Medical school is busy and it can feel like there’s no time to access additional opportunities, however, it can be refreshing. Encourage your passion for medicine to take up opportunities that you enjoy doing alongside your studies. Here’s our guide to make finding opportunities efficient and personalised to you.

❀️ Find out What YOU Enjoy

Everyone is different and it might take a bit of trial and error to find out exactly what you enjoy doing. There’s no race, it’s really important to try a few things and realise what you don’t enjoy as well as what you do. Your interests might change over time too, and that’s okay!

πŸ€” How do I know what I want to do?

  • Mindmap all the things that are important for your career, your personal life and make sure to include non-negotiables too. Use this to create a list of priorities for your future self.
  • You can always use the BMA specialty explorer for help matching up those priorities to potential specialties.
  • Remember, it’s good to have a non-clinical interest too, such as Leadership, Education or MedTech as this can open more doors, alongside your clinical practice. Medical school/training is the perfect time to explore these interests!
  • Categorise your mindmap/list into key words that you could use to start your search. For example: MedTech, Cardiology, Entrepreneurship and Research.
  • Keeping your interests broad can be a good place to start, it’s only from accessing opportunities that you’ll find out what really interests you! Opportunities can also open your eyes to new subjects that you didn’t know existed.

πŸ”Ž How do I search for Opportunities?

πŸ’» Use online platforms

  • LinkedIn
    • LinkedIn is a great place to start! Connect with people in the industries you are interested in and follow pages promoting events. The More than Medics LinkedIn page also reposts a wide range of opportunities so you don’t miss out!
  • MedAll
    • MedAll is a platform event organisers use to promote medical events, there are lots of in person and online events to choose from!
  • Eventbrite
    • Eventbrite hosts a number of events, filter by “Health”, “Medical” to get events relevant to you, or search for specific events in your area! You’ll also find more casual social meetups to network with like-minded people!
  • Google Searches
    • Using the key words you generated from your mindmap, have a Google. You’ll be amazed at what niche events are out there waiting to be found!
  • Email Lists and Newsletters
    • Join the newsletters and email lists of organisations you’re interested in, there are lots promoted on LinkedIn or written by the organisations listed below.
    • Join the More than Medics newsletter, every Sunday we send a curated list of opportunities coming up soon directly to your inbox! (Don’t worry we won’t spam)

πŸ’Ό Follow relevant organisations

Whatever your passion, there’s something for you. Here’s a list of key organisations to follow, organised by subinterest!

πŸ’­ What Opportunities are available?

Lots of different opportunities are available! Try a few things to get a mixture of experiences. Here are a few things to look out for:

  • Events
  • Talks
  • Conferences
  • Seminars
  • Networking Events
  • Competitions
  • Awards/Grants
  • Internships
  • Job Roles

😫 I Can’t Find the Opportunity I’m Looking For!

  • Contact us!
    • We’d be more than happy to help, we might be able to help you with your search or put on the event ourself, just let us know and we’ll see what we can do!
  • Reach out to organisations who might be best suited to running this opportunity.
    • They might not have realised this gap existed and are usually very happy to help or point you in the right direction!
  • Make the opportunity yourself
    • Congrats! You’ve found a niche, this could be the perfect opportunity to help out other medics and put your skills to the test!

⏭️ What now?

  • Take advantage of the opportunities!
    • Learn what you enjoy and don’t enjoy, and repeat the process to find out what you want to do!
  • Repeat the process every so often as new opportunities will pop up at different times so check back to see what’s new when you’ve got a bit of spare time.
  • Add to your CV
    • Every opportunity taken up is something to be proud of. You’ll have learnt new skills, showcase this!
  • Update your LinkedIn
    • Share your achievements, document your thoughts and connect with new colleagues!
  • If you’re interested in Intercalation opportunity information, feel free to give our Intercalation Blog a read!

Thanks for reading! If you have any comments or suggestions let us know below!