Resume: Creating a Medical CV

Laura Brammar:

Being able to provide evidence of skills and abilities is vital in order to produce an excellent CV… It is not enough to simply list your experience; instead you need to provide examples of when you have used the core skills required for the post. Many applicants fail to provide the best example of the highlighted skill as the information gets lost in a long chronological record of previous roles and rotations.

Below is an outline of the common sections, in order, found on a medical CV

• Personal details – Name, Contact details—telephone; email, General Medical Council registration number and national training number, Medical Defence Union number
• Career statement – Focus on the goals that you have for yourself in certain aspects of your professional life and keep it short and simple.
• Education and qualifications – University (medical degree, awards, prizes and scholarships, intercalated degree)
• Present position
• Career history (ensure that any gaps in employment are accounted for)
• Clinical skills and experience
• Management and leadership experience
• Interests
• Referees – Always secure agreement from your proposed referees before listing their details on your CV, and provide them with a job description and recent CV to help them to write a focused reference.

Take care with dates and make sure any gaps are accounted for.

Medical CV writing skills [BMJ Careers]

The Cost of Residency Application

From MedObsession…

Application Fees

• $290 – ERAS fee for 30 programs in 1 specialty ($60 for 10 programs, $8 each for 11-20, $15 each for 21-30)
• $60 – USMLE transcript fee
• $40 – NRMP registration fee

Transportation

• $2069 – 10 plane flights (it pays to cluster interviews regionally if you can)
• $141 – rental car for 2 days (in a city where I had 2 interviews and 2 socials to attend)
• $78 – cab/airport shuttle fares (share cabs where you can, or book round trip shuttles to save)
• $34 – parking fees for the 2 programs that didn’t reimburse (UCSF and UCLA)

Hotels

• $266 – 3 hotel nights (roommates and Inns cut costs)

Grand Total

$2978

The Cost of Applying to Residency [MedObsession]

Top 10 Most Common Residency Interview Questions

Ben Bryner shares the most common questions from residency interviewing…

10. What do you do in your spare time?
9.  Tell me about your research.
8.  Why do you want to be a surgeon?
7.  What separates you from all the other applicants / What do you bring to the table / Why should we take you over someone else?
6.  What are you looking for in a training program?
5.  Do you know [some person at my home institution]?
4.  If you suddenly became unable to perform any kind of surgery, what would you do instead?
3.  What other programs have you interviewed at?
2.  Tell me about yourself.
here it is…number one…wait for it….
1.  Where do you see yourself in 10 (or 15) years?

Step into my office [The Differential]

Residency Interviews – What to Expect

Interviewing for any job can be stressful. Residency interviews may be on a whole different level.

Although most of my interviews were get-to-know-each-other type of affairs I was, at times, ‘pimped’ on clinical scenarios, asked to read CT and MRI scans, and even had my dexterity tested.

in the specialty I’m trying to enter, the average medical student went on more than 14 interviews. Like for in many job interviews, each residency interview is a full day, often a multi-day affair. 14 job interviews is a lot. Perhaps more telling, it isn’t unheard of to talk with 15+ individuals at a single interview.

The entire interview process, including any potential second looks, is largely self funded… It’s an investment in your future of course and so I think most applicants take the debt with grace. And most medical students are used to debt; another $10,000 is just something to shrug at…unfortunately. Still, it is a little eyebrow raising.

Interviewing For Residency [from Medskool]

Residency Interviewing Advice

Ben Bryner:

One of the other questions that I’ve been told to prepare for is “What kind of people do you have the hardest time working with?” Obviously, this is a trap. (The old tried-and-true trap question, “What are your weaknesses?” is now such a cliché that I haven’t heard anyone ask it.) So when someone asks you what kind of people are difficult to work with, you can’t give the correct answer (“People that are both mean and stupid”). But this is fine, because the interviewer’s point in asking the question is not to obtain information (everybody knows the right answer) but to see how you think.

one way I’ve answered the question is to say that as a medical student, people who don’t give you a chance to get involved are the toughest ones to work with.

By answering this way I hope to show the interviewer that I like getting involved, am a team player, and will be interested in teaching students when I’m a resident. I have no idea if this comes across the way I mean it

Surgery, Interviews, and Rock ‘n Roll [The Differential]

Building a Successful Resume for Residency

the page should have more blank space than text. Wall-to-wall print is overwhelming and difficult to read. If you have a lot of accomplishments, that’s great. But be sure that the ones you are trying to highlight are not lost in a big list. Don’t include anything on your CV that you would not want to become the main focus of an interview.

In most cases, CVs are now submitted online through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). This means that you must format your CV within the confines of the ERAS format. You can familiarize yourself with this format by using the MyERAS Application Worksheet

The ERAS application is divided into these categories: Education, Experience (Work, Research, or Volunteer), Publications, Languages, Hobbies and Interests, Awards, Accomplishments, and Memberships in Honorary or Professional Societies. Developing experiences within each of these categories will help you produce a successful CV.

How Can I Develop a Good CV for Residency? [Medscape]