Writing a curriculum vitae and the consultant interview

1
Writing a curriculum vitae and the consultant
interview

• Don Sims

2
Introduction

• Background
• Basic CV writing
• Common mistakes
• Preparing for a consultant interview
• The interview
• Conclusions and questions

3
Wednesday, 8 December, 2004

• A significant number of consultant physician
  posts are not being filled.
• A Royal College of Physicians UK census found
  over one third of vacancies were unfilled between
  October 2003 and June 2004.

Too few doctors were being trained
4
Thursday, 4 January 2007

• There will be a shortage of GPs and nurses, but
  the NHS will have to shed hospital doctors,
  leaked government documents show.
• An estimated 3,200 extra consultants that the NHS
  cannot afford to pay, as well as 16,000 other
  health professionals such as physiotherapists
  face unemployment

Job cuts are proposed at NHS trusts across
England
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Background

• So by 2011, 3,200 consultants without jobs
• Downward pressure on wages for the rest
• Increased competition from the EU
• Likely increase in applicants per post from 4 to
  upwards of 10
• Only 5 substantive posts in the West Midlands
  last year (10 NTN / year need jobs)
• The retiring cohort due to have gone by 2011

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Basic CV Writing
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Basic CV writing tips

• Layout
• 2.5cm margins all around
• Plenty of white space
• Use one font throughout
• 12 point font (nothing too esoteric)
• 14 point font for headings
• Times New Roman or Georgia
• Arial or Vedana
• Use good quality white/cream paper (100gsm)

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Basic CV writing tips

• Use tables appropriately
• Central to the page
• Enough space in each cell to surround text evenly
• Dont use them if you are not confident
• Avoid overuse
• Line up entries in lists using TAB and bullet
  points (not the space bar)
• Even if it looks even on the paper it wont be
  when printed

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TAB vs. Spacebar
10
TAB vs. Spacebar
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Basic CV writing tips

• Keep the same formatting through the whole CV
• Same font and size for headers and text
• Same number of spaces after a full stop
• Same number of carriage returns after a
  subheading
• DONT USE CAPITALS for headings
• Bold or increased size is more professional
• Black ink on white paper is fine
• Avoid excessive colour
• Very limited pictures / graphics

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Spellcheckers struggle with

• Incorrect homonyms
• Where, were, were
• Accidental plurals
• Missing words
• Medical terminology
• Incorrectly placed words, spelt correctly
• E.g.
• Should I have a coma in the middle of this
  sentence?
• I spent a great deal of time doing revision after
  sex years I passed the MRCP

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Beat the electronic spellchecker

• Last but not least, this post will also provide
  me with valuable teaching experience in edition
  to preparing me for MRCP, thus enabling me to
  offer a high standard of care.
• Cardiovascular examination of patients who
  present with a fall in an acute elderly care ward
  and the principals behind a comprehensive
  assessment.

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Basic CV writing tips

• Spell check your CV
• Proof-reading
• You cannot proof-read your own writing
• Find someone with English as their first language
• Ideally someone who proof-reads a lot of CVs
• Check grammar and tenses

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Common errors in grammar

• Correct apostrophe use
• Possession for nouns or indicating time
• Jims hat, one weeks time
• Not in personal pronouns
• its, your, their, and whose
• Indicate omissions in contractions
• its it is, cant cannot
• Plural nouns need the apostrophe after the s
• The dogs bones are missing (when you have two
  dogs)
• Never have an apostrophes to demonstrate plurals
• Apples for sale
• 1000s of bargains

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Common errors in grammar

• Comma misuse
• Too few as in
• Incorrect When it comes to eating people differ
  in their tastes.
• Revised When it comes to eating, people differ
  in their tastes.
• Too many as in
• Incorrect Field trips are required, in several
  courses, such as, botany and geology.
• Revised Field trips are required in several
  courses, such as botany and geology.

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And the problem is

• I was involved in the collection of data from 200
  patients who attended the out-patient clinics
  over the previous 12 months, including BP, Renal
  function, HbA1c, Medications, their eye
  conditions and foot complications. I then
  analysed the data compared with the 'Diabetic
  Task Force' recommendations. Our aim was to
  detect problems in management related to Diabetic
  complications and we suggested improvements in
  the area of investigations and follow-up. We
  proposed to close Audit cycle after 6 months by
  re-auditing after suggestions had been
  implemented.

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Capitalisation overuse

• Common mistake after poor spell checking and poor
  grammar
• Only capitalise proper nouns, first word of new
  sentences and titles when used with a name
• so Dr. Smith is capitalised
• the doctor will see you now is not
• In title (publications) you can capitalise all
  words except
• articles (a, an, the)
• prepositions under five letters (in, of, to)
• co-ordinating conjunctions (and, but)

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CV Writing

• Be wary of non-medical website and organisation
  advice on CV writing
• They do not always apply to medical CVs
• Medical CVs
• Are often long than two pages
• Contain more free text
• Have significant additional subheadings such as
  audit and research

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CV Writing

• Headings (approximate order)
• Contact information
• Education
• Professional registrations
• Work experience
• Publications
• Audit
• Courses
• Personal Information
• Referees

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CV Writing

• Even eight or nine page CVs must be relevant
• As you gain experience and publications, prune
  extraneous information
• Do not include bronze swimming certificate,
  cycling proficiency or that you won the conker
  championships
• As you approach your CV for a consultant job, be
  more ruthless
• No-one really cares what GCSEs you got or that
  you did a presentation at an SpR training day on
  CVs

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The finished product
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CV maintenance

• Keep your CV updated
• Sometimes it is needed at short notice
• Research applications
• MSc.
• RITAs and PYAs
• and of course a consultant interview
• ..and it takes several hours work

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Submitting a CV

• Do include a cover letter
• Single page
• Addressed to a name (not Sir/Madam)
• Briefly explain your interest in the job
• This is the same as a first impression at
  interview
• Probably cannot improve things but the journey
  might end here if it is sloppy

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Submitting a CV

• Do modify your CV for each job
• Make your CV relevant for the job
• Rearrange the order
• Highlight a particular audit
• Include a section describing your subspecialty
  interest
• Change the referee to someone known in the field
  to which you are applying

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The Consultant Interview

• All hope abandon ye who enter here
• Dante
• (Divine Comedy)

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Preparing for a consultant interview

• Be prepared to do about 10-20 hours reading
• Most can be done online
• NHS white papers and recent reforms (NHS website)
• Good Medical Practice (GMC)
• Royal College guidelines / SIGN for your area of
  interest
• National Service Framework for Older People
• NICE guidance in chosen area of practice
• Health Care Commission yearly report on your
  trust
• The website of the hospital to which you are
  applying
• Recent journals, newspapers news websites

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Come and have a look around or The trial by
sherry

• Chief executive
• Medical director
• Clinical director for geriatric medicine (and
  maybe acute medicine)
• Consultants in your department
• Consultants in closely related departments
• Personnel department
• Junior doctors
• Ward staff
• Secretaries
• Others on the interview panel

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Interview presentation

• Keep to time if invited to present
• Advisable not to have a talk written out word for
  word
• Off the cuff means no place to lose
• PowerPoint is your prompt not whole talk
• Be prepared to answer questions
• Remember a significant proportion of the panel
  may not be doctors

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The Interview

• Expect a panel of 10-12 members
• Will include a lay chairperson
• University representative
• College representative
• Know your own CV
• Expect one or two questions from each member
• Address response to the questioner mostly

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Standard questions

• Why should we give you this job?
• What qualities make a good geriatrician?
• How would you develop the stroke service?
• What do you know of clinical governance?
• How would you deal with a colleague who turned up
  for work drunk?
• How is research relevant to clinical medicine?
• What would you bring to this unit?

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More taxing open questions

• Tell us of a recent triumph/disappointment?
• Do you think the increased spending on the NHS
  has been put to good use?
• How would you ration healthcare?
• How would you spend a 20,000 one-off grant?
• What is your management style?
• Whats wrong with undergraduate education?
• What is the most important advance in geriatric
  medicine in the last 10 years?

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More esoteric questions

• How would your appointment raise the profile of
  this Trust?
• What makes you angry?
• Does general medicine exist anymore?
• Whats wrong with undergraduate education?
• If you havent got any research to show after a
  year should we reduce your salary by 2.5 SPAs
  (25) ?
• If you got hit by a bus on leaving the interview,
  how would you wish to be remembered?

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Answers to the questions

• Dont prepare an answer for every question you
  might get asked
• It is obvious if you are reciting a script
• You can lose your place
• You cant prepare every possible question
• Have an idea what you are going to say
• Be prepared to improvise
• Practice speaking fluently about the topics you
  have read

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Conclusions

• For a professional and effective CV, layout can
  almost be as important as content
• Get someone else to look at your CV
• Prepare for your interview
• Meet the right people
• Read the right information
• Prepare answers to a range of question
• Dont try to memorise answers