Career Resources and Links

The RCS Careers team helps future surgeons and those supporting them.  Anyone may use and download the resources below. Medical students and foundation doctors can become Affiliate Members of the RCS for only £15 per year. We also try to help schools and teachers in supporting their students. 

There are videos available for more information on the Annual Impact Review, as well as our Interview Skills Workshop which prepares foundation doctors for Core Surgery Interviews.

Careers in Surgery

Careers in Surgery is a useful resource for anyone interested in surgery. It contains case studies from surgeons in different specialties and a handy resource section. 

Careers literature 

The National undergraduate curriculum in surgery contains everything the RCS expects any doctor to know about surgery.  There are 35 key conditions and 26 key skills.  It puts surgery into context. There are important learning opportunities described for each specialty and some common concepts. 

Avoiding unconscious bias aims to encourage surgeons to be aware of this, and sometimes adjust their behavior so that their trainees and fellow staff do not misinterpret their actions. There is a section on preventing bullying by identifying tasks and having clear performance management.

Learning in Operating Theatres helps new staff, visitors and learners prepare for their time in theatre. For established surgeons and other theatre staff, this sets clear tasks. It also clarifies the steps of an operation and stresses the importance of getting medical students and doctors to scrub in.

The RCS advocates Mentoring at all stages of surgeons’ careers. Good Surgical Practice requires surgeons to take responsibility to act as a mentor to less experienced colleagues and to seek a mentor to improve their own skills. This booklet explains how mentoring works and how to get started for both mentor and mentee.

Quality indicators for job plans for SAS surgeons. The College SAS committee has drafted guidance to support SAS surgeons in the job planning process. This guidance is intended to provide a framework on which specialty doctor job plans can be based and adapted to suit the needs of individual trusts and SAS doctors.

Information sheets

• So You Want to be a Surgeon provides information and advice to school students interested in applying to medical school and pursuing careers in surgery.
• Women in Surgery - Either visit the WinS pages or download this flyer and application form
• Return to practice guidance, from the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges
• Exercise: The miracle cure and the role of the doctor promoting it, written by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges
• Exams Guidance - Contains candidate guidance in relation to applying for surgical and dental exams administered by the RCS.

Schools programme information pack

We are in the process of writing an information resource pack to help trainees organise careers days in their trusts for local schools. This work is in progress and the resource pack will be available shortly. If you are interesting in receiving a copy of the pack please email us.

Useful careers websites

Aside from the information on getting into medical school on our website you may find these resources useful.

• The British Medical Association: ‘how to become a doctor’ is a useful resource, the medical A-Z is also a good source of information.
• The Bright Journals: A fantastic resource for all areas from application, keeping up to date with latest stories, profiles of medical students etc. Key area is the Library.
• Student BMJ: Useful to keep up to date with ‘Medical’ stories.
• UCAS: for information relating to specific courses, and online application.
• Direct Gov for information on funding, grants/loans etc.
• BBC: For current affairs.
• So you want to be a doctor is a great website giving you more information about everything you need to know before applying to medical school.