Medicine

Medicine is a vocational degree and studying medicine will allow you to develop many professional and clinical capabilities specific to medicine as well as the professional qualities and behaviour to be a caring doctor. You also develop a range of useful skills. The most obvious are clinical and practical skills but you also develop more abstract skills through your course, such as critical appraisal, observation, listening, logical reasoning and decision making. All these skills are crucial when working as a doctor, but they can be just as useful in work outside mainstream medicine.  You should consider these skills developed on your course as well as through your other activities, such as paid work, volunteering, family responsibilities, sport, membership of societies, leadership roles, etc. Think about how these can be used as evidence of your skills and personal attributes. Then you can start to market and sell who you really are, identify what you may be lacking and consider how to improve your profile.

Working as a Clinical Advisor

See the full video at Careers4U

Prospects

All UK medical graduates must undertake the two-year Foundation Programme in order to practise medicine in the UK. They then undergo run-through training, lasting several years, choosing to specialise either in general practice or a specialty. The length of this training varies on the specialty undertaken. Check the NHS Medical Careers  website for details of routes into various medical specialisms.

A 2010 HESA survey of medical graduates indicated that, six months after graduation, 95% had found employment either in the UK or overseas, and almost all had found work in the health sector.

However, a few graduates each year consider careers outside medicine. Some relate this to their (optional) intercalated honours degree. Recent examples include higher education lecturing, management consultancy, teaching (secondary biology and primary), sports development, recruitment consultancy, scientific research and journalism. Even if considering a career change, most graduates complete at least year one of the Foundation Programme, which allows them to register with the General Medical Council (GMC). See the Support4Doctors  website for information on alternative careers.

Where are the jobs?

Most doctors work within trusts of The National Health Service (NHS). There are also opportunities for those wishing to practise medicine in the armed forces, overseas aid agencies, prisons, hospital/research institutes, clinical trial organisations, private healthcare establishments, residential nursing homes, air ambulance services and university teaching.

If you are considering a change of career direction, you may find opportunities in a wide range of settings including local and national government, finance, the media, education and law.

Jobs directly related to your degree

There are over 60 specialties in medicine, including general practice. Information can be found about each on the NHS Careers website.

• General practice doctor
• Hospital doctor
• Community health doctor

Jobs where your degree would be useful

• Clinical molecular geneticist
• Health Service manager management of hospital, general practitioner (GP) and community health services.
• Health promotion specialist
• International aid/development worker
• Research scientist (life science)
• Higher education lecturer
• Management consultant
• Scientific journalist
• Non-commercial solicitor

Although some of the jobs listed here might not be first jobs for many graduates, they are among the many realistic possibilities with your degree, provided you can demonstrate you have the attributes employers are looking for. Bear in mind that it's not just your degree discipline that determines your options. Remember that many graduate vacancies don't specify particular degree disciplines, so don't restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here.

You can find more about the skills you develop during your course, the jobs listed above, plus case studies and where to find these jobs at Prospects.

Included with the permission of AGCAS. For the latest version of this publication, see www.prospects.ac.uk. For permission to reproduce, contact copyright@agcas.org.uk