Recruitment process

Before you begin an application to ST3 in 2012, there are some resources that you should view in preparation. Firstly, for information on medical recruitment generally, visit the DH medical specialty training office website. For information on the training aspects of each specialty programme, visit the JRCPTB website (Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board).

More specifically, for information on the processes of application and recruitment to the 16 specialties participating in coordinated ST3 recruitment in 2012 (see below), we advise reviewing the relevant information on this website in advance of beginning an application, so as to gain a useful overview of the recruitment process as a whole.

Please also view our applicants' guide - available for (free) download from the documents section of this website.

In 2010, Royal College of Physicians (London) specialty recruitment office (RCP-SRO) was requested to pilot a nationally-coordinated (England, Scotland, Wales) process of recruitment to ST3 posts, in the specialties of cardiology (now cardiovascular medicine), endocrinology/diabetes, gastroenterology, geriatric medicine and renal medicine; using similar techniques and processes which had been used in recruitment to CMT since 2008-09.

As with the CMT recruitment process, the pilot progressed successfully, in terms of reducing workload for applicants and recruiters alike, while improving fairness, transparency, consistency, and fill rates across specialties. As a result of this success, more medical specialties have since joined the RCP-SRO ST3 recruitment process.

The process (which is examined further on this page) involves the use of an online application system which candidates can complete, followed by a standardised interview process, before candidates are made offers based on the scores awarded to them for their application and their interview performance.

Which specialties and deaneries/UoAs are participating in SRO-hosted recruitment?

You should be aware that there are very stringent eligibility rules governing recruitment to all medical training programmes in the UK, and ST3 programmes are no different. As such, it is crucial to ensure you are eligible (or will be eligible) for a post before you begin an application to ST3.

When judging your eligibility, the first thing you should do is to view the relevant 2012 person specification for any ST3 specialty/ies to which you are keen to apply. These can be viewed at the DH medical specialty training office website at this link.

To be eligible for an ST3 post within a particular specialty, you will need to meet - and be able to demonstrate that you meet - each of the items listed as 'essential' requirements in the relevant person specification. Each of these items, and candidate eligibility more generally, is examined in more detail in the eligibility page of this website.

One particular point of note within all 16 of the participating specialties is that all candidates must have gained the full MRCP(UK) diploma by the time they wish to take up an ST3 post (August 2012 in most cases). More information on this can also be found on the dedicated eligibility page of this website.

The UK is divided up into regions which are responsible for recruitment to training posts - these are referred to as 'units of application' (UoAs) - these are listed above (under the 'what is SRO-hosted recruitment' heading).

For the most part, these areas are divided up along the same borders as UK 'deaneries', ie the bodies responsible for organising medical training in each different region; hence we usually refer to these as 'deaneries/UoAs'. However, there will be some instances where, in a particular specialty, a deanery may be divided into smaller areas for recruitment purposes - such as the East Midlands Deanery being split into 'North' and 'South' UoAs.

Conversely, in some specialties, posts may 'overarch' across deanery borders; and so in these cases, a UoA such as 'London/KSS' would be one single option for application, rather than two separate ones.

In addition, in 2012 deanery clustering within specialty recruitment will be more common. Here, neighbouring deaneries within a particular region merge to form one single unit of application for the purposes of recruitment - such as the Mersey and North Western deaneries merging to form the 'North Western' UoA in rheumatology, for example.

More information on each of these deaneries/UoAs can be found in the deaneries/UoAs area of this website, as well as on the website of each deanery - links to these websites can be found on the relevant pages of the Deaneries/UoAs section, as well as the deanery/UoA contacts page here. In addition, each specialty page will contain information on how England & Wales is divided up into UoAs for that particular specialty.

As for factors to consider when making your decision as to which deaneries/UoAs to apply to; it is likely that you will already have personal/professional reasons for selecting certain areas. However, other factors you may wish to bear in mind when applying are the available post numbers in different deaneries/UoAs for each specialty, which can be seen on each post numbers page, along with the interview dates for each deanery/UoA recruiting to posts in that specialty.

More detailed information on the application/recruitment process timeline, including on each stage involved, can be found on the timeline page of this website.

Applying to posts within the ST3 recruitment process is done via an online application system, which can be accessed via this website. A button to access the system will be made available on the homepage of this site once applications are open. To register, you will need an email address that you check regularly, and a password.

Please note that it is not necessary - nor will it be possible - to register with the system prior to the application opening date. Once the system can be accessed, registration will likely take around five minutes at most.

In 2012, there will be some variations in how the recruitment to, and application for, certain specialty posts will be handled, depending on choice of specialty.

For more information on the recruitment processes involved for different specialties, please visit the recruitment models page of this website.

For more information on the application system and form, please visit the application form section of this website, and also our applicants' guide (which will be available from the homepage and documents section of this site).

NB - each and every application you submit via the SRO-hosted process will be treated independently. If you were to submit two applications, for instance, these would be treated as if they had come from two separate people; deanery/UoA recruitment staff will not be aware of any other applications you make.

Once you have submitted an application, you will receive an automatic email from the system to confirm submission. The next stages of the recruitment process are the 'long-listing' and 'short-listing' of applications received by each deanery/UoA and specialty.

Long-listing

Here, deanery/UoA recruiters will check through each application received within a specialty, verifying that it meets all of the essential eligibility criteria laid out in that specialty's person specification. Here it will be established whether each application is eligible for an ST3 post in the specialty. During this period, you may be contacted by a deanery/UoA requesting further information on/clarification of certain points on your application, to allow your eligibility to be better established.

Any candidate whose application is found to be ineligible at this, or any subsequent stage of the recruitment process will be notified immediately that their application has been rejected on the grounds of ineligibility, and will not progress any further.

NB - applications made to specialties using the SCA model of recruitment will be assessed for long-listing by the deanery/UoA ranked as first-choice preference in each case.

Short-listing

Where an application is adjudged to be eligible, it will progress on to short-listing. Here, applications will be checked, scored and ranked according to their content - ie a candidate's experience, achievements, qualifications, etc.

Ranking & invitation to interview

At this point, the different recruitment models diverge slightly in how applications progress. Essentially, for specialties in the 2 application model and natonal model, each individual deanery/UoA ranks the applications they have received in order of short-list score, and invites candidates from the highest-scoring downwards; and so on through the ranking.

For those specialties within the SCA model of recruitment, however, all applications are ranked nationally; and invitations are extended to candidates on that basis. So the highest-scoring candidate of all within an 'SCA model' specialty will be invited to her/his first-choice deanery/UoA preference; then the second-highest ranked candidate will be invited to their first-choice preference. If a candidate comes to be invited to a deanery/UoA, but their first-choice preference is full, they are invited to their second-choice; and so on. This will continue until interview capacity is full and/or all candidates have been invited within that specialty.

In all models, where candidates have not scored highly enough to be invited, their applications will be placed on a reserve list; in the event that higher-scoring candidates decline the interview invitation they have received, further invitations will then be sent out to candidates on reserve list, until all vacant interview places have been filled. If it is not possible to invite any further candidates to interview, reserve list candidates will be notified that their application will not progress any further.

Should your application be assessed as eligible, and score highly enough for you to be short-listed for interview, you will then receive an email invitation (sent via the application system) to book yourself into an interview slot.

All areas of the interview process - before, during and after - are explored in greater detail in the interview page of this website.

Each interviewed candidate will be awarded marks on different aspects of their performance at interview (the particular aspects will vary between different specialties); these are then combined to give a raw interview score (RIS). Each candidate's RIS will then be combined with their short-listing (SL) score, with appropriate weighting applied to the different aspects, to give their final, overall assessment score.

Offers

All applicants to that specialty within the deanery/UoA will then be ranked from highest to lowest according to their overall score. Once all checks have been made, deaneries/UoAs will either offer a post to a candidate, or advise them of their appointability status.

More information on this can be found in the offers and employment page of this website.

Clearing

As the recruitment round draws to a close, a period of 'clearing' will take place within each specialty. Firstly, this will be local clearing, whereby any declined post offers are re-offered to suitable candidates; this will then be followed by national clearing.

Where a candidate has submitted an application to a deanery/UoA, been assessed as eligible, been short-listed for - and has attended - interview, and has received an overall score which marks them as nationally appointable - but has not been offered a post in that deanery/UoA - then that candidate can enter national clearing.

Here, they will have the opportunity to have their application transferred for consideration at an alternative deanery/UoA where vacant posts remain within the specialty, if any are available.

More information on this can be found on the clearing page of this website.

Round 2

It is likely that a second round of coordianted ST3 recruitment will be run later in the year. The posts available in round 2 (R2) will be a mixture of any vacancies remaining from round 1 (R1), plus any new posts which have arisen. As the start date of posts in R2 can extend from autumn 2012 into spring 2013, the majority of posts will likely be new posts which were not contested in R1.

More information on R2 will be added to the round 2 page of this website, as and when it becomes available.