shows active contribution, such as committee work, guideline development, conference organisation, professional education, policy work or representation of colleagues.

The panel is likely to be more interested in what you contributed through an organisation than in the fact that you paid a membership subscription.

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What to include

Relevant organisations may include:

• Royal Colleges
• Specialist societies
• Medical education organisations
• Research networks
• Leadership organisations
• National or regional clinical groups
• Professional representative bodies
• Charitable organisations connected to health or medicine
• International professional societies

Include only current or professionally significant memberships. There is usually no need to include every organisation you have joined during your career.

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Memberships versus qualifications

A Royal College examination, Membership or Fellowship may already appear in the Qualifications section. For example:

There is no need to repeat the full qualification in this section. However, if you hold an active role or make a wider contribution through it, you may include the Royal College within professional memberships too.

For example:

The qualification demonstrates professional attainment. The later entry demonstrates active professional contribution.

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Do not include membership numbers

Do not include:

• BMA membership number
• Royal College membership number
• Specialist society membership number
• MDU or MPS membership number
• Other private account or subscription numbers

The organisation itself may be relevant, but the membership number adds nothing to the appointment decision and creates an unnecessary privacy risk.

Medical defence organisation membership does not normally need to appear in the CV. Appropriate indemnity arrangements will be addressed through the recruitment and employment process where necessary.

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Simple membership list

Candidates with straightforward memberships may use a concise list:

Only include the final two if there is a specific reason to do so. Routine membership of a defence organisation or representative body rarely strengthens a consultant application.

A more selective list may therefore be preferable:

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Table format

Organisation	Membership or role	Dates
Royal College of Physicians	Member	2021 to present
Society for Acute Medicine	Member	2019 to present
British Thoracic Society	Member	2020 to present
Regional Acute Medicine Network	Steering group member	2023 to present

Dates are most useful for active roles. They are optional for routine membership.

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Active professional contributions

Give greater prominence to roles in which you made a specific contribution.

Relevant examples include:

• Committee membership
• Elected office
• Guideline development
• Conference organisation
• Faculty work
• Peer review
• Editorial work
• Policy consultation
• Professional representation
• Public engagement
• Research network participation
• Development of educational resources
• Work with patient or charitable organisations

For each substantial role, explain:

• The organisation
• Your role
• Dates
• Scope of responsibility
• Principal contribution
• Result or impact

For example, instead of writing simply:

a stronger wording would be:

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Guideline and consensus work

National or regional guideline work may demonstrate recognised expertise and professional influence.

For example:

If the same work appears under Publications or Clinical Governance, avoid repeating the full description. Present it in detail where it provides the strongest evidence and refer to it briefly elsewhere.

Conference and educational contributions

Relevant work may include:

• Organising a professional meeting
• Selecting abstracts
• Chairing sessions
• Coordinating speakers
• Serving on a scientific committee
• Delivering faculty development
• Developing educational resources

For example:

Simply attending the conference belongs under continuing professional development rather than wider professional contribution.

Peer review and editorial work

Include peer review or editorial activity where it is sustained or significant.

For example:

Occasional review of one manuscript may not warrant a separate entry unless particularly relevant.

---

Professional representation

Representation can demonstrate leadership when the candidate actively gathers views, communicates concerns and influences decisions.

For example, instead of solely stating: “Trainee representative”, a stronger option would be:

The title alone does not show what the candidate achieved.

---

Charitable, public and patient contributions

Relevant contributions may include:

• Work with a patient charity
• Public health education
• Community engagement
• Development of patient information
• Professional advice to a voluntary organisation
• Support for widening participation
• Outreach to underserved communities

For example:

Voluntary work unrelated to medicine may appear under Personal Interests or Voluntary Contributions if it demonstrates sustained commitment or transferable responsibility.

---

Organising a substantial portfolio

Candidates with several active roles may separate membership from contribution.

This format distinguishes passive membership from active professional contribution.

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Relationship with other CV sections

Professional work may overlap with leadership, teaching, research, publications or clinical governance.

A committee role that demonstrates substantial leadership may belong in Leadership and Management. A guideline may belong in Clinical Governance or Publications. Conference teaching may belong in Teaching Experience.

Use this section for the professional context and wider contribution. Describe the work fully in the section where its strongest evidence belongs, then cross reference briefly if necessary.

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Common mistakes

Avoid:

• Listing membership numbers
• Including every organisation ever joined
• Treating paid membership as an achievement
• Repeating Royal College qualifications unnecessarily
• Listing committees without explaining your contribution
• Including lapsed memberships as though they remain current
• Giving routine BMA or defence organisation membership undue prominence
• Repeating the same professional role in several sections
• Failing to distinguish membership from elected or appointed responsibility
• Allowing a long list of organisations to obscure substantive contributions

A strong section should demonstrate active professional engagement and show how the candidate contributes beyond the immediate requirements of their clinical post.

Is this section necessary?

The personal interests section is optional. It will rarely determine whether a candidate is shortlisted, but it can add individuality and give the panel a small sense of the person behind the professional record.

Keep it brief. One to three lines is usually sufficient.

If the CV is already long or the candidate has no interests they wish to include, the section can be omitted without disadvantage.

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What the section can add

A well written interests section may:

• Make the CV feel more personal
• Provide a natural interview conversation point
• Demonstrate sustained commitment outside medicine
• Show involvement in a community, team or creative activity
• Add context to relevant voluntary work
• Reveal a genuine interest without making an unsupported claim about personal qualities

The section should not attempt to prove that the candidate possesses leadership, resilience or teamwork merely because they participate in a hobby. Allow the interest to speak for itself.

Be Specific

Generic statements add very little.

For example: “Reading, travel and music”. This could apply to almost anyone and gives the panel little sense of the candidate.

A more specific version would be: “Enjoy contemporary historical fiction, sing with a local community choir and maintain a small kitchen garden”.

Another example might be: “Paint in watercolour, with a particular interest in urban landscapes, and regularly participate in recreational open water swimming”.

Specific detail makes the section more genuine and provides a more natural basis for conversation.

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Do not manufacture impressive interests

There is no need to present unusually adventurous, competitive or prestigious hobbies.

Ordinary interests are entirely acceptable:

• Cooking
• Gardening
• Reading
• Painting
• Music
• Walking
• Cinema
• Local history
• Crafts
• Recreational sport
• Community activities

A genuine interest described with a little specificity is more engaging than an exaggerated activity included solely to impress.

Be prepared to discuss anything you include. An interviewer may ask about a book, sport, musical activity or voluntary role.

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Personal interests versus personal information

Do not use this section to include:

• Marital status
• Number of children
• Family arrangements
• Health information
• Nationality
• Other information irrelevant to selection

For example, “spending time with family” is perfectly understandable but provides little useful information and may reintroduce personal details that do not belong in the CV.

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Voluntary contributions

Sustained voluntary work may deserve inclusion, particularly where it demonstrates commitment to a community or cause.

Relevant examples include:

• Work with a patient charity
• Community education
• Support for widening participation
• Mentoring students
• Health outreach
• Trustee responsibilities
• Fundraising
• Youth or sports coaching
• Community leadership
• Non-medical charitable work

State what you do rather than simply naming the organisation.

For example:

A more substantial example would be:

If voluntary work demonstrates significant leadership or professional contribution, it may fit better under Leadership and Management or Wider Professional Contributions.

---

Simple presentation format

---

Short paragraph format

---

When voluntary work deserves its own entry

A substantial role may be presented in more detail:

This should not be hidden within a one line list of hobbies if it demonstrates meaningful responsibility.

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Common mistakes

Avoid:

• Generic lists such as “reading, travel and socialising”
• Trying to appear unusually adventurous
• Including activities you cannot discuss genuinely
• Making unsupported claims about the qualities a hobby demonstrates
• Giving the section excessive space
• Including personal or family information irrelevant to selection
• Using vague phrases such as “having fun”
• Treating occasional fundraising as a major voluntary role
• Repeating substantial professional contributions already described elsewhere

A strong interests section should be brief, specific and authentic. Its purpose is to add individuality, not to create a second assessment of the candidate’s suitability.

Is this section necessary?

In most consultant CVs, a miscellaneous section is unnecessary.

The heading often becomes a place for information that is either irrelevant to selection or would be clearer elsewhere. Before including it, ask whether the information genuinely helps the panel assess your suitability for the post.

If the answer is no, omit it.

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Information that usually belongs elsewhere

Most potentially relevant information already has a natural location:

• Professional registration belongs under Personal Details.
• Qualifications belong under Qualifications.
• Professional memberships belong under Professional Memberships.
• Language ability belongs under Language Skills.
• Digital capability belongs under Digital and Information Technology Skills.
• Voluntary work belongs under Personal Interests and Voluntary Contributions.
• Career breaks should be addressed briefly within the Career Summary.
• Awards belong under Awards and Prizes.
• Current certificates belong under Continuing Professional Development where relevant.

Moving information to a specific section makes the CV easier to navigate and prevents the final page becoming a collection of unrelated details.

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Information that should usually be omitted

Do not use a miscellaneous section to include:

• Date of birth
• Marital status
• Number of children
• Nationality
• National Insurance number
• Passport or visa numbers
• BMA membership number
• Medical defence membership number
• Occupational health information
• Vaccination history
• DBS certificate number
• Payroll or banking information

These details do not strengthen the application and may create unnecessary privacy or equality concerns.

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When a short section may be justified

A short final section may be appropriate when the job description requests specific information that does not fit naturally elsewhere.

Examples might include:

• A full driving licence where travel is an explicit requirement of the post
• Availability for work across several named sites
• A specific current certification required by the role
• Eligibility for a particular academic or honorary appointment
• Willingness to undertake a clearly defined regional responsibility

Use a specific heading wherever possible.

For example, instead of:

Use:

A specific heading explains why the information has been included.

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Keep it brief

If a miscellaneous or additional information section is used, it should normally contain no more than one to three concise points.

A long miscellaneous section usually indicates that the CV needs further editing and that the information should be reorganised or removed.

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Common mistakes

Avoid:

• Using the section as a dumping ground
• Repeating information from earlier sections
• Including private identifiers
• Adding personal information irrelevant to selection
• Including details simply because they appeared in an old CV template
• Giving minor administrative information excessive prominence
• Using a vague heading when a specific one would be clearer

The strongest option is often to omit this section entirely. Every part of a consultant CV should have a clear purpose, and “miscellaneous” is rarely a persuasive category.

Follow the application instructions

The recruitment information should determine whether references need to appear in the CV.

Many consultant applications collect referee details through a separate application form. Where this is the case, there may be no need to repeat the same information in the CV.

If referee details are not requested in the CV, either omit the section or use a brief statement: “Referee details are provided in the application form.”

The phrase that applicants often use is “References available on request”. This adds little because employers already understand that references can be requested.

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How many referees to include

Unless the application instructions state otherwise, two or three referees are usually sufficient.

Do not include a long list of senior people in an attempt to make the application appear more impressive. The value of a referee depends on how well they know your recent work and how meaningfully they can comment on your suitability.

If the application requires a particular number or type of referee, follow those requirements exactly.

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Choosing appropriate referees

Choose people who can comment on your:

• Recent clinical performance
• Professional conduct
• Independent decision making
• Leadership and team working
• Communication
• Reliability
• Teaching and supervision
• Readiness for consultant responsibility

Suitable referees might include:

• Current clinical director or clinical lead
• Current consultant supervisor
• Recent head of department
• Training programme director
• Educational supervisor
• Previous consultant employer
• Academic supervisor for a research focused post
• Senior colleague who has directly observed your work

The exact combination will depend on your present role and the post for which you are applying.

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Match the referees to the post

Referees should collectively reflect the principal requirements of the advertised role. For a primarily clinical post, prioritise people who can comment on your clinical judgement, independence and contribution to the department.

For an academic consultant post, one referee may need to comment on your research record, academic potential and ability to develop a programme of work.

For a post with a substantial educational component, a medical school lead, college tutor or senior educational colleague may be appropriate.

Do not select a prestigious referee who barely knows you when a less senior colleague can provide a detailed and credible account of your work.

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Use recent professional referees

Referees should usually have worked with you recently enough to comment on your current level of practice.

A medical school tutor or supervisor from an early training post is unlikely to provide useful evidence for a consultant appointment unless there is an ongoing and relevant professional relationship.

Where possible, include someone familiar with your current senior role.

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Ask permission

Always obtain permission before naming someone as a referee.

Confirm:

• That they are willing to provide a reference
• Their current job title
• Their preferred professional email address
• Their professional telephone number
• Their current organisation and address
• Whether they will be available during the recruitment period

Do not assume that a previous supervisor remains willing or that their contact details have not changed.

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Help referees prepare

Once you have permission, provide your referees with:

• The job description
• The person specification
• Your current CV
• The closing or interview date
• A brief explanation of why the post interests you
• Any particular responsibilities relevant to their experience of your work

This is not an invitation to influence the content of the reference. It simply ensures that the referee understands the role and can comment on relevant evidence.

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Information to include

For each referee, provide:

• Full name
• Professional title
• Job title
• Department
• Organisation
• Professional address
• Professional email address
• Professional telephone number
• Professional relationship to you, where helpful

Use professional rather than personal contact details wherever possible.

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Example format

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Table format

Referee	Position and organisation	Contact details	Professional relationship
Dr Aisha Malik FRCP	Clinical Director for Acute Medicine, St Mark’s University Hospital	aisha.malik@example.com, 020 7946 0001	Current Clinical Director
Professor Thomas Green MD FRCP	Professor of Respiratory Medicine, Northbridge University	thomas.green@example.com, 0161 496 0002	Research and Academic Supervisor
Dr Helen Carter FRCP	Training Programme Director, North Thames Postgraduate School	helen.carter@example.com, 020 7946 0003	Training Programme Director

The list format is usually easier to read when full postal addresses are required. A table is more compact when only basic details are needed.

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Referees for candidates in a locum consultant post

A candidate currently working as a locum consultant should normally include someone who can comment directly on their performance at consultant level.

For example:

• Current clinical director
• Current service lead
• Current medical director or divisional lead
• Senior consultant colleague with direct knowledge of their practice

This reference may be particularly important because it can confirm independent decision making, leadership and readiness for a substantive appointment.

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If you do not want your current employer contacted immediately

Follow the instructions in the application form regarding contact with your current employer.

Where the process allows you to indicate that a referee should not be contacted before interview or without permission, use that facility. Do not attempt to manage this indirectly through vague or incomplete contact details.

If there is a sensitive reason why a particular referee cannot be used, seek confidential advice from an appropriate recruitment or professional source rather than providing misleading information.

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Common mistakes

Avoid:

• Including referees without permission
• Providing outdated contact details
• Listing personal email addresses when professional details are available
• Selecting prestigious people who do not know your work
• Using referees whose knowledge of your practice is no longer current
• Including more referees than requested
• Omitting a referee who can comment on your current senior role
• Repeating referee details when they are already provided in the application form
• Including private home addresses or unnecessary personal details
• Failing to tell referees that you have submitted an application

Strong referees should be able to provide recent, detailed and credible evidence of how you work and why you are ready for the consultant post.

Why tailoring matters

A strong general CV is only the starting point. Each consultant application should be adapted to the specific post.

The appointment panel is not simply assessing whether you have had a successful medical career. It is deciding whether your experience meets the needs of a particular department, service and proposed job plan.

A generic CV may contain all the necessary evidence but still make shortlisting difficult if the panel has to search for it or work out its relevance.

Tailoring means making the strongest and most relevant evidence easy to find. It does not mean changing facts, exaggerating experience or repeatedly inserting the Trust’s name into an otherwise unchanged document.

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Read all the recruitment information

Review:

• Job description
• Person specification
• Proposed job plan
• Departmental information
• Organisational values
• Service or care group priorities
• Information provided to candidates
• Relevant clinical strategy, where available

These documents may emphasise different aspects of the role.

The person specification identifies the criteria against which candidates will be assessed. The job description explains the responsibilities. The job plan provides practical information about the clinical work the successful candidate will undertake.

All three should influence the structure and content of the CV.

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Identify essential and desirable criteria

Separate the person specification into:

• Essential criteria
• Desirable criteria

Essential criteria require particular attention. If the evidence is difficult to find, the panel may conclude that the candidate does not meet the requirement.

Desirable criteria can help distinguish candidates who all meet the essential requirements.

Look beyond broad headings such as “clinical experience” or “management.” Identify the specific capability being requested.

For example: “Evidence of leadership and service development” is more specific than: “Management experience.”

Similarly: “Ability to develop the ambulatory care service” should prompt the candidate to identify evidence of pathway design, same day care, admission avoidance, multidisciplinary collaboration or operational improvement.

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Create an evidence map

Before editing the CV, create a simple table linking each criterion to evidence.

Requirement	Essential or desirable	Evidence	Where it appears in the CV	Action needed
CCT in Acute and General Internal Medicine	Essential	Expected CCT August 2027	Qualifications	Make date more prominent
Independent acute medical decision making	Essential	Locum consultant role and acute take experience	Current Appointment and Clinical Experience	Expand current evidence
Experience of same day emergency care	Essential	Led ambulatory referral redesign	Clinical Experience and Leadership	Move earlier
Educational supervision	Desirable	Supervise four internal medicine trainees annually	Educational Supervision	Retain
Research involvement	Desirable	Recruitment to national sepsis study	Research Experience	Present concisely
Service development	Essential	Introduced direct senior triage pathway	Leadership and Management	Add measurable outcome

This process identifies three common problems:

• The evidence is present but difficult to find.
• The evidence is described too vaguely.
• The candidate does not yet have convincing evidence.

The first two can be addressed through editing. The third should not be disguised through inflated wording.

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Use the proposed job plan

The proposed job plan often provides the clearest indication of what the successful candidate will actually do.

Look for:

• Inpatient responsibilities
• Outpatient clinics
• Acute or emergency work
• Procedural commitments
• Subspecialty sessions
• Multidisciplinary meetings
• On call responsibilities
• Teaching or supervision
• Research sessions
• Leadership or governance roles
• Work across several sites

Use these elements to select the headings within the Clinical Experience section.

For example, if the job plan includes acute medicine, same day emergency care and a specialist syncope clinic, the clinical headings might be:

• Acute Medical Care
• Same Day Emergency Care
• Syncope and Ambulatory Assessment
• General Internal Medicine
• Senior and Out of Hours Decision Making

The headings should help the panel compare your experience with the proposed role directly.

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Understand the department

Arrange a pre application conversation or visit where possible.

Useful questions include:

• Why has the post been created?
• Is it a replacement or new appointment?
• What are the department’s principal service pressures?
• Which areas does the department want to develop?
• What would colleagues hope the new consultant contributes?
• How fixed is the proposed job plan?
• Are there opportunities to develop a specialist interest?
• What teaching or supervision responsibilities are expected?
• Which leadership or governance roles need support?
• What research activity is already established?
• How does the department work with neighbouring services?
• What resources or constraints may affect service development?

Listen carefully to the answers. The most useful information may concern needs not fully expressed in the written documents.

The purpose is not to obtain privileged information. It is to understand the service well enough to present relevant evidence and make an informed decision about the post.

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Tailor the order of the sections

The order of the CV should reflect the priorities of the appointment.

For a post with a major educational component, move Teaching Experience and Educational Supervision earlier.

For an academic appointment, move Research, Publications and Presentations closer to the beginning.

For a role focused on service development, give Leadership, Management and Quality Improvement greater prominence.

For a clinically specialised post, ensure the relevant subspecialty experience appears within the opening pages.

Do not follow a rigid template if it places the most important evidence too late.

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Tailor the personal profile

The personal profile should reflect the candidate’s professional identity while introducing the qualities most relevant to the post.

It should not simply reproduce phrases from the person specification.

For example, avoid: “I am an excellent communicator with strong leadership, teaching and research skills.”

A more tailored profile might say:

The second version connects the candidate’s experience and motivation with the work of the department.

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Tailor the clinical headings

Do not use the same clinical headings for every application.

A candidate applying for a general consultant role may use broad headings:

• Acute Care
• Inpatient Care
• Outpatient Care
• Procedural Experience

For a more specialised post, specific headings may be stronger:

• Inflammatory Bowel Disease
• Gastrointestinal Endoscopy
• Nutrition
• Acute Gastroenterology

The headings should reflect the advertised work while remaining honest about the candidate’s experience.

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Select relevant examples

A candidate may have completed many audits, teaching programmes, research projects and leadership activities. The same examples will not be equally valuable for every post.

Prioritise work that:

• Matches an essential criterion
• Relates to the clinical service
• Demonstrates an expected consultant responsibility
• Addresses a departmental priority
• Shows readiness to contribute immediately
• Provides evidence of a desirable criterion

Less relevant evidence can be shortened, moved later or omitted.

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Translate experience into relevance

Do not assume that the panel will recognise the relevance of an example automatically.

A generic bullet point might read: “Led a multidisciplinary quality improvement project”.

A tailored version might read:

The second version provides clinical context, leadership evidence and a measurable result directly relevant to a department developing ambulatory care.

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Address transferable experience honestly

Candidates will not always possess experience that precisely matches every desirable criterion. Where the experience is transferable, explain the connection.

For example:

Do not claim specialist expertise that you do not possess. Panels are more likely to trust a candidate who identifies relevant transferable skills and a realistic development need.

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Do not hide genuine gaps

If an essential criterion is not met, rewriting the CV will not solve the problem.

Consider:

• Whether the criterion is genuinely essential
• Whether equivalent experience can be demonstrated
• Whether clarification is needed from the recruiting team
• Whether additional experience should be obtained before applying
• Whether the post is currently the right fit

For a desirable criterion, a candidate may acknowledge a development area while demonstrating related experience and a credible plan.

Avoid drawing unnecessary attention to minor gaps, but never manufacture evidence.

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Use the language of the role carefully

Using terminology from the job description can help the panel recognise relevant evidence.

For example, if the documents refer to:

• Same day emergency care
• Clinical governance
• Educational supervision
• Pathway development
• Health inequalities

use these terms where they accurately describe your experience.

Do not copy long phrases or repeat organisational language unnaturally. The wording should remain your own and be supported by evidence.

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Avoid excessive repetition

Some repetition is useful where an achievement addresses more than one requirement.

A service redesign project may appear:

• Briefly in the Personal Profile
• As a selected achievement in the Current Appointment
• In detail under Leadership and Management
• As a brief reference under Audit and Quality Improvement

Each mention should serve a different purpose. Do not repeat the same full description several times.

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Final tailoring review

Before submitting, ask:

• Can every essential criterion be matched to clear evidence?
• Is the most relevant clinical experience easy to find?
• Does the order reflect the priorities of the post?
• Does the personal profile fit this particular appointment?
• Do the clinical headings resemble the proposed job plan?
• Have the strongest relevant achievements been prioritised?
• Have less relevant details been reduced?
• Are transferable skills explained honestly?
• Does the CV use the language of the role naturally?
• Could a panel member understand the fit within the first few pages?

A tailored CV should make the shortlisting decision easier. The panel should not need to infer why the candidate is suitable or search through several pages to locate the evidence.

By the time you have finished working through this guide, you may have spent hours changing headings, rewriting bullet points, removing unnecessary information and moving sections around.

Before you send your CV, there is one final thing I would suggest.

Stop editing it and read it as though you were on the appointment panel.

Don't ask whether every course you have attended is included or whether you could squeeze another achievement onto page seven. Ask yourself what the document tells you about the candidate.

Is it immediately clear what they are good at? Can you see evidence that they are ready to work at consultant level? Do their achievements feel credible? Can you understand the contribution they have personally made? Does the CV reflect the needs of this particular department? And, perhaps most importantly, after reading it, do you want to meet them?

Remember that your CV does not have to tell the panel everything about you. It has to give them enough relevant evidence to decide that they want to find out more.

The CV gets you the interview. The interview gets you the job.

Make the first one do its job well.