How to get shortlisted

Consultant radiologist Sarah Burnett has waded her way through heaps of applications. In this article she gives some tips on how to write a professional curriculum vitae (CV) which will give you a fair chance of being shortlisted

You've seen the job of your dreams advertised in the BMJ. How do you go about proving to the selection panel that it really has got to call you for interview? Your CV is your advertising tool, and it is important to design it in such a way that you look like exactly the right person for the job in order to get shortlisted. When you express an interest in the post, the human resources department should send you a job description, which outlines what you will be doing in the job and the basic terms and conditions of employment, some background information about the hospital, and a person specification which tells you the qualification, skills, and experience that the successful candidate will have.

Application form versus CV

Increasingly, the deaneries are asking, not for a CV but for you to fill in a form describing your experience, often with specific examples. You will still need to have a CV as it is necessary when applying for research grants and more senior posts. It will serve as a aide memoire when filling in the job application.

Content and appearance of your CV

It is important to think both about the content and the appearance of your CV. It is there to enhance your appearance as a budding professional. It should be typed in a legible font in a size large enough to cope with ageing consultants' presbyopia. Resist the temptation to code each section differently. Stick to the tried and trusted Times New Roman, Arial, or Century Gothic. After all, this is a job as a doctor you are applying for, not the advertising director of Dolce & Gabbana. The spacing should be generous, but not fully double spaced. It should be printed on good quality bright white paper and you may want to consider binding it in some way. Make sure that the pages are numbered and that there is a header or footer with your name on it, in case the pages become detached.

Important details

The CV should start with a frontispiece with your name and qualifications and the title of the post or rotation for which you are applying. The second page should start with your full name, address, contact details (phone, fax and email), nationality, and current post. Your marital status and number of dependants are entirely your own business and it is up to you whether you wish to include that information. This should be followed by your qualifications in reverse chronological order, grades achieved and awarding institutions. The more junior the post for which you are applying, the more appropriate it is to include GSCE and A levels. There should then be a section for prizes and awards. If you don't have any then leave out the heading!

You can include a short section for any additional roles you have carried over the years that had a significant responsibility, such as treasurer of a club, or being an education rep at medical school, or even being the entertainments officer for the mess.

Previous posts

A section should follow outlining your previous posts in reverse chronological order. Include the title of the job and name of the institution with a shortened version of the address. You may want to include the names of the consultants for whom you worked, but if there are lots for each job then just name the lead consultant, professor, or those who are well known.

Publications and presentations

The next section is publications and presentations. If there are only a few it is best to put them together in chronological order. If there are more than five in each section they should be separated into presentations, publications, letters, and books.

Clinical and non-clinical experience

Two complex sections come next, those outlining your clinical experience and your experiences of teaching, audit, management, and research. Call the second section "Other" or "Non-clinical" experience. Grouping the points in this way will help to make it less obvious that you have done very little research or no audit. Keep the prose pithy--it may be better to use bullet points. In the first you need to describe your clinical abilities and responsibilities and outline the procedures which you are competent to perform. Summarise it for the total of your experience rather than job by job. You can say "full details are available in my training log book" to avoid long lists and numbers, but it useful to make it clear that you are able to perform, for example, central lines, thoracic drain insertion, lumbar punctures, pacing wires, etc.

In the second part you need to describe the teaching that you have done, whether this is formal or informal, and don't forget teaching nurses or technicians. It may be difficult to think of what it is you do that is management, but even simple roles such as contributing to the design of an ICP or rearranging theatre lists count. Audit projects should be outlined, and if you can demonstrate evidence of a subsequent change in practice so much the better. Research in progress has to go in, as long as it is a little more advanced than an idea that you had in the pub last night!

Career aspirations and interests

You need to finish with a brief statement on your career aspirations and list a few interests--despite the fact that we don't allow anyone the time or spare energy for a life outside medicine we like to pretend that it's possible. List the number of referees that they have asked for, checking in advance that they are happy to support you.

Unusual career paths

The official forms leave little leeway for those of you who have taken an unusual career path. The consultants assessing the forms have been provided with strict guidelines to score your responses. The trick is therefore to appear sufficiently conventional that you score enough points to get shortlisted, while seeming to be an exciting and adventurous individual. The boxes asking you to describe, for example, a time when you demonstrated leadership skills, are the places to be creative and interesting. Not too creative, however--a fib will almost invariably be found out, if not before the interview, then often during the course of your job, and a serious lie on a CV or application form could lead to instant dismissal.

Are you the right person for the job?

Read the person specification carefully when it is sent to you. There will be clues about the way to tailor your application for the job. If there is a significant undergraduate or nurse teaching commitment make the most of your previous experience. If you have no previous experience--go out and get some quickly. Change your CV and application content subtly for each application, making sure that yours is the "face that fits."

Update your CV

You should be updating your CV on a regular basis, not just as a last minute panic when it's time to look for a job. It should be part of a portfolio in which you keep everything relevant to your career progression and education. In addition to your CV, it should contain your logbook and copies of any papers you have published, and summaries or handouts from presentations and audits. Generate a short CV as this is always useful as well.

Sending it

Send your CV and copies of your application form to your referees in ample time for them to give you advice before the application date. The CV or application form should be submitted in good time, and send the numbers of copies for which they have asked. If you are able, take the application in yourself, or at least send it by registered delivery. Be charming to everyone you meet at your respective place of work; you never know when the receptionist who has just kept you waiting half an hour to hand over your application is in fact the chief executive who is just passing through human resources.

Sarah Burnett, consultant radiologist, St Mary's Hospital, London W2 1NY
Email: drsarah@musculoskeletal-radiology.co.uk


studentBMJ 2001;09:399-442 November ISSN 0966-6494