For Trainers

Consultants, educational supervisors and local faculty have a key role to play in supporting trainees with career thinking and decisions:

• The GMC's "Promoting Excellence" standard (R3.2) states that trainees "must have access to careers advice and support".  Educators providing career support can also use this as evidence for GMC Recognition of Trainers, Domain 6: Guiding Personal & Professional Development
• The Foundation Curriculum directs F1/2 doctors to "discuss how to achieve career ambitions with the educational supervisor"
• The HEE Medical and Dental Careers Strategy (2016) states that"doctors in training go to senior colleagues clinical and educational supervisors and consultants for careers advice and these groups should be trained and supported to give appropriate advice".
• The NHS Wales "Together we care" Framework (2017) embeds medical career, support and widening access with its action plan for future workforce development

This page provides resources, guides and tools to help you develop a well-informed picture of the current landscape of medical careers and to structure your careers conversations with trainees.  The other tabs in the Careers pages contain a range of documents, links and resources (Exploring and Planning, Jobs and Applications, Careers Guidance).

Where do you fit into the landscape of career support?  See our interactive Career Support Navigation Guide - click on a role to see who can best help with different career needs.   This short video will also help you to know the best people and resources to signpost trainees to, depending on whether they are Decided on their plan, Exploring options or Rethinking their career.

If you would like us to talk with a trainee who you think needs an impartial careers conversation, see our guide on Signposting or Referring a Trainee to Careers. They can contact us directly on pgmedicalcareers@cardiff.ac.uk and can send (optionally) some background to us on this request form.

Key reports

• The 2016 review by the GMC into improving career flexibility, with plans for change by 2020

• Find out what GMC data tells us about career movements of doctors progressing through training

• Read the annual GMC State of Medical Education and Practice report to see career demographics and trends

• What do F2s do next? View annual UKFPO Destination Reports and see the current work the GMC are doing to track patterns of exit and return to Training Pathways

• HEE Commissioning and Investment Plan: annual report, including latest data on likley increases/decreases in posts in England

• Shape of training website - for news and updates

• A range of studies by the UK medical research unit into aspects of medical careers, including longitudinal cohort studies.  See a complete bibliography here

• BMA cohort studies - tracking careers of a group of medical graduates from 2006

• See the work the MSC are doing to support the widening particpation agenda through their Selection Alliance

Careers conversation tools

• Careers decision timeline - encourages structured reflection on past decisions: Career timeline

• Career kitbag - helps focus on immediate decisions: Career kitbag

• Push or pull - prompts reflection on current factors influencing career thinking: Push or pull

• Career reflection pro forma - helps to guide students and trainees with career reflection on jobs or placements: Recording career insights

'How To' guides:

• How to support trainee doctors with their career

• How to make sense of medical career pathways

• How to be a good mentor

• How to coach at work

Internal (& Wales) links

• Explore locations, health boards and hospitals in Wales

• Find Welsh Government stats and data relating to NHS Health stats Wales.

• NHS Wales Careers - hosted by WEDS, covering all health professions

External career support links

• Health careers website: all aspects of UK NHS and medical careers, with a comprehensive section for doctors

• BMA careers service - careers advice, support, resources, webinars for BMA members

Visual and virtual resources

• Webcasts to help preparation for ST recruitment

• Interactive UK medical careers map

 Miss the UK Medical Careers Conference in Cardiff City Hall on 1st March 2018?   To see plenary talks, view presentations and workshops, visit our Conference page.