While many employers in the medical career industry already prefer looking up online portfolios to check if applicants are qualified for the job, creating an excellent medical CV is still important for both current and aspiring medical professionals. Your CV is a useful reference for employers when reviewing your qualifications for a promotion or a salary increase. Furthermore, Your CV doubles as a “career map” that helps you spot areas of improvement such as missing qualifications that can give you more options later on in your career.

Making your medical CV is mostly about presentations and efficiency. You don’t want a CV that’s several pages long and full of unnecessary info that you or your employers will never bother to look at. Instead, you should focus on making sure that you have all the “essentials” included. Here’s a quick rundown on what you need and a few tips on how to properly add it to your CV

1. Personal Info

The first thing anyone needs to see in your CV is your personal details, but how much of it should be on your CV? It’s not like employers will care about your marital status if they’re considering you for a job. What they do need to know is your name, your registration numbers, and how to contact you. In most cases, you shouldn’t even bother to put your gender and birthday in your CV.

Before you start putting in every number and email you have, you might want to check your communication channels first. Are you using a professional email or is it something goofy like “fluffybunny2017”? Do you have any backup contact numbers? Remember that how you maintain your communication channels also affect the way your employer will see you as a professional.

2. Career Statement

You want your employers to know which direction you’d want to take your career through your career statement. However, it’s not as easy as tacking on a typical “further improve my skills” kind of statement because employers have already seen plenty of those and it won’t help you stand out. They’re looking for what you really want for your professional life, so simply being honest (but professional) about it is the right way to go.

Focus on showcasing your goals in your career statement. Do you want to be in a leadership role in the medical field someday? Go ahead. Planning to build up qualifications to reach a point where you have good financial and job security? That’s also good. Those ones certainly look better than “I want to be a consultant”.

3. Educational Background

Employers put a very high value on educational background. The more prestigious the university, the more likely they will consider you for certain positions. Honors and awards earned during your time at school can say a lot about your character, as well as your participation in different activities that could showcase your skills.

When it comes to educational background, employers will only look at O-level, A-level, and the college where you got your degree. They don’t really need to know which kindergarten school you learned your alphabet and numbers. Also, there’s no need to include activities that are usually irrelevant to jobs in the medical field. Being prom king doesn’t really mean much when they’re considering your promotion.

4. Employment History

Depending on how long you’ve been in the medical industry, this could make up the bulk of your CV. You need to include previous jobs, internships, and even full-time charity work. Make sure you have essential details such as the start and end dates of each job, your job titles, and a brief overview of your responsibilities.

This part of the CV can be very confusing, especially for more experienced professionals with several years’ worth of experience. Make each entry as readable as possible. Use bulleted lists and use headers to help readers can quickly find the info they are looking for.

5. Achievements and Interests

Achievements earned during your working years can help convince employers to hire or promote you. However, you have to make sure that these achievements are relevant to your field of work. Certificates of participation are the most impressive ones, so make sure you include those in your medical CV.

Interests are a tricky thing to include in your CV. Employers don’t really care that much if you’re a fan of rock and roll. On the other hand, interests that showcase your analytical and leadership skills (sports are a safe choice) can leave a good impression on employers.

Your medical CV is one of the most important things you’ll ever have when working as a medical professional. As your career grows, so does your CV. Being able to include the essentials in your CV will help you keep your career from reaching a standstill.