Applying for Jobs – Your NHS Profile

The NHS Jobs/ Trac Jobs profile is essentially your CV that you’ll be using to apply for jobs. I’ve received a lot of messages regarding NHS jobs profile, so I’m going to put down a few things I’ve noticed based on questions

Remember – this is for the ‘Supporting Information’ section of your NHS Profile

NHS Jobs Profile Tips

1. Be honest – Throughout your application process & GMC Registration, you need to be honest about your experience, what you have done, what you have not done and your experience. Do not lie in your applications. It is unethical.
   
   
2. Sell yourself by being you – You need to tell the trust/ hospital why YOU are the perfect person for this job.
   
   – Maybe you have clinical experience that makes you perfect for the post?
   – Maybe you have experience in quality improvement projects or audits?
   – Maybe this post is perfect for you because you want to pursue IMT and a medical post is *exactly* what you’re looking for?
   
   You CANNOT be generic, these examples have to be specific to you.
   
   
3. Know something about the Hospital/ Trust – Another thing you can do to make your profile standout is write about something about the trust or the hospital that you like, relate to or is in keeping with the kind of clinician you want to be -for example, in my profile, I would usually look up the trust values and give examples of how I met them. In addition, during my interview, I brought up things within the department that I had liked.
   
   
4. Modify every application to the Trust/ Hospital – You cannot submit the same application to every trust or hospital, especially if you are applying for a variety of positions. If you do, these applications are read as generic. I know it is frustrating and tiresome to make so many applications, but every applications needs to 1. Be modified to the position – Emergency Medicine, Internal Medicine, etc and 2. Be modified to the hospital.
   
   
5. Organize your supporting information – It should be easy to read, use paragraphs, use headings etc. With headings, I arranged my supporting information based on the headings in person specifications so it was easy to follow. So it was divided based on ‘Education’ ‘Clinical Experience’ ‘Teaching experience’ etc.
   
   
6. Formatting – There isn’t one format, you can write in whatever format you choose but you should follow the rules of making it easy to read and ensuring there are no grammatical or spelling mistakes. If you think you struggle with writing, then perhaps get your supporting information checked by a professional when it comes to spelling & grammar.
   
   
7. Apply Early – The job that I applied for and eventually got had a closing date in 2 weeks, I was initially going to applying later in the week but since I had time I decided to apply that day and submitted the application. Later in the day, I saw that the vacancy had closed that day instead of two weeks later. Trusts can close job applications AT ANY TIME, so you should aim to apply early, do not wait for the last 2-3 days of the deadline.
   

Finally, this is just my own view on how supporting information should be. Not everything I’ve said here should be set in stone, we all have different ways of writing, and you should follow what you have been doing throughout your medical school career, however it is important to ensure that at the very least your supporting information should be truthful and have as few grammatical and spelling mistakes as possible.