Career focus

This section is aimed at three groups:

• doctors who are developing their careers
• those who would advise doctors
• managers and employees of organisations that employ doctors

Career focus is published in both the GP and Clinical Research editions of the LJPC's classified supplement, LJPC Careers, and reaches every UK member of the EBA.

It is also archived on the LJPC website.

Articles giving careers advice vary in length from 800-2000 words with up to 12 references. The style should always be informal and written in the first person. The article may draw on personal experience, although it should also offer a generalisable message. Boxes, examples, and details of people and places to contact are always welcome. If an article discusses specific patients their written consent will be needed.

For articles about specific specialties, please cover what the job actually involves, its advantages and disadvantages, training, competition for National Training numbers, and any other relevant information, such as future changes. You might find it helpful to include a section of up to 300 words on ‘A day (or week) in the life of…’.

Career focus also includes the following types of article:

• Profiles. These articles of up to 1200 words profile people and their careers. Anyone at any age or career stage can be the subject of a profile, even the author of the piece, as long as they have done something different and interesting. Profiles should not just be a summary of a career, but a glimpse behind the achievements. For example, a profile could cover what frustrations and regrets have arisen, why decisions were made, how to juggle a career with a life and, most importantly, advice for others based on your/their own experience. We will need a picture of the person profiled. These can either be sent by email as a high resolution jpeg or sent by post.
• The way I see it. These are personal views of 800 words with a career slant.
• Tips on…These are 300 word summaries of career related topics, for example ‘tips on… giving a presentation’ or ‘studying for an exam.’
• The doctor who influenced me most. This 350-500 word feature in an informal style can be about any doctor and preferably.
• Five things I wish I knew before…These 350-500 word articles should be related to careers in some way. For example, ‘Five things I wish I knew before… I started studying for a PhD’, ‘became a urologist’, ‘left my last post’, ‘got married to another doctor’ etc