How to Write a Medical CV
4 min read·Updated 30 Sept 2026
A medical CV is not a shorter version of a commercial CV with clinical words in it. It is a different document with different conventions, and the people reading it know exactly what should be present.
The most important structural difference is length, and the reason is that clinical selection runs against a published person specification rather than against a reader’s impression. NHS England publishes one for each specialty and entry level, and the current Internal Medicine Training CT1 specification shows how carefully they are worded. An "understanding of the basic principles of audit, clinical risk management, evidence-based practice, patient safety, and clinical quality improvement initiatives" is listed as essential. "Experience of audit and quality improvement", "evidence of postgraduate study", "evidence of research achievements, e.g. publications, presentations and posters" and "evidence of teaching feedback" are listed as desirable. Checked 2026-09-30.
Two things follow, and both are commonly got the wrong way round. The first is that essential and desirable are different claims: the understanding has to be demonstrable, while the portfolio of audits, publications and teaching strengthens an application rather than qualifying it. The second is that the specification publishes no points tariff, so a CV built to score against an imagined table is written for a document that does not exist. What the CV has to do is make each criterion findable, and the criteria themselves differ by specialty and by recruitment year — read the one you are applying to. That is why a four-to-six page clinical CV is normal, and why compressing it to two removes the material a reader is going down a list looking for.
Everything on a clinical CV must be exactly true. Registration status, procedures, supervision levels and certification are all verifiable through references, portfolios and public registers, and a discrepancy is a professional matter rather than a recruitment one.
The expected sections
- Personal details and registration — regulator, status and registration number where it is conventional to give it.
- Medical education — institution, dates, distinctions and prizes.
- Clinical posts — grade, specialty, unit, dates, and supervising consultant where appropriate.
- Rotations — listed individually with duration in months.
- Clinical competencies and procedures — with the correct supervision level for each.
- Audit and quality improvement — ideally showing a completed cycle.
- Research and publications.
- Presentations and conferences — separating invited from contributed.
- Teaching experience.
- Certifications — life support, with expiry dates.
- Professional memberships.
- References — normally two or three named clinical referees.
Rotations: give the duration
Selection processes count months of exposure in a specialty. A merged block of rotations loses you credit you have actually earned.
Weak
Completed rotations in Medicine, Surgery, Paediatrics and Obstetrics.
Stronger
General Medicine, 3 months (July–September 2024): managed a ward caseload of 12 to 15 inpatients under consultant supervision, including daily review, investigation planning and discharge documentation.
Specialty, duration, caseload and supervision level — the four facts a clinical reviewer is looking for, and the duration is what gets counted.
Audit: close the loop
A single data collection and a completed audit cycle are scored very differently, and the difference is easy to state. Give the standard you audited against, the sample size, the baseline finding, the change you introduced and the re-audit result.
Weak
Carried out an audit on antibiotic prescribing.
Stronger
Completed a two-cycle audit of surgical antibiotic prophylaxis timing against local guidelines (n=120). The first cycle found 41% of doses given outside the recommended window; after a theatre checklist prompt was introduced, re-audit at four months showed compliance at 86%.
A closed loop with a measured improvement. Very few applicants at foundation level can show this, which is exactly why it stands out.
Procedures: use the right language
There is a real and important difference between performing a procedure independently, performing it under direct supervision, performing it under indirect supervision, and assisting. Use the correct term for each, and make sure your logbook agrees with your CV.
Approximate numbers from your logbook are more credible than adjectives. "Approximately 200 peripheral cannulations, independently following supervised sign-off" says more than "highly experienced in cannulation".
Registration for international graduates
State your current registration and jurisdiction, then your exact position on the registration route for the country you are applying to, including any examinations passed, booked or outstanding.
Ambiguity here causes more delay than an incomplete route does. A recruiter who cannot tell whether you can legally start work will move on to an application where they can.
What to include if you are early in training
- Undergraduate prizes, distinctions and elective placements still count.
- Posters and departmental presentations are legitimate academic output — list them.
- Teaching a weekly bedside session for students is real teaching experience. Include feedback scores if you have them.
- A single-cycle audit is worth including, described accurately as a single cycle.
Questions
How long should a medical CV be?
Should I include references?
Can I use a two-column design?
Going further
Articles that work through one part of this guide in more detail.
The same structure, applied to a field
Each of these works through a complete fictional CV for that profession, including the conventions where the general advice above does not hold.
- MBBS DoctorA post-internship clinical CV laid out so an eligibility check can find each criterion: registration and licence, months per specialty, one audit cycle described end to end.
- House Officer / House Job DoctorA first-post clinical CV where the rotations, the supervised procedure log and the audit are the whole substance.
- BDS / DentistA dental CV organised around registration, clinical procedures performed, case volumes and continuing professional development.
- Nurse / Clinical ProfessionalA nursing CV built around registration, clinical setting, competencies signed off and the acuity of the patients you care for.
Put this into practice
The editor keeps your CV as structured content, so the section order and wording decisions in this guide are easy to apply and easy to change again.