How to Write a Medical CV
3 min read·Updated 6 Nov 2025
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. Medical selection is largely scored against a published person specification, with points available for degrees, publications, presentations, audit, teaching and quality improvement. A four-to-six page CV is normal; compressing it to two pages removes the material being scored.
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?
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.