Medical Student CV Examples & UK Templates

As you finish up your medical degree, you’re bound to be researching job opportunities and hoping to make confident first steps towards a successful career in medicine.

First impressions are important. Just as a patient might form an opinion based on your bedside manner in the first few moments, a hiring manager will form their initial judgment from your CV. If that first impression isn’t strong, it could take a lot more effort to change their mind.

So, how can you breathe some life into your medical student CV and impress the hiring manager? By creating a polished CV that draws attention to your academic achievements, valuable clinical experience, and top-level skills.

With our resume.io CV examples and guides covering 200+ professions, and our CV builder tool, it’s simpler than ever to create a compelling medical student CV.

This CV guide and corresponding medical student CV example will cover the following:

• How to write a medical student CV
• Choosing the right CV format
• How to add your contact information
• Using a CV summary
• Listing your education and relevant experience
• Picking the right CV design and layout
• Understanding the medical student job market and salary expectations

How to write a medical student CV

The very first step in writing your medical student CV is knowing exactly which sections to include. Make sure your CV contains the following elements:

• The CV header
• The CV summary (aka profile or personal statement)
• The employment history section
• The CV skills section
• The education section

Think of your medical student CV as the heartbeat of your job search. The goal is to effectively communicate your strengths, commitment, and passion for medicine. A hiring manager wants to see that you’re a dedicated, driven professional who will be a valuable addition to their medical team. 

Try the following formula to convey this message:

• Put the focus on achievements. Don’t just list what you have done; focus on what you have achieved. For example, anyone can share that they are studying medicine, but do you have any standout grades, awards, or other achievements you can include?
• Tailor your CV to each employer. Adjusting your style and tone to chime with each organization will help your CV resonate more.
• Select a simple and professional CV template. Try not to go overboard with too many design elements, as this may just look confusing or distracting.
• Optimise your CV with keywords from the job posting. This will greatly improve your chances of impressing both hiring managers and any CV scanning software they may use.

Choose the right medical student CV format

Your CV should clearly showcase your experience, whether that includes previous clinical placements, research work, or your academic background.

If you have relevant work or experience, a reverse chronological CV format is likely the most effective. This format highlights both your professional and educational history, starting with the most recent experiences and working backwards.

If you don’t have much work experience, a skills-based CV might be a better option. This format places more emphasis on your competencies and strengths, allowing you to highlight your education and any relevant skills you've developed through your medical studies and internships.

Alternatively, you can combine both approaches into a hybrid format, incorporating elements from both types to best reflect your strengths.

There are many CV templates available in our CV builder, so choose one that best fits your background, and be sure to explore the CV examples for each format to ensure that your medical student CV is as clear and straightforward as possible.

Include your contact information

Your CV header is simply the topmost part of your CV, where you display your name and contact information in a professional manner. It seems basic, but it’s actually quite an important part of your CV to get right. 

Here’s what you need to include:

• Full name and title. Include your first and last name, along with your current relevant title.
• Location. Simply list your town/city and country, but not your street address or postcode as this is both outdated and unsafe.
• Professional email address. Avoid using a quirky or unprofessional email address. Instead, opt for a straightforward email format like [email protected].
• Phone number. List a number where you can easily be reached. Make sure your voicemail inbox is not full and that your greeting is professional.
• LinkedIn. Most social media profiles should not be included on your medical student CV, but if you happen to have a LinkedIn profile, feel free to add it. This demonstrates your professionalism and ambition to succeed, even before graduation.

You don’t need to include:

• Date of birth. This isn’t necessary and could potentially lead to age discrimination.
• Personal details. Your marital status, passport number, etc. are not needed on a CV.

Make use of your CV summary

Your medical student CV’s summary section, also sometimes referred to as a CV profile or personal statement, is where you can display your talents and top-notch qualifications to the hiring manager.

This doesn’t need to be too detailed. It should be short and concise, no more than two to four sentences. Sprinkle your summary with action verbs, such as “optimised,” “collaborated,” “spearheaded,” and “advanced,” to showcase your drive and motivation.

Make sure to avoid repeating any information that is already elsewhere on your CV. Apart from being repetitive, this won’t be very impactful. Your CV summary should simply provide an overview of your background that hooks the reader and compels them to read on to learn more about you. What makes you unique? What have you accomplished that others may not have?

For example, your summary could highlight your specialism or placement with a prestigious hospital like this: “Motivated medical student specialising in pediatrics, including recent completion of a 12-month internship with Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.”

You can find adaptable example of medical student CV summaries below:

Outline your work experience

If you’re writing your CV in reverse chronological format, you’ll place your most recent work position at the top of this section and work your way backwards. Remember that you can include any relevant experience, even if it wasn’t paid, such as volunteer work, placements, or internships.

Underneath each employer and job title heading, describe your accomplishments in the role. Use bullet point statements to share impactful details and specifics where you can, while being as concise as possible. You should also avoid using pronouns like “I.”

For instance, you might begin your work experience bullet points with statements like:

• "Provided patient care…”
• “Completed physical examinations…”
• “Administered medical records…”

These example bullet points do show your responsibilities, but they are also vague enough to apply to any medical student. Adopting a results-based approach can bring these bullet points to life for your unique experience and accomplishments. 

Inject these statements with specificity and detail to achieve this goal:

• Completed 200 hours of clinical placements in general medicine, receiving recognition for thorough patient assessments and insightful treatment recommendations.
• Mentored junior medical students during clinical rotations by providing guidance on patient history and treatment planning.
• Achieved 98% accuracy in documenting patient records in line with NHS standards.

Take a look at the medical student CV example employment history below:

How to write a medical student CV with no experience

If you’ve been so focused on your academics that you haven’t had time for a medical placement or part-time job, you needn’t worry! A first job CV can instead rely on your transferable skills.

Firstly, your studies are already going to be included on your CV, and what better way to show your drive and motivation for the field of medicine. If you have little or no work history, consider moving your education section to the top of your CV, above your work history.

If you’ve completed any volunteer work, that counts as work experience. You can also include any leadership positions you’ve held for school clubs or sports.

Even work you’ve done on your own, like childminding or odd jobs, can count as experience. Think about the important skills you gained and how they may transfer to this new job, even if you lack direct experience.

Generally, we don’t recommend featuring personal hobbies or interests on your CV, but if you are light on experience and have especially relevant hobbies, you can add them here as well.

Include the relevant key skills for a medical student

A medical student CV should include a mix of hard skills and soft skills to show the full range of your knowledge and experience.

Hard skills are those that can be objectively demonstrated and measured. For example, this could include clinical expertise or knowledge of medical technology.

On the other hand, soft skills relate more to how you work, such as organisational skills, high attention to detail, or excellent teamwork.

Our CV builder offers numerous skills that you can select to use on your CV, or you have the option to provide your own. Here’s what the skills box looks like in our medical student CV template:

While this section is where you’ll list your skills plainly, it’s not the only helpful place to feature them. It’s also a good idea to include relevant skills throughout your CV, especially if you can include examples of how and when you used these skills in action.

For example, when writing your CV summary and work history sections, you could highlight:

• Clinical knowledge. Describe your academic studies and any relevant placements or internships in healthcare settings.
• Communication skills. Share your empathetic approach with patients and your ability to build positive relationships with team members and medical professionals.
• Time management. Mention how you can manage multiple demands to exacting quality standards, thereby ensuring the delivery of optimal patient care.

For guidance about which skills to include, review the job posting. This is your essential guide to what the employer is looking for in their next hire, so you can use this information to impress them on your CV and covering letter.

Detail your education & relevant certifications

As a medical student, your CV’s education section is of utmost importance. Whether your medical degree is complete or still in progress, this should be the primary focus on your CV.

Of course, it can make sense to include earlier education as well, but do not go so far back that you include primary school as hiring managers are more interested in recent and relevant qualifications.

Medicine is always evolving, so it’s important to demonstrate your commitment to lifelong learning on your medical student CV. In addition to your university studies, show your proactive approach to professional growth by highlighting:

• Training and certifications. In addition to your formal schooling, have you gone through any training, webinars, or certificate programs? For example, certifications in first aid or health and safety may be lower level, but are still valuable.
• Internships and placements. Work you’ve done alongside your education is impressive and shows a strong commitment to a career in medicine.
• Professional development. Are you part of any student organisations or professional societies in the medical field? Those should be added here.

Pick the right medical student CV design and layout

The most important element of your medical student CV is the content itself, but the design matters too. After all, hiring managers will be visually reviewing your CV when deciding whether or not to consider you for the job.

That’s why it’s important to use a CV design and layout that draws attention, but isn't going to take focus away from the content. Our recommendation is to use a streamlined, simple design with a modern font. While a pop of colour is fine and can add a punch, avoid more than one colour on your CV. 

If you need inspiration, you can take a look at our CV templates and let us take care of the formatting!

Medical student text-only CV example

Medical student job market and outlook

The current job market for medical students in the UK presents both opportunities and challenges. While there is a high demand for healthcare professionals, particularly in specialties like general medicine and emergency medicine, the competition for training positions is strong.

Recent reports indicate that the number of medical school graduates is increasing, leading to a bottleneck in the NHS training system. For instance, in 2024, there were over 6,000 applications for only 1,698 internal medicine training posts, highlighting the competitive nature of securing a specialty training position in this field.

Gaining diverse clinical experience and following workforce developments in the medical field can help you stay ahead of the curve and enhance your employability. Reviewing competition ratios provided by the NHS can give you a good steer on this.

Key takeaways for a medical student CV

Pursuing a career in medicine takes dedication, commitment, and intelligence, so you should feel proud of what you’re accomplishing! Let that fuel you as you create your medical student CV. 

Incorporate your extensive education, your high marks and accomplishments, and any relevant work experience you have (whether paid or volunteer) to lay the foundation for a long and successful career in medicine.

Our online CV builder is a great place to start. We’ll help you pull everything together and create an eye-catching medical student CV in mere minutes.