Processes FAQs

Please see below - the 16 specialties participating in ST3 recruitment 2012 are using the below models:

Single cascadable application (SCA) model

• acute internal medicine
• cardiovascular medicine
• endocrinology & diabetes
• gastroenterology
• geriatric medicine
• infectious diseases
• neurology
• respiratory medicine.

2 applications-per-specialty model

• dermatology
• haematology
• palliative medicine
• renal medicine
• rheumatology.

National application model

• clinical pharmacology & therapeutics (CPT)
• genitourinary medicine (GUM)
• rheumatology.

No! In fact, this will increase the chances of you getting an interview.

Due to limited interview capacity (ie it is not possible to offer all candidates 2 interviews in the specialty), in the ‘old’ method, the higher ranking candidates obtained two interviews, and the lower ranking (but eligible) candidates are excluded before the interview.

For example cardiovascular medicine was so oversubscribed that only the top quartile of applicants were interviewed (other specialties interviewed the top half) thus excluding many good candidates. Naturally this was very disappointing for candidates that scored well but choose particularly competitive deaneries.

It was felt that when interview capacity was so oversubscribed, it was unfair to allow candidates two interviews when (obviously) they can only accept one job. To allow more candidates the opportunity to interview means that deaneries can see a broader range of candidates.

For candidates, this means that if your application score is in the lower range (and this applies to half of the eligible candidates), you are much more likely to receive an invitation to interview in this new process.

The chart below shows that, in most cases in 2011, interview capacity was greater than the number of candidates. So in theory, most candidates could have had an interview. However, more often than not the top third got two interviews, while the rest got one or none.

Having one interview means that we can move a lot closer to inviting the majority of eligible candidates to interview. In fact, we predict that some specialties may be able to interview all eligible candidates, which is good news for candidates and recruiting deaneries alike.

2011 application numbers (round 1)

• [NB - infectious diseases did not take part in RCP-coordinated national recruitment last year, hence comparable data is not available.]

For each specialty the RCP-SRO will run an algorithm to determine which deanery your application will be assessed by; this will be based on your application short-list score, and will be run in the first week of applications closing.

If you don't get an interview invitation straight away, don’t panic. Deaneries are doing many interviews over this period and if your interview is not for a few weeks you may not get an invitation straight away.

It should be noted that within a deanery, a relatively high-scoring cascaded candidate who has given that deanery as second/third/etc. preference may displace a lower-scoring candidate who selected that deanery as first-choice.

A typical scenario is: London can interview all applicants to endocrinology and diabetes with a short-list score of 40 or more, but those with a score of 39 or less are cascaded to other deaneries/UoAs. These candidates with relatively good scores may displace first choice candidates to that UoA, who then get cascaded.

To try and guard against this as much as possible, we have asked each deanery to maximise their interview capacity, taking into account the number of posts to which they plan to recruit.

If the RCP-SRO hasn’t been able to match you to a deanery based on your score and preferences we will contact you directly to go through your options. These will vary depending on the specialty.

Within the RCP system you can make a maximum of six applications in 2012.  This means that you could make six applications to six different specialties; or if a specialty allows you to make two applications, you could use two for that specialty while using your other 4 applications for other specialties. Our records show that the majority of applicants made on average two applications in previous years. Making a lot of applications does not necessarily help your chances of getting a post - it is more important to concentrate on deciding which specialty and deanery you wish to apply for, and then optimising your application.

Candidates can also as many applications as they wish on non-RCP systems.

Plus, candidates can apply separately to Scotland and Northern Ireland. The one exception to this is that Northern Ireland ST3 posts in palliative medicine will be recruited to via the RCP-SRO process, and hence an application to N Ireland palliative medicine will be counted as one of the maximum six applications available.

In the event that a candidate's application has not scored highly enough for them to be invited to interview at their first-choice deanery/UoA, their application will then be cascaded to their second-choice deanery/UoA - and so on.

Once all applications have been allocated to a deanery/UoA preference via the above process, deaneries/UoAs will then begin inviting candidates to interview. This may not happen straight away if the interview is not for a few weeks.

If a candidate has not been matched to one of their preferences, as they have not made the minimum score for any of their four deanery choices, we will try and match them to a deanery that has capacity to interview them, if they make the minimum score. We will contact the candidate and offer them any remaining slots.

In this case you only need to make one preference; however this may limit your chances of getting an interview. For example, if you apply to cardiovascular medicine in London only, but your achievement score is at the lower end, you may not get offered an interview.

Once you have been cascaded to a deanery you will remain at that deanery and will only get an offer from them. You will not get the opportunity to upgrade your offer to a higher preference.

No, they won’t – that would be deemed unfair practice. The deanery and interviewers will therefore treat all applications they receive, and applicants they interview, as if all of them have selected their deanery as first-choice.

This year, we have published the breakdown of how achievement scores are calculated. These can be used to estimate your achievement score, and compare this against the range of scores that were noted in 2011.

To view the 2012 ST3 application scoring breakdown, please visit the scoring page of this website.

For information on application form scores from 2011 ST3 recruitment round 1, please visit the SL scores (R1) page of this website.

Please be aware that the range of scores may vary from year to year, so do use this information with caution.