Tag: job applications

10 Tips For Creating A Great LinkedIn Profile for Doctors

By Dr Adam Harrison, LinkedIn User

Are you thinking that you need a LinkedIn profile for your next job application? In this special guest post, Dr Adam Harrison, expert LinkedIn user takes us through the steps that you should implement to create a great Linkedin profile for doctors.

Of particular importance when creating a LinkedIn profile as a doctor you should…

The best news is that these steps are all fairly easy to implement and won’t take you a great deal of time. Let’s dig into the details

1. How to Create a Great Linkedin Profile for Doctors. Add a professional profile picture (not a selfie!) of yourself.

We all know that with social media the most important thing to do is to add a photo. Yes. Counterintuitively to all the advice we give on this blog about not having a photo on your CV or resume. A photo on LinkedIn is a must-have!

This is probably the most important thing for LinkedIn.

Profiles with pictures get at least 14x more views and 9x more connection requests than those without. As Jamie White (Irish entrepreneur with >25K followers) says:

“How many times will people see you today but how many times will people see your social media profile today?”
Jamie White

The answer is many more times. So, spend as much time thinking about your virtual image as you do your real-life image.

Your photo should ideally be from the waist or upper body up, and not a whole body shot.

Smile, dress appropriately and look directly at the camera. Do not use a photograph of yourself wearing a hat or sunglasses. Or from your wedding photo.

Consider hiring a professional photographer to do this for you.

2. How to Create a Great Linkedin Profile for Doctors. Customise your headline.

It is the second place that people look at after your profile picture. You have 120 characters to create a really catchy industry-specific headline, so keep it simple.

Make sure your professional headline emphasises any keywords you want to use to promote yourself.

If you are a jobseeker, tailor your headline to your target industry.

Also incorporate your specialty / subspecialty if you have one e.g.

‘Orthopaedic Surgeon specialising in knee and hip replacements”.

3. How to Create a Great Linkedin Profile for Doctors. Produce a well-written summary section written in the first person.

Heather Austin advises this includes answers to the questions “Who are you?”, “Who do you help?” and “How do you help them?”.

She suggests you write an opening paragraph describing what your work passion is / what drives you. In the next paragraph go on to outline what your greatest strength is and try to tailor this to your industry of choice.

The paragraphs should each be no more than 3-4 sentences long.

Bullet points are a useful way to highlight key pieces of information and the judicious use of symbols can make your profile stand out.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/symbols-making-your-linkedin-profile-stand-out-karen-tisdell/

Finally, include a paragraph on your ‘expertise’ using keywords that you would like to be flagged up in recruiters’ searches.

Jamie White also advises users to show off their characters and personalities in this section as “People work with people”. True enough!

4. How to Create a Great Linkedin Profile for Doctors. Add in your work experience (present and past work roles).

As Heather Austin says, use this section as “A better way to tell your career story”.

Tell the reader who you are and how you got there but in a less formal way than you would in a CV.

Write a few sentences on your greatest accomplishment in each role, again in the first person, if possible including at least one that is quantifiable e.g. “Within six months of implementation, my novel back pain pathway led to patients being seen three months quicker than previously”.

As with the headline and summary sections, utilise some ‘strategically placed keywords’ e.g.

“At TIR Global we deliver innovative corporate consulting to bring more to the top- and bottom-line, leveraging the concepts and unlocking the potential of inclusion, diversity, and culture using mind-set coaching coupled with the power of social media.”
(Cory Warfield, LinkedIn ‘VIP’ with >100K followers).

5. How to Create a Great Linkedin Profile for Doctors. Include your education.

Restrict it to the highest level of institution you attended e.g. if you attended university, do not record your secondary / high school qualifications (unless there was something noteworthy about them e.g. highest mark in your cohort, prize for a certain subject etc).

Add in any certifications e.g. ‘Postgraduate Certificate in Substance Misuse, RACGP, 2020.’

Put an area of subspecialism into the ‘Field of Study’ box (if you have one) and write your awards/honours and clubs/societies/committees / other activities in the ‘Description’ section.

Of note, this is the best way to connect with old classmates or alumni from your alma mater.

6. How to Create a Great Linkedin Profile for Doctors. Always complete the volunteer section if appropriate.

41% of companies find this just as valuable as paid work (Heather Austin). We all know that skills gained from third sector work are just as valuable as those which can be acquired from paid employment.

7. How to Create a Great Linkedin Profile for Doctors. Add some keyword-specific skills in the ‘Skills & Endorsements’ section

e.g. mine has ‘Medicine’, ‘Mediation’ and ‘Legal Research’ to name just a few.

Not only does this show people what you can do, but the way the LinkedIn algorithm works means that you’ll then get more ‘Likes’ and hence, ultimately, more connections.

Do not, however, overload this section, especially when your profile is still fairly new.

8. How to Create a Great Linkedin Profile for Doctors. Personalise the URL for your profile via the ‘Edit public profile & URL’ section

e.g. mine is ‘www.linkedin.com/in/dradamharrison’ (as opposed to my original URL ‘www.linkedin.com/in/dr-adam-harrison-8a66861a’).

This will make your profile easier to find online. It’s a quick and easy way to differentiate you from all the other LinkedIn users out there. This is particularly important for those with common names.

9. How to Create a Great Linkedin Profile for Doctors. Put content out there at least once a week

According to Jamie White, you should really think about what value it will provide the reader and how it might ‘get people talking’. Keep it relevant – I have seen the phrase “Content in context” being used to warn people off posting about anything and everything on LinkedIn.

Don’t forget that LinkedIn has a great video algorithm, so some high-quality vlogging could really get you noticed. Also, some LinkedIn big wigs like Cory Warfield, advocate the liberal use of hashtags, emojis and tagging in other well-connected users. Given he has >100K followers, these must be strategies that are working for him.

10. How to Create a Great Linkedin Profile for Doctors. Network (make connections)!

Spend a small but productive amount of time, on a regular basis, updating and maintaining your network.

Remember, you can only please some of the people some of the time.

Different people will have different preferences when it comes to the appearance and content of LinkedIn profiles e.g. the use of symbols. Above all else, be true to yourself and let your personality shine through – if someone is put off reading the content of your profile because of its appearance, you probably don’t want to work with them anyway!

About the author:

Adam is a seasoned doctor, medical leader and educator. He has experience of medical careers coaching, including teaching doctors about LinkedIn, and is currently undertaking formal coach training.

Reach out to him via LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/dradamharrison) for professional coaching (including careers / LinkedIn / CVs (résumés) as well as more general coaching), personal / team / leadership development and mentoring.

Related Questions.

1. What is LinkedIn?
LifeWire https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-linkedin-3486382 “… think of LinkedIn as the high-tech equivalent of going to a traditional networking event where you go and meet other professionals in person, talk a little bit about what you do and exchange business cards, but on LinkedIn you [can] add “connections” similar to how you’d make a friend request on Facebook, converse via private message (or available contact information) and have all of your professional experience and achievements laid out in a neatly organised profile to show off to other users.”

2. What can you use it for?

Get back in touch with old colleagues. You can use the My Network section to find old colleagues, teachers, people you went to school with and anyone else you might think is worth having in your professional network. Just enter or connect your email to sync your contacts with LinkedIn.

Use your profile as your CV. Your LinkedIn profile basically represents a more complete (and interactive) CV. You can include it as a link perhaps in an email or your cover letter when you apply to jobs. Some websites that allow you to apply to jobs will even allow you to connect to your LinkedIn profile to import all your information.

Find and apply to jobs. Remember that LinkedIn is one of the best places to look for job postings online. You’ll always get recommendations from LinkedIn about jobs you may be interested in, but you can always use the search bar to look for specific positions too.

Find and connect with new professionals. It’s great to get back in touch with old colleagues and connect with everyone at your current workplace who may also be on LinkedIn, but what’s even better is that you have the opportunity to discover new professionals either locally or internationally that may be able to help out with your professional endeavours.

Participate in relevant groups. A great way to meet new professionals to connect with is to join groups based on your interests or current profession and start participating. Other group members may like what they see and want to connect with you.

Blog about what you know. LinkedIn’s very own publishing platform allows users to publish blog posts and gain the opportunity to have their content read by thousands. Published posts will also show up on your profile, which will increase your credibility in related fields that are relevant to your professional experience.

3. Why use LinkedIn as a doctor?

Recruitment either via your profile as above or to send your CV to people.

Create opportunities either through new ‘stand alone’ connections, membership of specialist groups or personal blogging.

Advertising / marketing yourself / your company
Some doctors have portfolio careers which include business interests and some are very entrepreneurial, and these groups of doctors in particular will potentially find LinkedIn a very powerful way of getting their personal brand out there.

June 9, 2020
How To Write a Cover Letter Or Email. 5 Sentences May Be All You Need.
If you are applying for a job you may have been asked to provide some sort of cover letter as part of the process. When I say cover letter this might in fact be an email these days or even just some notes as part of the online application process. Many doctors can be confused about the purpose of a cover letter and what to put in. So let’s break it down.

The key issues to address when writing a cover letter or cover email for a job are the following:
1. Check if a cover letter or email is even required. Some organizations may specifically request you don’t send in a cover letter or email.
2. Make sure that your CV or Resume is tailored to the position and explains how you are a good candidate and meet all the criteria.
3. Write a short cover letter or email that specifically mentions the position you are applying for, highlights a key strength you bring to the position and invites the reader to review your CV or Resume.
4. Finish your cover letter by indicating that you are open to other suitable positions.
All of the above should take you about 4 or 5 sentences. So the end result will be very brief whether its a cover letter or email. You may have been told elsewhere that the a cover letter should be longer and fully address the selection criteria. But I’m going to show you why the “less is more” approach is better. And also cover some other important issues when writing your cover letter.

Don’t Write a Cover Letter if They Ask You Not To.

This should be a fairly obvious point. But if the hospital or organisation asks you not to write a cover letter. As for e.g. NSW Health does. Then don’t do it.

In the days before the internet and web applications cover letters served a different purpose. One function was for candidates to address selection criteria in writing. However, online recruitment systems now allow you to do this by setting up form boxes to complete.

So if the system says not to submit a cover letter then you should obviously concentrate your efforts on filling in the online application and ensuring that your CV covers the key selection criteria in depth.

Write a Brief Cover Letter. So They Read Your Resume.

Assuming that you have taken the time to properly construct a Resume that is tailored to the position. Then you want the person recruiting to read this document. Your cover letter’s main purpose then is to get them to take that action. And if you put in too much detail they may not take that action.

So try this formula which I partly credit Andy La Cavita for some of the concepts here.

First Sentence

Address your letter or email to the person recruiting.

e.g.

Dear Dr Jones, I am writing to apply for the position of Senior Resident Medical Officer at the Regional Hospital*

*Use the exact title of the position as it reads in the job advert and position

Second Sentence

Tell them why you are a really good candidate for the job. Think about the key strength that you can bring to the role. Is it experience? Is it additional qualifications? Is it something even more unique? For example, for a surgical position, you might something like:

I offer 6 years of clinical experience, including 4 years of excellent performance in surgical registrar roles, which makes me a good candidate for the position.

It is important to finish this sentence by indicating that you are a good candidate. You can use other words like outstanding or great. But the key thing here is that recruiters don’t want to hire mediocre or below average people for their jobs. So signal that you are not one of those candidates.

Third Sentence

If there are any key must haves. Make sure that they know you have these. There are certain requirements for medical posts that you just “won’t pass go” on if you don’t have them. So you want to make sure that these are highlighted to avoid being prematurely culled.

A great example of this is International Medical Graduates applying for positions where an IMG will be considered. Often times employers will want to see that you have met the basic requirements for being registered and therefore eligible to apply. So you might use an example such as:

I have recently completed my AMC Certificate with outstanding marks and I have a current IELTS test score with an average of 8.0. I also hold Permanent Resident status.

For other College training positions a sentence like

I am registered as a trainee with College having made good progress in my training requirements to date.

Fourth Sentence

Let them know about your CV or Resume.

The key here is to create intrigue.

First, obviously, make sure that your Resume is tailored and has a personal statement or career goal statement in alignment with the position.

Then write a sentence similar to the below.

I have taken the time to read the position description and put together a CV that highlights several key strengths that I would bring to this position.

You are telling the recruiter several things in this short sentence.

Firstly, you have taken the time to really consider the job role that they probably wrote and put some effort into. So you are sincere in your interest and not just simply fishing. Secondly, that you have bothered to align your career with that of the job in an effort to demonstrate to the person recruiting how you might be a good candidate. And thirdly, that it will be worth their while reading your CV, because there are some exciting aspects to it.

Fifth and Final Sentence

Close off with a call to action. Your best case scenario is to get a meeting before the proper interview. So aim for this.

I’d welcome the opportunity to speak with you if you feel that I am a good candidate for this job or any other suitable job in the hospital.

You are telling them that you would like a phone call or in person meeting. You are also indicating that you are not just interested in the job but the hospital or organisation in general. Managers and doctors in recruiting roles also like to feel that candidates are seeking out their organisation because of its reputation. Also, there often job opportunities coming up that have not yet been advertised. So you are establishing an insider run for these as well.

And that’s it.

You have now either written a four or five sentence letter or email that:
- Establishes your interest in the job and the organization
- Signals that you are a strong candidate
- Highlights a key strength
- Checks off on any “must haves”
- Intrigues the reviewer to want to read more in your Resume
- Sets you up for an initial conversation
Related Questions.

Question. How Do I Make Sure I Address the Selection Criteria In My Resume?

Answer.

Some criteria will be easy to demonstrate, for e.g. your medical degree and registration status. Just make sure these are listed briefly in the correct section on the front page. You should use the opening personal or career statement on your CV to cover off on the remaining criteria. You may not be able to go into depth for all criteria. Where it makes better sense to do so indicate that certain criteria are covered under your work experience, education etc… and then ensure that you use further narrative in those sections to make your case.

Question. What If They Ask For a Personal Statement or Letter Addressing Selection Criteria?

Answer.

If there is a definite request for a Personal Statement or letter addressing the criteria. Then you should obviously write one. In which case, there is not much sense repeating yourself too much in your CV. Include a briefer personal statement or career statement and then concentrate on other aspects of your CV.

Question. How Do I Find the Selection Criteria?

Answer.

You would think that it would be fairly obvious on a job description what the selection criteria are.

But sadly in my experience, this is not always the case. Sometimes these are listed under the heading Selection Criteria. That heading might read Requirements instead. Sometimes you may also see Sections like Required Skills and Qualifications.

When in doubt you should try to contact the person recruiting to clarify the actual Criteria by which you will be evaluated.
May 2, 2019
How Does the Panel Review your Medical CV?

The Implications for Medical CV design, structure and content

We recently hosted an evening webinar on the Medical CV. 70 trainee doctor registrant learnt how the selection panel reviews your Medical CV.

Trainees are often surprised when they find out how little time is spent looking at their Medical CV at each stage of the process (in some cases a few seconds to minutes). This is probably even more shocking when trainees often spend hours putting one together.

Generally speaking, there are 3 phases in which your Medical CV is considered post submission.

Stage 1 Initial Review of your Medical CV

This is often done by only one person (usually the Chair of the Panel). The process can literally be a few seconds per CV. The main purpose of this stage is determining who should be interviewed and who should not. This is sometimes referred to as shortlisting or culling. Your main aim at this point of the process is for your CV to provide all the essential information required to get into the interview pile. Standing out is only a secondary aim. So make sure you have reviewed the job description and put all the essential stuff that may be required, such as medical degree, registration status, years of experience, trainee status somewhere on the front page, preferably in either the header or the career goal section.

Stage 2 Pre Interview Review of Medical CV

This is when the other panel members have the opportunity to browse your CV prior to the interview day. Some will do this in more depth than others. It’s your first chance to stand out. So again a good career goal statement and a well laid out CV is essential at this point. Because they are just browsing again the front page should include all the main things you want them to know about you, as they are only likely to glance at the rest at best.

Stage 3 The Interview

Your CV (and application) will probably be sitting amidst a pile of others in the interview room so that panel members can refer to it. So why not refer to it yourself in your interview responses. This reminds the panel that its there and contains further information about you to support your candidacy.

For much more about how the panel reviews your Medical CV and the implications for structure, content and design see our video below, where we also talk about whether you need to do a cover letter or not.

July 5, 2018