Entry to Core Medical Training
The plans for the Core Medical Training Recruitment in England for 2010 have been finalised and I enclose the link to the College Website. This will be appropriate for Trainees who have completed the Foundation Programme Training or equivalent. There will be on-line recruitment and this year we are going to have a single application.
The link to the quick guide to recruitment published on the MMC website is http://www.mmc.nhs.uk/default.aspx?page=519
The personal specifications for the 2010 round of recruitment are on the MMC Website on http://www.mmc.nhs.uk/pdf/PS%202010%20CT1%20CMT.pdf
To be eligible there should be evidence of achievement of foundation competence between 31st July 2007 and 4th August 2010 from a UK FPO affiliated Foundation Programme or equivalent by the time of appointment, which is in line with the GMC Standards of Good Medical Practice.
In the meantime, make sure that your CV is up to date, and you bring the evidence of the competencies, and skills that you have claimed in your application form to the interview. These could include undergraduate/postgraduate degrees, prizes or qualifications, examples of your audits and research as well as teaching.
The application window is 4th-18th December 2009. You can give up to four preferences and up to four units of application, including Wales. There will be no manual shortlisting but there will be a National Shortlisting Ranking and there is likely to be a capping on the numbers of interview slots, although we will endeavour to interview as many of our first choice applicants as possible. The interview window will be 25th January 2010 to 12th February 2010 and in the Severn Deanery it will be in the week beginning the 25th January 2010. The holding process will happen until the 24th March 2010 but Round 1 will end on 26th March 2010. The application form matches the one used by the Department of Health and the personal specification has been altered to include up to 18 months in any medical specialty anywhere.
The machine-marked test is voluntarily and will not be an integral part of the recruitment process, as outline above. This is mainly to test clinical problems solving skills and to test the use of the on-line facility. This is going to involve several Specialities and several Deaneries.
This year we are providing two talks – one at the University Hospital in Bristol and the second in Cheltenham General - on the 24th and 30th November explaining some of these issues for our local Foundation Trainees and other eligible Trainees who want to know more about this process.
Good luck with your application!
Please visit The Severn Deanery website for more information and to access the recruitment portal.
Advice on Making Your Application
Although the details of the application form are still being finalised at present, it will be similar to those that we and most other Schools of Medicine have previously used. If you make sure your cv is up to date now it will contain all the background data that you will need to complete the application. The window to complete the application is short and so that is not the time to start thinking what you should put on the form!
The application forms may include details of
• Undergraduate Degrees/ Prizes/ Qualifications
• Postgraduate Degrees/ Qualifications
• Employment
• Previous experience
• Audit
• Research
• Teaching
• Practical & Clinical Skills
• Personal Statement
• The personal statement is particularly important. We are looking for evidence that you have fully researched your decision to pursue hospital medicine and are showing commitment
• We like to see that you have started thinking beyond core training and have some preliminary ideas about what higher training you might do- expect to be asked about this at interviews also.
• Additional information not covered in the other sections can be included in the personal statement. This may be on your achievements outside medicine itself but should still have some relevance to medicine e.g contributions to management as a junior representative on a hospital committee
• Outside interests may carry some weight if they involve skills that have relevance to medicine e.g. team leadership in a mountaineering expedition
Practice Points In Completing The Application Form
Our experience in the last few years of applications has highlighted common errors through which candidates have disadvantaged themselves:-
It is very important to answer precisely what the question is asking us for. A surprising number of candidates do not give the information requested and instead put down what they would apparently like to tell us. There are no marks if you don’t answer the question you are being asked! Make sure you read the instructions for each question very carefully.
We have been surprised how many applicants disadvantage themselves by lack of attention to good grammar, punctuation and clarity in their applications. Don’t rely solely on spell and grammar checkers. Only careful proof reading will fully exclude any errors. Think about the impression you are giving us! If you are not careful in avoiding mistakes in this important application, how careful are you at avoiding clerical errors in your clinical and prescribing practice?
You may well be able to answer some of the questions partly by cutting and pasting from your cv. However if you do this you must still read through carefully what your final answer says and that all aspects of the question have been answered.
Make all your entries and particularly the personal statement flow well in an orderly fashion. Use normal prose, this is much easier to follow than talking like a telegram in an attempt to save space when there are word limits to questions. Use paragraphs- these make your application easier to follow.
Don’t use abbreviations- you may think everyone knows what they mean but they may not be familiar to the person assessing your application. Moreover, abbreviations can mean different things to different people e.g. “PND” can be interpreted as “paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnoea” or “post nasal drip”.
We strongly advise you to ask your educational supervisor or another consultant to read through your application and advise you on any improvements. Provided they do not actually write the application for you and that you are not making any dishonest claims this is quite legitimate and makes sure that you are showing us your achievements as clearly as you can. Failing this, even a non medical friend can at least help you check that your application form is understandable.
Remember -short listing panels have many applications to mark and are easily bored so be original, don’t waffle and get to the point.
Preparing Your Portfolio for Interview
Although trainees are now using e-portfolio, hard copy portfolios are needed for interview and we have again noted that some candidates make a mess of this. Here is our list of what we like to see in your portfolio and some important practice points :-
• Use one lever arch file for everything
• A printed copy of your application form
• An index in the front
• Use marker tabs so we can find sections quickly
• Don’t put things in plastic wallets- we will want to take them out
• Don’t put in things that are not yours (e.g hospital guidelines)
• This is an opportunity to display your presentation and organisational skills (or the opposite!)
• F2 graduates-bring Foundation training portfolios
• Or: Evidence of having completed educationally approved Senior House Officer, specialty training or fixed term specialty training (FTSTA) post(s) in the UK
• Also bring:-
– Documents on any audits (Print outs of Powerpoint)
– Reprints/photocopies of any published research
– Checklist of competences achieved, countersigned by trainer
– Any other documents that provide evidence of competencies
– Assessments by trainer/ educational supervisor
– Print outs from e-portfolio of workplace assessments, eg min-PAT, mini-CEX, CbD, DOPS and MSF.
Application to ST3
For those who are not run through trainees applying to ST3 in 2010, much of the above advice for Core training applications still applies and the application forms are likely to be similar; although higher standards are clearly expected in the answers and it is crucial to convince short listing panels of your commitment to the specialty involved. The evidence for this that panels will be looking for is principally:-
• Previous involvement in relevant audits
• Research contributions
• Some previous experience of the specialty at core training level. If you have not been able to do this as part of a rotation you should still have made attempts to inform yourself about the specialty by talking to consultants in the specialty, sitting in on some of their clinics, going to specialty department meetings and reading the specialty’s journals.
Please visit The Severn Deanery website for more information and to access the recruitment portal.