During my leadership fellowship with the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management at NICE, I was asked to create my ‘Non-Medical’ CV. What seemed like a routine task became a valuable opportunity for reflection. As I outlined non-clinical skills, like stakeholder engagement and project management, I realised how these added value beyond my clinical role. It also helped my team see how to make best use of my broader expertise.

This process made one thing clear: the traditional medical CV doesn’t serve roles in leadership, education, policy, or innovation. It focuses heavily on clinical milestones, often overlooking the wider skills that make us effective leaders and collaborators.

This insight led me to rethink how healthcare professionals approach CV writing, particularly those with portfolio careers. These careers blend clinical and non-clinical roles, and your CV should reflect that diversity – highlighting how your clinical foundation supports wider impact.

Too often, we assume job titles speak for themselves. But in leadership or cross-sector roles, your CV must actively demonstrate your value. Employers want more than a list, they want evidence of impact and alignment with their needs.

Start with a Master CV

Stephen Covey’s “begin with the end in mind” rings true here. Begin with a detailed master CV capturing all relevant experience. From this, you can curate tailored versions for specific roles.

Increasingly, applications involve answering specific competency-based questions, assessed from the employer’s point of view. It is vital to demonstrate:

• What you did
• How you did it
• The change or impact achieved

Employers value collaboration and leadership. Use your CV to provide clear, concise examples of both. Ultimately, your CV should tell the full story, not just of what you’ve done, but how you’ve made a difference.

Principles for a Strong Non-Clinical CV

Here are ten principles I followed while giving my own CV a spring clean:

1. Craft a clear, concise personal statement

Open with a concise personal statement: who you are, your interests, and your direction of travel. Crucially, end on a note of aspiration – not where you are, but where you want to go. If your ambition aligns with solving the organisation’s problem, you’re far more likely to be hired.

2. Identify your USP and embrace story-telling

Are you a clinician driving digital change? A policy-minded leader who bridges gaps between frontline staff and executives?  Shape your CV around a clear narrative – one that shows the problems you solve.

3. Prioritise skills over technical tasks

Technical expertise like performing a flawless tooth extraction matters in practice, but in leadership roles, skills like communication, innovation, and systems thinking carry more weight. Highlight how you applied these in context.”

Examples of transferable skills across healthcare roles

Through discussions with colleagues across the system – including Owens Iguodala (Dentistry Fellow, NHS England Transformation Directorate), Temi Omorinoye (Pharmacist Fellow, NHS Derby & Derbyshire ICB), and Abid Ali (GP Trainee and clinical fellow at NHSE and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges) – we identified how traditional CVs often undersell leadership potential

• Clinical Role: Transferable Skills and Examples
• Hospital Medicine: Chairing MDTs, leading rota redesign, managing QI projects
• General Practice: Collaborating with social care, improving digital access, running population health audits
• Pharmacy: Critical appraisal for new therapies, managing medicines shortages, cross-sector collaboration
• Dentistry: Supervising students, conducting audits, leading digital transformation in clinics

4. Frame your growth:

With time, knowledge gives way to skills, and eventually, experience becomes your most valuable asset. Your non-clinical CV should reflect:

• Knowledge gained early on,
• Skills developed through practice,
• Experience as you assume more senior roles.

5. Use tools like LinkedIn for milestones

LinkedIn is more than a digital CV, it’s your live professional brand. Share, comment, and post with intent, reinforcing your expertise and interests. Keep it focused so if someone visits your profile, they should instantly know what you offer.

6. CV Writing as reflective practice

Updating your CV helps identify gaps and growth areas. I noticed my own CV lacked projects involving implementation. I now plan to undertake some quality improvement work upon returning to clinical practice, focusing on applying the PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) framework – a versatile tool with value in both clinical and non-clinical contexts.

7. Consider a functional CV format

If you’re moving into non-clinical roles, a functional or combination CV may be more effective than a traditional chronological one. This format foregrounds your skills and achievements rather than listing job roles in sequence. (A good model to consider is the GMC framework used for the general or specialist register.)

8. Capture the grey areas

Let’s be honest, ChatGPT can’t write your whole CV for you. Some of your most meaningful achievements won’t appear in a job description or news article. Leading a trainee society or contributing to regional training still signals initiative and leadership so don’t leave them out.

9. Don’t forget the basics – formatting matters

Use consistent fonts – User interface designers recommend Arial with size 14 for headers and 11 for the body. Avoid abbreviations as the reviewer may not share your background. Lastly, proofread meticulously as simple errors can undermine credibility.

10. Final thought: Keep it alive

Maintain that master CV. Keep it updated. Use it as your springboard. And when you’re applying for roles outside the traditional clinical track, adapt it with intent. In today’s competitive job market, I believe in radical incrementalism where every small improvement counts towards creating the strongest possible version of your CV.  Let’s make our CVs reflect who we really are, not just what we were trained to do.

Author

Jarin Noronha

Jarin is a surgical trainee and Clinical Fellow at NICE, and a National Medical Director’s Clinical Fellow at the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management. He is passionate about driving positive change in healthcare through evidence-based practice and collaborative leadership.

Declaration of interests

I have read and understood the BMJ Group policy on declaration of interests and declare the following interests: none