Applications!

Before we broke up for Christmas we had 2 group work sessions on careers and applying for speciality positions. We were given the opportunity to think about what things were important to us in the first session – whether it was things like location, money, work-life balance, being in a management position, research, and many more. We all had a completely different list of things, and it was interesting to hear what everyone thought.

The second session looked more at applying for jobs. We were given a list of the applications per job for last year, and could see which specialities were the most competitive. We also looked at how many people applied for multiple specialities, and how many applied for GP alongside a hospital-based career.

The main idea of these sessions however was for us to start thinking about what we can be doing now that will tick off boxes in our applications later on. It was encouraging to see that a lot of the skills that we need evidence of we have already been doing, or could easily start doing. For example, evidence of working in a team can be shown from our CBL sessions.

In September we will have our second Student Selected Component (SSC) opportunity, and this time we are to each take on a research project. This will tick off another box or two! We can choose whether we want to do lab-based research, perhaps questionnaires in patient experience, or an audit for example. We also have the option to either select a project from a list that the university has created and found for us, or arrange and come up with a project ourselves. This allows us to find something that we are really interested in, and even tailored towards possible career paths.

As I am interested in potentially doing Paediatrics, I would love to do a project in that area. Even though a lot of the things we need to check off on the application forms are generic, it would look great if I did end up applying as it would show an ongoing interest. This was one of things that they suggested to us in the sessions – if you have an idea of what area you’d like to go into then we should make the most of any opportunity to show an interest. This could be attending a talk or conference, writing an essay or doing a poster, or perhaps even choosing your elective in that area.

Another great way to show interest is also to be a part of that speciality’s society. A lot of the societies are looking for a new committee at the moment as the final year students are preparing to hand over and leave. Being able to write that you held a committee position would not just look good for showing a keen interest but also help demonstrate different levels of responsibility.

Even though we still have a way to go, it is helpful to have an idea of what to expect in the future and perhaps begin to prepare. It is crazy how fast this term is going already!

Megan Earle : 06 Feb 2015 11:35 |  Tags: Mbchb Paediatrics Patients Rachel Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem