Recruitment process

ACCS & CMT information

Before applying to CT1, there are some resources you can view to prepare. Firstly, the about CMT and about ACCS sections of this website contain some introductory information on the programmes and their implementation, as well as (in CMT's case) recruitment in the previous three years.

For further reading on CMT and ACCS-AM, please view the DH medical specialty training and JRCPTB websites.

Applicants' guide

We advise reviewing all information in this website in advance, so as to gain a good view of the recruitment process as a whole; also our applicants' guide, available to download from our homepage and downloads page, gives information on all aspects of the process.

Prepare any information/documentation you may need

More detailed information on this area can be found on the application form and interview pages of this website. However, you should be aware that you will need to provide a significant amount of information on your application form; then at the interview stage, you will be required to provide a documentation as evidence to support all claims made on your application form.

Therefore, it is advised that you check what will be required of you before beginning your application, so that you are able to obtain everything necessary in advance.

Post-CT1 career - higher specialty training

While this is obviously some way away at present, you may wish to give more thought towards your future career beyond CT1, eg higher specialty training. Again, the DH medical specialty training and JRCPTB websites contain useful information on this. In addition, recruitment to certain specialties at ST3-level is coordinated by the RCP-SRO here; the equivalent ST3 website can be viewed here.

MRCP(UK)

One point to note is that since 2011, candidates considering applying to ST3-level posts in medical specialties must have obtained the full MRCP(UK) diploma - or equivalent - by the start date of the post for which they are applying. For more information on this area, CT1/ST1 person specifications can be viewed at this link, while the website of MRCP(UK) is here.

You should be aware that there are very stringent eligibility rules governing recruitment to all medical training programmes in the UK. As such, it is crucial to ensure you are eligible before you begin an application to CT1.

Your first port of call when considering your eligibility is the person specification for whichever specialty/ies you wish to apply to. These can be viewed at the DH medical specialty training website.

Candidate eligibility, and each of the items within the person specification, is examined in more detail in the eligibility page of this website.

Deaneries/UoAs

The devolved UK nations which are participating in coordinated recruitment - England, Northern Ireland & Wales - are divided up into regions referred to as 'Units of Application' (UoAs).

For the most part, these areas are divided along the same borders as the UK 'deaneries', ie the bodies responsible for organising medical training in each region.

More information on each of these UoAs/deaneries can be found in the deaneries/UoAs section of this website, as well as the website of each deanery; links to deanery websites can be found on the relevant pages within the deaneries/UoAs section, and also the deanery/UoA contacts page of this website.

Deanery/UoA preferences & considerations

When making your decision of where to apply, it is likely that you will already have personal/professional reasons for selecting certain areas. You should also bear in mind that if you are considering an ACCS-AM training programme, not all deanery/UoAs have ACCS-AM vacancies; ensure you check the post numbers page before making your decision about where to apply.

Other things you may wish to bear in mind when applying are competition ratios from previous years, which can also be viewed on our post numbers page - giving details of the numbers of applications submitted and posts available for each deanery/UoA in CMT recruitment (note - just CMT) in 2010 and 2011.

This page also gives a figure to indicate what percentage of (eligible) candidates selecting each deanery/UoA as their first-choice preference were able to gain an interview at that deanery/UoA. In most cases, this is 100%; but in more popular deaneries/UoAs this is a little lower.

ACCS-AM competition ratios

It should be noted that the previous years' figures on the post numbers page only refers to CMT recruitment in 2010 and 2011, not ACCS-AM recruitment. However, these data do give a rough indication of how popular and competitive each of the participating deaneries/UoAs are.

Candidates can view competition ratios for different specialties and deaneries/UoAs at the DH medical specialty training website.

Applications for 2012 CT1 posts open at 9.00am on Friday 25 November 2011. Please note that it will not be possible to register with the application system before this point; but registering will only take a short time, around five minutes or so.

Your application must be completed and submitted by 1.00pm (UK time) on Tuesday 13 December 2011.

More detailed information on the whole application/recruitment process timeline can be found on the calendar page of this website.

Applying to CT1 is done via an online application system, which can be accessed via a button that will be made available on the homepage of this website from 25 November 2011 onwards. To register, you will need an email address that you check regularly, and a password.

For more information on this, please see the application form section of this website, and also our applicants' guide (available to download from our homepage and downloads page).

Please note that you can only complete and submit a single application in any round of the CT1 recruitment process, this is irrespective of whether you wish to apply for ACCS-AM or CMT posts (or both). This application will be used jointly for CMT and ACCS-AM.

if you are considering an ACCS-AM training programme, you should be aware that not all UoAs/deaneries have ACCS-AM posts. Please ensure you have checked the latest post numbers on this website before submitting your application.  If you wish to apply for both ACCS-AM and CMT, you should only apply to deaneries that have both ACCS-AM and CMT posts.

Once your application has been submitted, firstly you will receive an automatic email from the system to confirm submission. At this stage, your application will be handled by the deanery/UoA you have cited as first-choice preference.

The next periods of the recruitment process are the 'long-listing' and 'short-listing' of applications.

Long-listing

Long-listing involves each deanery/UoA checking received applications against the essential eligibility criteria laid out in the person specification, to establish whether each candidate is eligible for CT1.

During this period, deaneries/UoAs may contact candidates requesting further information, to allow eligibility to be better established.

Any candidates found to be ineligible at this (or any subsequent) stage will be notified immediately (via email) that their application has been rejected on the grounds of ineligibility, and will not progress any further.

Short-listing

All applications adjudged to be eligible will progress to short-listing. Here, applications are scored according to their content, ie candidates' experience, achievements, qualifications, etc.

The application form is scored via self-assessment based on the answers selected for the questions attracting marks (these will be detailed in the applicants' guide and the application section of this website, including the maximum marks available for each area). The evidence provided in the boxes to support candidates' claims will then be assessed at interview to ensure that they are in accordance.

Any instances of candidates found to be making claims on their application form which cannot substantiated will be taken extremely seriously.

Ranking & invitation to interview

Following short-listing, applications will be ranked in score order. In the event that any deanery/UoA has received applications from more candidates than they are able to interview, applications from the lowest-scoring candidates will be cascaded to their second-choice preference deaneries/UoAs.

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

Once all applications have been allocated to a deanery/UoA preference via the above process (where possible), deaneries/UoAs will then begin inviting candidates to interview.

The single-application system used in CT1 recruitment has enabled all eligible candidates to be offered an interview at one of their deanery/UoA preferences in the previous two years.

In the first round of recruitment to CMT in 2011, 100% of eligible candidates received an interview invitation, 92% to their first-choice deanery/UoA preference. It is anticipated that even with the inclusion of ACCS-AM recruitment, this is likely to remain similar in 2012.

Should your application be assessed as eligible, and be given a score high 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.

As you would expect, the interview stage is the most 'valuable' part of the recruitment process, in the sense that this is where you can earn the bulk of the points which can see an offer made to you. The interview is based on the multiple-mini interview format, and contains three independent stations, each staffed by two clinicians. Overall, six aspects of your candidature will be assessed overall.

While at interview, as noted further up this page, you will be required to provide documentation as evidence to support all claims made in your application form; this will then be reviewed by clinicians at interview.

All facets of the interview process (before, during and after) are explored in more detail in the interviews section of this website.

Once interviews have been completed, candidates' final assessment scores are calculated. All candidates will be awarded a score at interview. Candidates are then awarded a final assessment score which is a composite of their interview and short-listing scores.

All candidates within each deanery/UoA will then be ranked from highest-to-lowest according to this 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.

Please visit the offers & employment page of this website for more information.

All CT1 posts will begin on the first Wednesday in August; in 2012, this will be Wednesday 1 August 2012.

Round 2

The first, main round of recruitment to CT1 posts will likely be completed in early spring 2012. In the event that any vacant CT1 posts remain at this point - either from new vacancies having arisen and/or some vacancies not being filled in the first round - a second round (R2) of coordinated recruitment will be run; this is likely to start in April 2012.

Whether or not a R2 is required - as well as the size of the round, participating deaneries/UoAs, specialties, etc. - will depend upon how round 1 (R1) progresses; thus it is difficult to make information available on this at present.

However, should it be required, R2 will be run in essentially the exact same fashion as R1 - ie all candidates complete an application form, attend interview, consider offers, etc. Plus, R2 and R1 will be entirely independent of each other - so anyone who applied in R1 will be able to apply again in R2, should they so wish.

More information on round 2 will be made available on this website nearer the time, via the round 2 page.

Clearing

Following the close of R2 proper, if there are any posts remaining vacant, a period of national clearing may be implemented.

Here, candidates who have been assessed as eligible and appointable, but who have yet to accept a CT1 offer, will be contacted by the RCP-SRO, enquiring as to whether they wish to have their application transferred for consideration at an alternative deanery/UoA where post vacancies remain.

As above, at present it is difficult to estimate the extent to which this will be necessary, if at all; and again, information will be added to this website nearer the time.