Reflecting on your learning may be quite new to you; therefore you may find this short guide useful to you. Reflecting will aid your learning as the more you think about the concepts and issues in your role and connect them to what you know and see around you, the more you will remember and learn. Reflective writing is the expression of some of the mental processes of reflection. It is a technique that will be invaluable to you in completing your e-portfolio.

Reflective writing usually involves:

• looking back at an event (e.g. something that has happened at work) or at one of your assessments. It is often also useful to reflect forward to the future as well as reflecting back to the past
• analysing the event or idea. Thinking in depth and from different perspectives and trying to explain them. It is an exploration and explanation of events, not just a description of them
• thinking carefully about what the event or idea means for you and your ongoing progress as a practising professional. This includes what you would do differently, if anything, next time.

Reflective writing is therefore more personal than other types of academic writing. It is important to use the first person – ‘I’.

One of the benefits of reflecting writing is that often writing something down can also help you to be clearer in your mind about an event. For example, if you are doing a presentation or some teaching, as well as describing the event you may want to evaluate your performance by questioning yourself and perhaps by challenging yourself. Others might have different views of the same event, so you may also consider the performance of others etc. On considering your own reaction to your writing you may even change the manner in which you have initially viewed the situation and written about it.

It is important to pitch your writing knowing that is it likely that someone else will be looking at it. It is usual to share your portfolio with your educational supervisor, although you are not required to show all of it. Your educational supervisor will also be able to give you some help and guidance on how you can develop your portfolio.

Keeping your portfolio up-to-date is essential as it is used as evidence for your end of year sign off, so don’t be tempted to leave off filling everything in until the last minute. From a careers perspective your portfolio is absolutely essential - you will often be asked to show some of your portfolio in a specialty interview. We have further information below in this guide on how to present your portfolio in an interview.

The South West Peninusula Deanery/ AGCAS DVD which we have mentioned in the resources pages of this site has a whole section on presenting your portfolio at an interview. Here are our notes from the video:

You need to be aware that interviewers will already have had access to your portfolio prior to interview and so firstly you need to make sure your portfolio is:

• Neat, handwriting legible
• Easy to follow (e.g. contents page etc)
• Not missing anything
• Well structured and organised.

The portfolio will help the interviewer form an impression and from it you will know whether you have completed required tasks and if you are competent.

The portfolio should include the following:

• A contents page
• A summary CV
• A full CV

Throughout the portfolio you ‘should highlight your commitment to the specialty you have chosen’ (The South West Peninsular Deanery/ AGCAS , 2008) and know when and where to refer to it if asked. You should demonstrate to the interviewer that you understand what you need to do to achieve your goals.

Preparation is very important. For example, before the interview, you should consider two or three strong points about your portfolio that you would like the panel to be aware of and highlight how it relates to the specialty to which you are applying.  The questions that are asked may be quite general so you will need to try and incorporate them into your answers.  The panel may also ask about the weak points of the portfolio, so you also need to consider this. 

You need to be prepared for questions about your portfolio and what you have done.  They may ask you about your feelings in certain situations.  Practising as much as possible will help with this and will help you to relax and stay calm during the interview.

Preparing your Portfolio for interviews –

Many specialty interviews now have a portfolio station. It’s a good idea to prepare your portfolio early, as this can refresh your memory and give you ideas for your application. Preparing your portfolio is a very time-consuming process.

Many thanks go to Dr Ben Wildblood, an F2 in 2011/12, for reviewing the following article and for making suggestions.

10 tips for preparing your portfolio:

1. Add to your portfolio every week; don’t leave it to the last minute.
2. Look at the requirements from the college and the deanery to which you are applying. These will be published a month or so before the recruitment round opens and will usually give you instructions on layout and order.
3. Be organised, make sure everything is in the right section. Organise a paper copy of your portfolio:

• Buy a quality ring-binder.
• Consider using clear plastic pockets – put the pages in back to back – this looks nice and it is easy for the interview panel members to thumb through. The panel should not need to take any sheets out of the pockets.
• Use a contents page with a tab system, using dividers which are wider than the main content, so that the panel can speedily get to the relevant pages

4.   If there are no guidelines from the college or deanery that is leading on the recruitment here are two suggested ways to organise your portfolio:

• using sections in the order that they were mentioned in your application (this could look like an expanded CV)
• using the headings from the GMC Good practice guide.

N.B. Very important first to check and follow any Deanery/Royal College instructions (as per point 2 above).

5.    Use reflective language (for more detail see above heading 'reflecting')

6.    Include your CV and a copy of your application form; make this the first section of your portfolio after your contents page.

7.    Personal Development Plan – Make this a section of your portfolio and make sure your goals have a specific timescale. Use SMART goals.

8.    The portfolio is a way of displaying evidence for courses/exams/audits etc that you have claimed during the application.  You need to present evidence for everything you have claimed in the white-space area of the application. Therefore it is best to concentrate on this evidence, and then add additional achievements as desired. Also bear in mind the person specification for the specialty.

Types of items to include in your portfolio:

• teaching sessions with feedback received;
• certificates of courses

o   degrees

o   diplomas

o   prizes

o   other relevant courses.

•  documents you have used to record your foundation competencies e.g. your DOPs, mini-cex etc. N.B. It is a good idea to have done more than the minimum. That way you can include those that you are especially proud of and that indicate an improvement over time.
• printouts of audits, presentations and publications. Include reflections and feedback.
•  emails of impending audits and publications
• feedback, thank you letters and emails of praise from your colleagues or patients.
• your achievements from medical school. Allow time to chase letters of recommendation and evidence, if you do not have these to hand.

N.B. Don’t overfill your portfolio, the selection centre panel should be able to absorb the contents rapidly and easily.

9.    If you are applying for more than one specialty you should have different portfolios for different applications. They will need to contain different material and may need to be ordered distinctly.

10.  Make sure you know your portfolio inside out. You should be prepared to answer questions such as:

• What does your portfolio say about you?
• How does your portfolio show your key skills and strengths?
• How does your portfolio show your commitment to this specialty?

Adapted from: Lim, D (2011). How to get a Specialty Training Post: the insider’s guide, Published by Oxford University Press

In order to demonstrate your commitment to specialty you could also print off and add to your portfolio some of the self-assessment exercises that you have completed on this website.

Some interesting articles on the BMJ careers website:

• The e-portfolio and Building a portfolio.
• Tips on…Reflective writing
• Developing your portfolio and CV to pursue a career in surgery