This is where medical students and doctors in training address the fundamental questions, “Who am I?” and “What do I want from my medical career?” Students and trainees can register themselves on this website and can complete detailed self-assessments of a variety of factors including personal influences, work values, interests, personality and skills. Through this, answers to these questions will begin to emerge. Results from these activities will be automatically stored in a confidential personal profile, which can be used during the subsequent career planning stages.

Trainee doctors will have a portfolio to help with self-assessment, you should always ask them to bring their portfolios with them when you are meeting with them. The foundation trainee portfolio has a section on career management.

Medical students and doctors in training will learn about the importance of research in helping them to choose their specialty. They will find out where to look and what to look for, including where to find the most relevant publications and how to track down the most informative contacts.

The detailed information on the specialty pages on this website will help medical students and trainees. It will also be beneficial to direct both students and trainees to their University/Education Centre libraries which will have useful careers guides.
If foundation trainees want to apply post-foundation to a specialty in which they have not had a rotation, they should be encouraged to try tasters and/or to complete audits. See Guidance on Tasters for Foundation Trainees published on the UKFPO website.

With a good understanding of themselves and their career options, students and doctors in training will be ready to start making some solid career decisions. This section walks them through how to align their self-assessment with what they have learned about the different specialties in order to make their choice.

At this stage it is important to check back to ensure that medical students and trainees have thoroughly completed stages 1 and 2.  You should check the robustness of their decision-making by asking them questions about their decision and challenging them where necessary – see section V in ROADS to Success (Reid and Elton, 2008)

It is also important that medical students and trainees also have a back-up plan in case they are unsuccessful in achieving their first choice option. They may not want to consider this and in the end it is their own choice. If they are reluctant to do so, you can always point out that research by Borges et al in 2004 has suggested that it is a myth that each trainee is only suited to one particular specialty. Some trainees at this stage may require specialist careers advice.

This final stage provides practical advice for getting into specialty training, including how to make the most of your experience in CVs and tips for success at interviews and assessment centres.

You should encourage foundation trainees and trainees getting into further specialty training to follow the detailed advice that is given in the plan implementation area of this website.

The following are some good questions to ask your trainee about application forms:

• Are you clear that you are going to meet the application deadlines?
• Have you checked that your answers tally with the specific criteria as outlined in the person specification? (But, equally, have you made sure that your answers do not involve simply repeating the wording of the person specification on your actual application form?)
• Have you checked and re-checked your spelling and grammar?

The following are some good questions to ask your trainee about interviews:

• Have you thought about the questions that you are highly likely to be asked, and planned some strong answers? (You can then discuss these)
• Have you prepared a small number of examples (taken from your learning portfolio) that clearly demonstrate your key skills and abilities? Have you also prepared some suitable examples in case you are asked about areas in which you are weaker, or about mistakes that you have made in the past? (And, again you can discuss these).
• What specific concerns do you have about the interview process? How are you intending to address these concerns? Who else could help you?