How to write your Medical CV with Templates to help
The CV (Curriculum Vitae) is essential for all doctors at any grade or specialty. The CV is your first impression and can open doors for you. Your CV will be read by the senior consultants in the team you’re applying to, most likely the Clinical Lead. It may also include managerial staff of the specialty team or the chief clinical officer.
At Messly, we’ve put together some expert advice from our team of doctors, healthcare recruitment specialists, and polymaths, to help you get the job you deserve.
Check out our CV Templates/Examples for junior and senior doctors further down the article.
DID YOU KNOW
Our Head of Recruitment advises that your CV will be looked at for fewer than 10 seconds. Therefore it is hugely important that the first page of your CV is neatly laid out, with the most important information easily readable.
How long should your medical CV be?
Depending on where you look, you will see very different answers.
- We advise a junior medical CV to be 1 to 2 pages long.
- For more senior medical CVs, at a senior registrar/consultant level for example, CVs can be more (up to 8-12 pages).
Whatever you do, keep it relevant, clear and concise.
NHS and Values Based Recruitment (VBR)
Values Based Recruitment has become part of NHS recruitment guidelines, and it’s worth incorporating these values into your CV.
- Your motivation and commitment to the NHS and the role – This is best explained in your Career Statement, where you talk about your current role and future career goals, Work History where you provide in-depth description of your career journey and Publications, Research, etc., where you can demonstrate your dedication to your particular specialty.
- Your ability to work in multi-professional teams – This is best explained in Work History, where you can describe the intricacies of the jobs you’ve done so far and how you’ve worked well in teams to ensure the best patient outcomes. And also in References, where they will be able to provide the recruiter with feedback relating to your work ethic and ability.
- The central importance of the patient’s experience – This is best explained in Work History, with descriptions of the jobs undertaken to ensure patient experience. This can also be explained in Publications, Research, etc., with areas of time spent to ensure improvement and innovation in your specialty. This is also exposed with your References, where they will be able to provide evidence of your dedication to patient care.
For more information about VBR, click here.
Essential structure
There are no rules, however we recommend this structure:
- Name
- GMC number – also include your National Training Number (NTN), if available
- Contact details – mobile number, email address, home address
- Career Statement – this should be a brief sentence summarising your current position, your interests and what career you’d like to pursue in the short and long term.
- “I am a (grade, specialty) based in (location), currently working at (hospital). In this role I am actively involved in (x, y and z), and I am particularly interested in (sub-interest, or particular skill). I am eager to pursue a career in (relates to sub-interest or particular skill, and job you applying for)”
- Work History – for each job, please list in chronological order, with the most recent first.
- Include: Start month & year to End month & year; Hospital; Grade; Specialty
- Optional – provide a brief description of the job role and some of the specific tasks you undertook
- For junior doctors, it maybe worth splitting up your Foundation years into individual placements, this is not necessary for more senior doctors
- Education History – please list in chronological order (starting with most recent providing the year in which qualification was given).
- Include: Memberships to Royal Colleges, Medical degree, Other university degrees, Pre-graduate exams (including A levels, GCSEs)
After this, it starts to differ between Junior and Senior doctors.
- Publications, Research, Clinical Audit & Quality Improvement
- This can all be bundled under the same header for more junior CVs, and in more senior CVs depending on the number of projects, one may want to separate the individual aspects.
- Each project should include the year it was undertaken/published, the name of the authors involved (including your name), the name of the project (in italics), the location the project took place (if appropriate) and the journal the project was published (if appropriate, along with the year, page and chapter).
- See the Junior and Senior CVs for examples and a helpful format.
- Teaching, Management, Leadership, Courses & Conferences
- This can all be bundled under the same header for more junior CVs, and in more senior CVs depending on the number of projects, one may want to separate the individual aspects.
- For each event, please provide the year it was undertaken, the name of the event, and the hospital/area it took place in (if appropriate).
- Professional Memberships
- As a junior doctor this maybe limited, but it is worth stating which other medical organisations you’re a part of.
- See examples in the junior and senior CVs templates provided.
- Interests
- This is the part of your CV you can, in a few sentences, talk about your non-medical interests and other extra-curricular activities.
- References
- You’re not expected to provide references in the CV itself, but you will expected to provide them at some point.
- Pick consultants you’ve worked for previously.
- It’s best to ask for their permission before you provide their details as references.
TEMPLATES
Here are two templates, one for junior and one for senior level doctors. You’re welcome to use this, just be sure to delete all the information that isn’t related to you!
A photo of yourself on your CV
This is a rather bizarre trend in medical CVs that we do not recommend, as it can lead to stereotypes and bias. Unless asked for a photo, don’t include one.
Do not lie
Your CV should be entirely truthful. Whilst lying on a CV is never a good idea, lying on a medical CV can land you in serious trouble with the General Medical Council and jeopardise your right to practice medicine. A doctor was jailed in 2017 for lying on their CV. It is not worth the risk.
