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Yeah. OK. We'll make a start. I want to make sure um we stay on track and on time. So, thank you everyone for joining. Um So this is the first um applied SOP webinar. Um Before we introduce ourselves um individually just going to give you an outline um of what to expect um in this webinar um which will be great. So we're going to do an introduction. We're going to give an overall overview of what the specialized foundation program is. We're each going to talk about the free tracks, leadership me, a research, um going to go in depth about the timeline of the application process matched to your timeline in 2024. Um some key components and also just some tips on how to decide and what you can do from now and 20 minutes of solid Q and A and a summer at the end. So hopefully by the end of it, that you got a lot of information and you know where to go with your next steps. Um This is just a one off being in the morning just because I haven't started work yet before. Let's just do it in the morning, but the rest of them will be um Thursday evenings. It's just a bit easier to remember. Um So we'll do um a very detailed white white space questions in a few weeks and we're also going to be starting up a, a review service. So look out for details about that in the next webinar. Um One week before the deadline of your actual applications, we will just do a recap a final Q and a check in sort of session that might be useful. Um And in October, we're going to do a very dedicated interview preparation series um which will help you prepare for interviews and everything is going to map along the timeline. So it's very timely for all of you. So let's get into um introductions. So um I'm Ellen. Um we are all at Cardiff Uni graduates today, but we do have other people um in the team from across the UK and we all just graduated on Monday, which is exciting. So, so I'm going to be working in East Midlands on the um medical education track, which I'm really excited about. And my, the university that I will be linked with will be Nottingham University mainly. I might hopefully do some work at Zester University and I'll talk a bit more about that later. Um Over onto the famous Mr Jack. Well, Doctor Jack Wellington, I'm not that famous. Honestly, Don. So I'm Jack. Um I again graduated on Monday I'm very, very pleased to actually finally be a doctor and I'll be doing my academic in research in Yorkshire Humber where I'm tied of leeds. I'll be doing it in neurosurgery, which is what I want to do. Um, and yeah, I like publishing as people probably know. Um, and that's really me. Go on Frank. Uh, yeah, so I also graduated on, on Monday. My SSE track is, er, leadership. I'm gonna be starting next week actually. Uh in Brighton, uh the Royal Sus it start on acute medicine. Cool. Thank you. So we're just gonna get straight into it. Uh Frank is gonna kick us off um with just an overview of what the whole program is about um and go into death about leadership. Um So I hope you enjoy if you do have any questions, if you can just save them till the end because I feel like hopefully we'll answer most of your preemptive questions. Um But we're gonna, yeah, there's loads more time at the end. Um And if there's anything burning that just comes up, do put it in the chat and we'll respond as we go along. OK. Nice. Uh Yeah, thank you for that. So, yeah, so I'm, I'm Frank, like I said, um firstly, well done for just being here. The fact that you're here in August is more than I was at, at your stage. So it shows that you're already um ahead of the game. So well, actually is the SFP. So I'm sure as most of you know, but when you come, become an F one doctor, you have six clinical rotations. But if you manage to get on to the SFP, one of those rotations will be academics. So that can be either research education or like me. So leadership. So this is sometimes changing now. So again, we'll go into it, but when you're looking at deaneries, some now will just give you days in the week. So you will still have six clinical rotations and you'll just have like a day to work academically. But for me, in particular, one of my blocks in F two is completely academic and that will be in, in leadership. So it's a separate application process to your um foundation program. Um But as I'm sure we'll go into, you still need to apply to the foundation program, still need to rank your dearies. Um So, yeah, and then you'll end up improving either your research skills, teaching skills or leadership skills. Um It's really valuable and we'll go into what sort of valuable about it. I've put that it's similar to your sort of students selected components. It's probably been quite complementary to SSES because a lot of them were not great, but it's basically like that. But just it's a lot bigger and you get a lot more, more out of it. Say what? Yeah, so we'll start with a positive. So I'm sure as you all know, the UK FPO has changed how you're going to get into your deaneries this year. It used to be obviously E PM and SJT, they've scrapped that now. Um So the SFP is the only way to sort of directly apply to where you want to go. So if location is, is important to you, as I'm sure for most people, it is, then the SFP is a really great chance to pick out two places that you want to go and just, you know, at least give it another shot. Um So that, that's, I know for a lot of people, location is really important and that's actually a fine reason to apply for it. And I'm sure that in your particular D there'll be an SSP that, that sort of you can resonate with and would really enjoy. Um Normally you get the same hospital for both years. So the KSS in particular, if you're on the normal Foundation program, you can only do one year in Brighton. But luckily enough, if you're on the SFP, you get both years and both of those years will be at the Royal Sussex as well, which is, which is really nice because it's a big hospital. It's a tertiary center, which is where I particularly want to work. Um It's excellent for portfolio building, you know, it's just something that as doctors we've all got to do. Um But I know doctors will be trying to do it, but the SFP sort of gives you that time to do that. Um, you know, you'll be competing against all the other junior doctors when you come to higher training, be that surgical. Or I'm trying to think of other competitive specialities like ophthalmology. Um, but yet you've got those four months to really work on those, most SOPS are really interesting. I think, like when I was looking into it, um, it's funny actually, I, I was never actually going to apply and then I actually sat down with, it was Jack after a common skills session and he was like, oh, no, you should actually look into it because I didn't really enjoy my lab based, um, dissertation. And so I was like, oh, I'm not going to do that but then I actually started looking into it, I thought, oh, these are actually really, really cool. And then I, you know, started, started thinking, I really want to get on to it. Um, the SFP block is led by you. So, a lot of, um, I've met with my supervisor and they give you a lot of trust and a lot of responsibility that they say, look, you know, you're, we've picked you, we want you, this is going to be guided by you. You know, you have to, um, sort of think of a project and have that responsibility, but you can usually twist your recipes a little bit to make it particular for you. If that's what you, to find something that you particularly enjoy, I'll put there a bit of a cease co, but you will end up making more money. Um, so basically the way it works is in the, um, in your four month block you'll be on the minimum salary. I think it's like 29,384. But you won't actually be, or I won't be anyway, um, sort of set that I need to be in the hospital at any time. It would just be working on my project. So I've worked out that, you know, if you just locum a little bit as well as that, then you'll end up making quite a lot more. And the person that did it before me managed to start his project in F one, I'd almost finished it by the time he actually got to his four month block and then just locum loads after that. So that's a little thing that possibly you can, you can make work for you so travel as well. So, um, again, this is speaking about maybe a little bit of mine in particular. But with that, if you get the four month block, a lot of hospitals will allow you to go elsewhere to learn to, um, to learn about like maybe if you find a hospital that does the system really well and you then want to build that into your project and bring it back, that's something that can happen. I know that even in Cardiff, there's um when I was doing my dissertation with the Cardiff China research lab, there was an SFP person, they got to go to China as part of it. So there's potential for that as well. Revision time. So for me, like, um I wanna go into surgery and when you set the MRS A, which is the new one that you have to do, that's when my block is. So, again, it's sort of gifting you that time or if you want, obviously you have to do the Mr CS as well. So it, again, it's just about getting a bit more time. If you really focus on a particular speciality, you can, um, you know, try and, and build your EP around that or apply to an SP that's in the particular speciality that you want. Um, and then it lends itself to academic clinical fellow jobs and that's sort of like a pathway that goes through, that's gonna speak a bit more about that, but it's sort of a stepping stone for that. Ok. Next slide. So you have to include some negatives. Obviously, I'm a bit biased. I'm sure we all like that. I don't really think these are negatives, but if I had to sort of say some, so there will be a bit more pressure on you to um, provide a project at the end. Um, but again, you'll be supported really well through that but yeah, it's a bit of extra responsibility. You lose one clinical block, but you've got to have done all the same competencies that everyone else has to do. So, I don't know how confident people feel here. But like if you're someone that really feels like you want all those six clinical blocks, you feel like you need all the time, then maybe it's not for you. But again, you should be supported quite well through throughout all of that and then the time it takes to apply. So obviously you've got to answer the white space questions. Got to interview, prep, got to do the interview, gotta guess, go through all the deaneries and look. So, but again, I think for like that time, it's certainly worth it, especially with the, with the changes to how you can apply to deaneries. OK. Yeah. So now we're going to talk a bit about leadership slash the management. So it's got the fewest SFP sort of um programs out there. So I've looked up but these are the ones that um provide it. So K SSL nr North West Minsa, West Midlands have a look through those. Um It's the most freedom of the free types and depends how you want to call it, whether it's freedom or like vagueness. Um But, but basically, like you've got the opportunity to really go in whatever way you want to sort of take it. So I've met with my supervisor and he sort of said, look, um as long as your project is, you know, going to benefit the trust and has an element of leadership around it, then really you can do what you want. And like I said, the guy before me went to Columbia and did sort of health economics. Someone's worked with the air ambulance, someone looked at crash trolleys and how they weren't up to scratch. And then now all the crash trolleys in the Royal Sussex Hospital have changed because of the project that he did. So you have a chance to do something really big. And when I've looked at most leadership sfps, they are guaranteed to be in a, in a large hospital like a tertiary center. So particular careers that I think it lends itself to as like head of departments, chief medical officers or Chief executive Officers of Trust because you'll get a chance to um you'll get a chance to sort of shadow them and sort of understand how that sort of senior management in the NHS works, which I think is really interesting and then sort of allows you to sort of come down and, and make those impacts then on the smaller levels. But even if that's something you're not thinking of all careers in medicine will involve some element of management and leadership. And then you increase your understanding of health economics and the wider reach of trusts. So, yeah, I can speak about um my particular um sap in, in a bit of detail. So for me, I've got the opportunity to shadow with the CEO and CE Emo. So I've already met with the Chief medical Officer of my particular hospital. We've sort of sat down and she said, like, look, these are the things that we're, we're trying to do at the moment. So, one of the big things they're doing is procuring an online notes based system, which is going to be like hundreds of millions of pounds. And, you know, you're able to sit in on those meetings and get that insider information, which is really good. You get a funded PG cert. Um I'm particularly um interested in innovation. Um And so that's gonna hopefully the route that I sort of take this and there's these big National Institute for Innovation meetings, I'm able to attend those. Um And really the SFP is a great sort of like foot in the door if, if that makes sense. So by emailing and saying that I'm on the specialized foundation program, this is my supervisor, this is what we're doing, you're able to get in and, and that sort of lends itself for those trusty meetings as well. The opportunity to visit another hospital as I, as I talked about, that's something that KSS do that someone before me. So I put in the EIC approval. So now it's quite a big thing. Um You can, you get paid as well and funded to become AC TC specialist advisor as well as particular NHS leadership programs. So those particular programs that are all about bettering yourself as a leader, looking at hospitals, ways they can improve um going into hospitals and sort of seeing all right, what can we change to make that sort of really, you know, big impact because I'd love to do something that's more than just, um you know, an audit or A Q I project, something that has quite a big, bigger reach. And then I'll be working with Brion Sussex Medical School and design like a teaching program for third year medical students. That's something that's supported as well. And I'm sure that if I came back and spoke about this in a month or in six months or even in a year, there'd be a lot more that I could add to this list because again, it's really up to me and something that, you know, I've got a lot of autonomy in which is really great. Amazing. Thank you so much. And so Frank is also, um he does a million things. He runs like a technology company. Um and he's also has his own um SFP um excellence which um we'll be talking more about resources, but just because he's going to come back for the train and we're gonna briefly talk about it and then we'll go on to talk about um me if you want to give her a quick spiel. Yeah. Yeah. So I've um found SP excellent. And so we're gonna do a webinar series as well. We've got a weekly newsletter. So follow us um subscribe to that, follow us on the social medias. Um We are also offering like one on one coaching with that. That's all at the moment. But we have got a waiting list. That's where I have to talk to now to sort of do a bit of that. Um We're trying to build up like a huge base of SFP doctors from all different sort of um and dean and people like that. I mean, just recently, if you go to our socialist release, like a huge sort of table of all the deaneries, all the short listing requirements, all the interview types and all the SP track. So yeah, please go and follow that and I'll try and be back to the Q and A to answer any questions. Thank you very much. So, so if do you have any questions for Frank, hopefully you will be back for the and A. So just do hold onto those and it gonna be a great resource as well that we share in our future webinars. So let's talk about med, which is the best in my opinion, but I am a bit biased. So um just going to talk about the bit benefits. So um similarly medication, medical education leadership, you get a funded PD cert um they usually fund up to about 2.5 K, which basically covers a PD cert. And if you don't know what a PD cert is, it's like the first step to doing a master's qualification. So, it's P DC PD dip and a master's. And I know that definitely, I want to go, go up and finish a master's maybe like in every year. Um, and a PD cert is great. Um, if you want to do, I think we all want to do surgery actually, while speaking. And, um, you know, it is a great way to show commitment to education. It go through the theories, um, as well. If you've already integrated the Med Ed, it, it is a lot of, um, kind of crossover with that. So it may not be something you want to do, but it's still worthwhile having an actual postgraduate qualification. Um So what do you actually get to do with mead? There's so much, um, the main thing is that you are linked to a local medical school. Um, it's not just teaching, whichever just thinks it is. There's so much more to it than that and you can get involved with curriculum and development with something that I'm really interested in. Um, you can actually set up a med, a research project. So for me, one of my specialties is like Ed, I work, I set up a lot of race task force when I was at university and that's something that I'd like to continue with other universities are working with and, and potentially, you know, set up interviews or like some sort of research study which helps support the medical school. So you can still actually integrate all the different things into your sap as well. Um You can set up teaching programs which is really important and not just for your portfolio, but you, you need to teach, everyone has to teach someone at some point. So why not go above and beyond? And even now we're teaching you and hopefully you're finding that useful and you can get a bulge of teaching kind of I I or O skis um supporting even like the medical school interviews. Um It's very much what you want to make out of it, which Frank is a lu to which is great. And I think um if you have a goal, actually having ownership of that and having support to supervisor is great and of course, it's all about building portfolio. So something you were touching on in the chat. So just to go over it. So yeah, we, you have three, lots of four months rotations. Usually one of those rotations is replaced by a dedicated four month rotation. Um However, that can look different. So for myself. So my uh rotations in F one are ge general surgery, geriatrics, pediatrics. And then my F two, I'm starting with medical education. Then I go to A&E and then T and O my medical education rotation. I'm still actually doing one day a week, clinical and four days academic. Some people are actually doing five days academic and complete ownership. Don't need to go into hospital unless they're loing week. But mine still requires me to actually split my time, which is something they always for about an interview as, oh, how you're going to balance yourself and we'll go on to that, er, later point. Um, for some of them, it can actually start off in F one. It can be a half day a week in F one and then it goes on to a full day a week and F two, it all depends on the location and we'll talk about how you can find that um information um as well. Um And think, and that is actually something to think about when you're deciding on the program. So initially for me, I was like, 01 day a week sounds really great. But actually when I was reflecting on it, I think I just want that dedicated time to do all the concentrated teaching, set it up in F one. So then I can just go full, full abo in F two with my um track. I get some academic training days throughout my F one as well, which is great, which I get um part of like my professional leave to do that and provided by the university so I can set up the project, set up. Um all the training that I need so that I make the most of that four months when I start um in August of my F two, which is great and when we talk about, er, like um ranking your jobs, it is quite worthwhile thinking about when your um actual track is in, in your job, when you're ranking your jobs. Um but we'll talk about that later. So which areas actually offer it? Um I'm going to explain the difference between foundation schools and suras slight differences in terms of the regions. Um but not all regions in the UK offer it. It research is probably the biggest one which is offered medical education is a bit less and leadership is like even more or less. Um So I'm doing East Midlands, it's um Midlands, east of England, Kent Northwest, which is basically on Manchester Liverpool Peninsula down south. Um So you are a bit more restricted. So that's something to be aware of. Um What will I be doing? Honestly, I haven't even like met my supervisor. I'm I'm not on that board yet, but my aim is I really love anatomy. So I want to hopefully get on with um anatomy, demonstrating, teaching, bedside, teaching for medical students. I want to set up any I project with the med school and get involved the curriculum development um alongside doing all this SFP webinar teaching as well on my free time. And I'm also a cohort director for the Health Leadership Academy. So it's not just me, for me, I love leadership and I'll be doing that on the side as well and there's so much you can do with the time and actually having this time you can fill it with anything you want really. But also making sure you rest and if you'd have opportunity to like um um but happy to answer any more questions for that later on. So we'll move on to um research, right? It's my turn. Is it? OK. So um I'm Jack, I'm going to be doing an SFP up in Yorkshire. Hum, as I've told you before, um in research and in specifically neurosurgery. So the research A FP or SFP because I'm old now is um is actually quite, it's quite popular. A lot of people is the sort of the original SFP track. So the idea is, it's very, I'm going to echo a lot of what Ellen and Frank said regards like the four month rotation, that's the, the sort of traditional way of doing the SFP with academic day release. But the key things about research for me is that number one, it builds up your portfolio, especially if you want to do something competitive such as surgery, dermatology, anything like that, it gets those points. Um Two is it also allows you that freedom and that time out of foundation before you enter a registrar position or core search or core training to get that first author publication, which I'll talk about with the in the benefits. So why I applied for research was purely like to expand my research acumen and my portfolio. Um But also it allowed me to get a funded PG cert. So the one I'm doing is in health research and research methodologies which is tied at Yorkshire Hum. Um And also it allows you to get that sort of visiting lecturer, fellow status. So it depends on what dean you go to, but usually every dean is tied because of the research to a university. Hence why you'll get a contract saying, oh because you're doing research at said institution, you now have visiting lecturer fellow status, which is something good for your portfolio. And two, it allows you to have all of the perks of that university. So you know, the library access and all that lava. So that's actually quite good because it's a stepping stone also into teaching leadership, basically reflecting the other sfps as well. So um that is very contagious when it comes to linkedin and your portfolios and God knows what. So definitely um have that uni status under your belt with the SFP is actually a very big perk and you can access university funding. Um as everyone knows with the trusts, um sometimes for access and funding is not the best way of doing it because the trusts are quite depending on what trust they are, they can be quite stingy with allocation of money. So um with the university that will back you up to, you know, to apply for open access funding um article processing charges conferences, which is, which at the moment I'm trying to um I've got a conference in South Africa, hopefully um this December and I'm hoping to get funded for it. So let's see how that happens. Um So there's a lot of advantages with that fellow status and then building portfolio, as everyone knows nowadays, there's a massive bottleneck, even anesthetics has got a bottleneck now, which is, which is one of the first things that's happened in a while. So, um with, you know, we've had to really embrace becoming portfolio medics to get through these hurdles of getting where we want to be. So, you know, getting that first all publication is one of the top requirements to get maximum points in, you know, especially for neurosurgery. It is number one, actually, you have to get three, but still getting that first, all publication is so good for your Porto, especially in the esteemed journal. It's, it's night and day. I've um I've been published quite a few times and the most traction I get is from those original articles in those big name journals such as, you know, British Journal, British Journal Neuro Surgery, et cetera. So getting that and having your sort of research, profile research case, et cetera, it really does build your portfolio and your presence the layouts, I've talked about that depending on Deary and mostly the um the sp and research is offered quite a few locations but be warned because they're very different according to location. And it depends on the advantages you get which I get on and the benefits later. So for example, London, you apply to a specific research track rather than having sort of the liberty to have, make your own and devise your own sort of project. So just be warned on where you apply. Um because that will make a big difference. But I believe in three things as a um as a condition as a doctor, they should be a clinician, they should be a scholar and they should also be a scientist. So hence why I wanted to get into research because it's really endows that last aspect which I, you know, to today's research is tomorrow's care. That is my belief. So um hence why go into it going to do it better than medical education? I'm joking. I'm only joking, I'm only joking but no, it's um but it is competitive. The research aspect is, is quite competitive. So we'll get on to the advantages in a minute. So go on Allen. Is that what you wanted? Sorry. Oh, no. Yeah. Oh yeah. Um You can, you can talk about it if you want or do you want me to talk about it? Oh, no, I want to talk about it. What about the academic training pathway. It depends where you are. So, for example, in Wales, they have their sort of own dedicated Welsh clinical academic training. But in other places, usually medical school, we're at the end of medical school. So we all know about the indicated phd. S Bachelor's and master's phd is, it's not that common in most medical schools, but later on, um in like the London Universities, you can do it anyway. It's not a disadvantage anyway. So foundation program F one F two, that's the normal and then SFP it basically reflects it, it takes out an a rotation or um academic day release, et cetera, but it still mimics, you know, the normal pathway, then this is where it's different. So some people like to insert a P phd after medical school after foundation or during sort of their speciality training. Um There are advantages and disadvantages to a lot of these things. So doing a phd after medical school is probably not a very good idea because you need to be pro you're under a provisional license. So you have a certain amount of time afterwards to complete F one after medical school. And if you don't complete it within um a couple of years or something, then you may have to reset finals. And because of the UK ML A, it's all a bit in the air when it comes to sort of thing. So I would really suggest if you're going to do a phd, which is what I'm thinking of doing, either doing it during speciality training or what I'm actually thinking is doing it after foundation. So, before getting into registrar level, purely because if you take three years out or four years out as most phd S are during speciality training, then imagine losing, especially for surgery. Imagine losing those competencies taking four years out and trying to like loco and gone as well. So I would say it's advantageous if you want to get it out of the way and it actually benefits your application for short listing is to get it done after your, after your foundation. But the problem is funding as everything is it's very expensive nowadays to just go and do a phd and take time out and live, you know, in like London, for example. So a lot of these phd S are funded but they're very, very competitive. So just plan early. So I'm starting looking for phd S now and then you can do an AC F an academic clinical fellowship. Usually this is tied with the speciality you're doing. But at the N I hr or the NIH, do certain um training pathways where you can rotate in different a bit like core medical, core surgical training. They are very, very competitive but they usually fund or give like 25% protected academic time compared to 75% clinical. They will actively fund masters. Um not phd sorry. PG. Certs, but it'll go on to a phd later on if you want to do it. AC LS, you know, these clinical lectureships and, um, getting on to their sort of consultancy posts, they are advantageous, but that's later on in your career. Don't worry about that at the moment. But the big thing at the moment is SFP and AC FSSFP is the bridging pathway to an AC F. But you don't have to have done SFP to go on to an AC F. It just, it's sort of more competitive edge if you've done an SFP and gives you an idea of how it works. So that really is um the Ry and pathway. But there's also, you know, you can take a year out um out of program training, literally after SFP to go into a, a clinical fellow job in med research, they're advertised a lot and some of them have got very, very good perks. Like I was looking at this one the other day in Warwick with 100% clinical education and they fund a PG cert and God knows what a PG dip masses maybe. And the pay is actually all right. So, and the thing is you can locum, you can locum a lot on these jobs as well and make a bang for your buck with the locum rates. So there is so much more opportunity you don't have to rush to get into a training program. You don't need to do that. You've got so much time to actually just breathe after foundation and do these fellowship jobs. It's becoming very popular. So I would say, just plan ahead and see how it goes. Amazing. Could you just clarify someone ask, can I just clarify if you're an academic clinical fellow? Do you still progress in terms of specialist training or does it delay the specialist training? Right. So usually the A CF is tied with the speciality, you're going to do, it's, it's slightly longer because you're doing maybe an extra year because of that 25% 75% clinical. So um because of the competencies with the GMC in getting your C CT, at the end, you may have to, it's like doing AC C for anesthetics. You may have to do an extra year or something or make up that time. But at the end of the day, you, when you go for an AC F, you apply for the special you're usually going to go into. So it's not a bad thing really. Um It's just maybe an extra year or something. Thank you. So I think that clarifies brilliant. So we've done the first half now and I really hope that's giving you a good overview of the SSP an insight into all of the free tracks, which er is great. Now, I'm gonna go into detail on the 2024 timeline. Jack is going to talk on the key components and then we'll just have a discussion about how to decide as well. Um, I think one thing I should have said at the start, the reason why we're s, we're starting this sort of series is for me, I know we're, we're all quite a few speaking today, we didn't really get any support from the union that's not to, you know, hit on the union at all just to clarify. But after the specialized foundation program, if you want to do it, it's your responsibility. It's not, you know, they don't have the time to provide extra support on top of it because it requires a lot more work. And actually, if I had someone who just sat me down and just explained just the terminology and the process, I think it just would have helped me a lot more and just helped me to plan in advance because a lot of people don't hear about it until a lot later on. And then they tried to ru the application, they're not successful. But actually if they, they had all the information, they needed a lot earlier, then it may have helped them. So I really hope this, I'm going to break it down as much as I can. And just hopefully you get the understanding that I wish I had if I was in your position now. So let's go. Ellen's been very political about it. No, I will say the truth joking. I'm joking. No, he didn't get much support, but we had a group chat together where we went through everything. Um It was a bit, yeah, it was very much on your own. Yeah. And that's the thing. I think that's a good thing. Whatever university you are from. I do recommend like actually just collaborating with people who have become a plan to the program. We had a great chat, which was great. And then from that we set up like interviews with each other and helped each other out. And I think, you know, there's always this competitive culture in med school, but there's actually so much joy in collaborating with people and you know, seeing like Jack and Frank and we all got our first place jobs and after going through it all together, like it was just so satisfying. So they do recommend doing that in respective universities. OK. So what I'm going to explain is I'm going to explain the timeline, but also just explain how you find this information because one of the most common questions I get all the time is like, where do you find everything? And honestly the UK FP A website is a bit of a maze, but I've tried to just screenshot where you'll find everything as well. So in my, my er suggested timeline is from now you need to be starting your research on your programs as Frank isn been alluded to um before what is different about the special foundation program, you don't rank all of the deaneries in order from one to how many you only get to choose two. So it's really important that you choose those wisely. You need to make sure you understand the timeline of the year which I'm going to go through and keep up to date on all of the least application information. You need to start with the official guidance first to help you base your decisions. So at the moment, the current information which is out and I screen shotted this a few days ago is the application timeline, which looks, it looks like a PDF document on a table of all the dates. The applicant presentation is really great to go through. It was really clear, it breaks down the key er dates and timeline, the key changes er link as well, which explains that obviously the E PM. And um what was the other thing that's been removed? Sat is being removed as well. It also explains that the White Space questions has actually been streamline to five this year, which I'll talk about er later on as well. What we're still waiting on is the summary. Um but I will share a screenshot of what that will look like, which will help you with your information. So please make sure that you read those documents carefully because that's going to give you the key, key information you need and then you need to go into each foundation school, but I'll talk about that. So that's what you need to be doing from now if you haven't already started. And I, I think this is why we hosted this now and early because people don't realize how much time it takes to read and actually, um do things for yourself. August is when you need to be preparing your white space questions and gathering your portfolio together if it's not organized. Um And you need time because it takes so much longer than you've been to write 200 words per question because I'm sure most of you here are very impressive. You've got very impressive portfolios but to try and actually really synthesize what you've done in a way which is not just listing but actually demonstrating your skills. It takes a long time with the draft, getting people to check it. It takes so much longer than anything. And this is why we're, we're really encouraging you to start on now. Um So one thing that people don't often realize National Foundation program, the deadline is the same as the National Foundation program. So you have more to do with by the same deadline. So there is an application window which is the 20th of September to the fourth of October. By that point, not only do you on top of ranking of your foundation deaneries, you need to have all your white space questions um completed and upload your um pet portfolio into oral as Well, so it is, it's more to do with, with the same deadline. The only additional thing you have to do extra, which is different to the foundation program is once you've submitted the application, you then have to rank your SFP jobs and you get an extra er nine or 10 days after that, which is immediately after submitting your or your application, which is obviously different to the foundation program where you have to wait all the way up until March to find out where you are. And that's when you do all your jobs. The selection process is, is, is an ongoing process between October to December. But the predominantly your interviews are hosted November to December time. I had mine um mid November. When did you have yours? Jack? Oh God. It was going into like end November beginning of December. Yeah, sure. So October is a prime time to begin your preparations for interviews again. You do not realize how much time it actually takes um to prepare and obviously that's why we're going to be doing a series on it as well and people are forgetting like you are going into year five. You know, you've got placement as well. You know, for us, we had to balance ad T prep, prep. Unfortunately, I also had a family bereavement which I had to balance as well. So it's important you start early because if stuff happens, stuff comes up, then you will make sure then you'll be well prepared for the interview and then hopefully God willing will be office in January. And how it works is a stepwise process and I'll explain that shortly. Um Just to clarify, do you click a but to say you want to, er, so when you um when you apply an oil, so first of all, you do foundation program rank your deaneries from one to whatever, then if you tick, you want to apply to SAP, then it opens up with some more information you select which two areas you're applying to. You, you paste and you answer to your workspace questions and you have to add in all of your portfolio onto it as well. So that's what you do by October. And then after you've done that, once it's been submitted, you then get an option to rank the jobs in those two areas that you've submitted by the 13th of October. Hopefully that's a bit more clearer later on. OK. So just going to go over that, just break it down a bit more. So um just to explain. So these older regions, sorry, you can't say my mouse. I'm I'm just thinking you can. Um so you have 18 foundation schools slash deaneries, which you will rank normally from 1 to 18. I think it is. But to know that for the specialized foundation program, some of those areas are actually condense. So the main difference is East Midlands, which I I am um in the normal foundation program, er, trend, which is basically Nottingham and Leicester are separate um foundation schools. But with the specialized foundation program that one complete er, specialized unit of application, the same for Kent Kent 26 and West, all combined Southwest is combined as one, which is Canada, it is still split into seven peninsula but it comes under Southwest and also West Midland is one area. whereas with the foundation school, you you rank central North in South separately. So just so you're aware of that because I don't think a lot of people realize that when they're applying, this is what the application timeline document looks like, which I alluded to before. So please make sure you see that on the UK E PR website. Um So the best place to go for in terms of finding the information on the individual foundation schools, the number of jobs, the dates of the interviews is going to be the summary by specializing of application as of the moment, the 2024 updated one is not yet up because I think all the foundation schools are still finalizing and dates of the interviews. However, you can still go back to click on the 2020 free spreadsheet because the links to the foundation schools will be the same and that's just going to make it a lot easier to find the direct links to the recruitment page for each um kind of Deaneries, specialized unit of application. And on those pages, you will be able to find information on what their programs offer their requirements as well. Um And there may be some delay just because of all the changes, the foundation school information will be up yet. But that's why we're doing this now so that you can check if information is there or look at previous information because honestly, the jobs don't really change each year. It's just the same or they're just updating is the date, but it's still important that you start reading that from now and that's what I want to stress on. That's the easiest way to start rather than having to Google each foundation school. It just takes ages, um, with regards to white space questions, er, the white questions are actually already out, which is great. I think it's a lot earlier than it was, than it was last year. Actually, we have to wait till August. Um, it's been streamlined to five instead of 10. Just to say not all, um, areas ask you to do all of them, which I was surprised about. So actually I only had to do, I ended up only having to do three because one, area asked for 21 area asks for 21 of those questions overlapped. So, um, you can't, um, you can't kind of, what's the word dedicated it specifically to one area because they're going to be seeing that one answer to that question, both areas. It's important. It's still generic, but you can still try and show a bit of bias into it if you want to. Um But you don't have to apply to two, but it makes sense, why not? You need to improve your chances of getting a job. But I'm not going to dwell too much on this because we're going to do a dedicated webinar. So we go apply to Sop and then just to explain the portfolio bit. So the White Space questions, I'll just talk about now and then Jack will do the portfolio bit. What is it? It's basically a 200 word limit question. Um Usually about kind of where you get to talk about experience of teaching teamwork, your achievements, stuff that you're proud about. Um You have to sound really pompous when you're answering these, I was actually, it was making me gag when I was like this. I'm so pompous, but you have to, you need to show who you are but you need to be reflective and we'll talk about that soon as well. Um And just to quickly answer this question before we go to. OK. OK. Yeah, that, that's fine. Um So um yeah, that just so, you know, that's what the White Space questions are. If, if you've heard of it, I'm not quite sure what they are about. Um Jack, do you want to just talk about the portfolio that you have to offer, I answer that question fine. So the portfolio, right, because of the whole E PM change and sGC and all that lava the portfolio means it's going to be a bit more um probably a bit more waiting alongside the white space questions. So the way it usually works with a lot of like um applications in medicine is it reflects the speciality applications and it depends on the deary. So the big four, which you should know about is indicators and extra degrees, publications, presentations and prizes. Those are the big four and then any additional things such as leadership, teaching positions, et cetera. So if you have not done an integrated or extra degree, don't worry, it's fine a lot with, you know, this climate, the current socioeconomic climate and God as well. It's not a huge essential nowadays to have that extra degree. It's not. And a lot of people don't actually have to have an extra degree. I mean, I did because I wanted to integrate, but I know people who didn't and still secure SFP jobs and got their first job like Ellen, you know, Ellen's a prime example of that. You don't have to just do. It's, it's not the cheapest thing to do number one. And trust me, I'm still paying off mine. And then second, it's, it's really going out of fashion because the UK FPO removed extra degrees and all that and publications from the thing. So if you've got it fine if you haven't, don't worry about it. Publications. So this will be the make it or break it comp compare dependent on the Deanie. So I applied to Oxford and Yorkshire Hum. Now for Oxford, it was very vague how they selected and they literally ranked you on how many publications, prizes presentations you had. That was it. Whilst Yorkshire Hum reflected the core surgical training, core medical training portfolio, meaning that if you've got a publication like first authorship of an original article or co or something, then you're gonna access more of the top marks. It has to be pub med indexed or in print or process basically. So if you've got confirmation that it's going to be published, that's fine for Normal Foundation years ago, it had to be pub med index. That's it, it has to be on, that means it has to be deposited on PUBMED and you can see with a PUBMED ID and when you do the application, it will give you, it will show where you have to say that. Um So make sure if you've got publications, make sure it is on PUBMED or in print presentations. Usually depending on whether de is, it has to be national and above. So national meaning that it is a recognized society of a certain domicile. Now, I think they're changing the whole Wales Scotland to I heard there was rumor to regional. So be careful with that because Wales was its own country. Scotland was its own country, et cetera. But some, I've seen some um, er, short listing now referring to that is regional. So please read the fine print. London's got a very extensive document of what the class is counted and not so just make sure about that, but national meaning has to be represented in, within that country, a major meeting and it has to be a recognized society. Unfortunately, student societies do not count and also the B MA conferences, they I don't think count either. So you need to make sure that it's like the Royal Society, Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons, something like that. And trust me conferences, there's so many conferences you can do and a lot of them um you can submit literally the basic work and get in. So trust me conferences are a bit of a catch penny on some, some big ones because you're paying hundreds of pounds to register. It's not cheap. A lot of my budget has gone to conferences. So please be careful with how much you're spending but some schools will fund it. Ok, wonderful. So you can be a named author as well. So meaning that if you didn't present the poster oral presentation, but your name is definitely on a certificate or on that presentation, then usually that counts dependent on the deary. So please read the fine print of each one I know for Oxford who was fine, but she's just please like read it prizes. This is probably the, the bane of your life prizes are really hard in medicine to get. You either have to be like top 10% or get like a CF merit or honors or Dean's List or something to count. Or it has to be a nationally recognized prize such as winning an essay prize for the Royal Society of Medicine. It's not easy and a lot of people do not have these extra points. Some medical schools, I'm not naming any, but some medical schools will give prizes out like smarties. That's the difference. So please just take it with a pinch of salt. You don't have to have 17 prizes to secure an SFP post trust me and it can't be a student Society prize either. Now, leadership in teaching positions. I know for Yorkshire hum you had to have it was a big portfolio and you had to literally upload the evidence of every single section after the deadline. So you have to have either like um so society society certificates or like um a reference saying you let it over a certain amount of X period, whatever. But these have to be nationally recognized societies over 3 to 6 months. Usually to garner the most points. I think it's changing to longer now for longer periods. So if you've done a year's position, that's good enough. Usually um this is just part of the portfolio. There are other extra things such as like teaching series or, um, I, I think for Yorkshire hum, like you could choose like what musical instruments and God knows what it was. Very, um, it was, is, you know, it's more extra, quicker than what you thought compared to certain deaneries like London or Oxford where it's very much just publications, prizes presentations. So please look at every deary in detail when it comes to the portfolio and it depends also on the track you're going down for the research. One, most of the weighting is going to be on those, you know, those academic stuff, maybe me, ed or leadership, there might be other things to take into account which step into research. So please have a look at those um dean specific requirements. So that's really great. So I think the main thing that you put into oil is and presentation prizes. I don't remember actually put my leadership positions down, but I think you, I think, I think some deaneries will literally send you extra documents. It's like applying to medical school. Honestly, it is very much the same sort of process. So just be um we'll hammer home just a bit more about portfolio at the end just if there's anything that's not quite clear, we've got another summary. Um And then just to, so we've just talked, this is July and August already and look how much we've been able to talk about just so hopefully that just shows how much reading and preparation, you need to do, it takes a while to get that information you need to get. But if your academic CV is not up to date, it takes ages, it takes a few hours and make sure it's up to date. Um, with applying, um, just to hammer home. It's the, between the 20th September to the fourth of October, that's your, uh, medical schools responsibility to get you, er, launch on to oral. They should be able to give you an, an intro talk on it as well. Um But yeah, that's just, just to recap on that. And then um the interviews again, I'm not dwell in interviews. That's way further down the line, but just to give a tiny bit of insight, they're, they're a lot shorter than you think. Literally, mine was only about 25 minutes. I think the others were probably maybe like 15 minutes and the amount of preparation we, I know me and Frank series of calls. I think we did like a month of preparation for 1 25 minute interview but you need it. Um And yes, sorry, just to say for Wales, actually, if you, I should have said this before, this process doesn't really mean anything like they just innocent, you literally just rank an sep job like any other foundation program job. So this, there, there isn't really anything more specific to add in. And I think even if you put Wales on for SAP like you don't have, I'm not sure if you do have to do work based. Question. All I'm aware is that Wales is your foundation school? Like the SAP jobs which are listed as basically normal jobs with that really? And just to clarify with that. Um And then there's offices as well which is like a step by system. So you'll put into an algorithm, you get points from the interviews, really. The highest ranking candidates get the first round of offers they can either accept or reject. Um If they, um I mean, ideally you wouldn't reject an FFP job, you may change your mind and that's fine. But like you, there's no point like if you get the job, you should go for it. Really. Um Yes, er, you would um do roles um in March, but actually it's not or guaranteed, you'll get an NSP role in Wales. It's more that it's, and I'm not sure if they're going to separate them into the allocation system. That's the only thing we're not sure about for Wales. Um But I know that it's not as focused for England um If that makes sense. Um And I'm very, can I just add one little thing? So I, so with offers, you have a very small amount of time to accept or reject those offers. So 48 hours. So if you get that off in the first round and you don't hear from the other Deanie then you pretty much got to decide they're an end. So you might not, it's, it's honestly, it's all or one or nothing you need to decide. So if you said for example, you apply to London and you didn't get an offer in the first round, but you've got your other deary, you have to make a decision whether to gamble or not. And trust me p is not the thing to gamble on. If you get the job, get it. Because the even this year with the elimination of E PM and SGT, there's going to be a massive exponentiation of people applying for the SP because of jobs like location security. So just take the job wherever it is. OK? So just a few things before I go into Q and A, so just a bit more on how to decide on programs, we've talked about what programs offer. Um Just actually just think about which track I think someone asked like, can you apply to different ones? So often the medical education, leadership interviews are quite similar and sometimes they can actually let you change, switch to a leadership one or a medical education one once you get the job. But for research, you, there's no point in applying for a research one, applying for mead because the White Express white spec white space questions have to be so specific. You, you're wasting words. If you're trying to accommodate the two things I really recommend just choose one track and then choose two areas based on that one track, things about the requirements. So some um areas will specify. You have to, I think London, that you could only apply if you had two publications. Um I'm not sure what it was like for um the others, but some of them for us, they specify E PM schools, but luckily that's been taken out of the equation and some of them will require a certain number of presentation. Some of them are actually very vague and that that information isn't available. So what is really important is that you talk to previous ffps as well and try and get an idea of what sort of port they had and see, see if you sort of compare as well. And also just ask them to talk about their experience as well. And that's something that Frank is developing is this resource of a bank of ffps, which will be great. Then you can help reach out to people and just get a bit more information. Um Hammering home, what Frank said at the start location. Um for me, um think about what is your priority. So for me, you know, I being in Cardiff House was four hours away from home. I wasn't going to start a job which was down south just for the sake of, oh, I've got sp job because that for me, my mental wellbeing, I needed to be closer to home. That wasn't it? For me, I wasn't going to waste my time going for a job, which I, I knew I wouldn't be happy in the location. But some people they just want, just want the job. They didn't care about the location and that does make it easier. But for me, I'm like, no, I get to be picky, so I'm going to be picky about the location. Um And the really important thing that people often forget you get so focused on this one rotation. What are the actual other clinical rotations? And I, one thing I reg regret is so I wanted to apply for West Midlands, but because I saw that geriatrics was like one of the rotations like, oh I'm not going to apply to West Midlands and I'm doing geriatrics in my job now. And I think just at the start of like, oh my gosh, I don't want to do geriatrics, but actually, um don't rule out jobs just because there's one specific job which is in the rotation which isn't um like for you, but think about anything that's important. So for me, surgery, I wanted to make sure that I had an ACA which had 22 surgery rotations that was important for me. It's not essential, but that's what I wanted. I um wanted something different. So I've got peds. I wanted, I like peas, obviously, Gyne, I wanted A&E or GP I wanted variety and often you can get very quirky options of the SP jobs which isn't actually in line with what you want. So, for some sp jobs you have this amazing SEP program but no surgery rotations. That's not what I wanted clinically. So just really don't, don't forget about that as well. And most foundation schools will list what the actual rotations of all the jobs are on their page as well. So just to echo that, um, so I was quite strategic on what I wanted. Neurosurgery is quite a rare sho job which comes out. So a pa this year though, or you could only do the neurosurg sho jobs if you had gone for a FP. So you can search an ori what, what specialities as well and it'll come up with the rotations and most neurosurgical jobs were only a FP. So you had to go for the SFP to do it. Um And I was strategic like I'm doing psych to start off with because I know I want to do the Mr CS in January. So it gives you, you can really, you have to think about it, like think about the rotations more than the SFP itself sometimes because you don't want to be doing some, you know, dead speciality, no respect to a speciality, but we are all surgery biased. Um Just to, we're just going to run through what you can do from now and then we'll just have a dedicated 20 minutes of Q and A I, I've really had made a time reviewed the official guidance, but I can't say it enough. Frank has had a really great resource on the table. If you can, you paste that again in the chat as well, just if you don't mind. Um Just make sure you need to be reading all the information available to you. Now, um, it is important, um, researching the program. I think we've talked about enough on that as well. So we'll just skip over that. Gather your portfolio, start early user time wisely, stay organized. Um maintain your clinical career is, you know, just to say, like we said, you have less clinical time than other people in your F one as well. Making sure that you actually, you know how to be an F one because I think often you can get all up in your head like 01, I'm like an academic F one. No, you're just an F one. You just have academic stuff to do. You know what I mean? That doesn't mean you're better clinically and actually make sure you don't get in your head about it. And you know, hopefully you've all been working towards portfolio throughout medical school, but it's important you stay competitive. There's any abstract or anything that hasn't been written up. This is a conference which is can be presented even just before the application look, come out, get it in, get those presentations, get those certificates, you need that evidence. So make sure you do that. Um I think, er, Jack's already explained the academic very well as well, but um we'll upload slides later in just a bit of detail. If that will be useful. Um and resources, there's gonna be loads of SFP series and I'm all about promoting all of them and not like, oh, because like, um there's SFP excellent, there can be access to FFP starting up. There's so many other DEA we want. There's some also really good previous recordings like I made a youtube playlist of like 123 FFP, the Bike medicine. Um even on med all, if you just type an SAP, you'll find loads of previous recordings as well, but it's still we're going to current series because they'll be updated for the 2024 information, but a lot of the information just doesn't change laced down the line. This interview, book, a clinical medicine. These are going to be great for interviews, but I thought I'll just throw that in there just in case you want to be thinking about it. Please don't buy, please get it from the library like, don't waste your money. Like please, this NHS Rory is just a nonsense. So please save your money. Um So hopefully, so we've talked about now. Um I know you as SFP, what the tracks were about. We've gone through the page of process and in quite a lot of detail, we've gone through a bit of the nuances. Um I know that's a lot of information to process, but this is something that we never had spoke to us and we wanted to give you that and hopefully gift you that. But this is your time now to ask us questions. Um I'm going to put my timer on. We're going to do A Q and A for about 20 minutes. So please paste your questions. Er, now um we'll respond to some in the chat. We'll talk about some of them as well. Frank is here. So I recommend if there's any leadership ones, ask it now because it's quite rare to find leadership recipe always hiding. So ask me questions. Um and we'll do that and then we will wrap up um in the meantime, whilst people are getting those questions together. Um I think um Jack sort of Frank, why did you actually choose Brighton other than like the perks? Um And the areas was there anything else that just kind of made you want to go for that job? Uh Yeah. So I think um the hospital I had heard good things about that. So the fact that you'd be in that is a, is a large center hospital, you know, that was a major thing for me. And what else offered? So it offers a lot of time with higher management. So that, that's stuff that I really wanted and then I won't lie as well. Like the location helps as well. Although having said that I then after looking into the leadership, I then ended up liking leadership like the, the chance to do that so much that my second was pen. Well, would have no offense to anyone else from Peninsula, but that would, for me, that would have been a bit on location is when I ranked my foundation and it was things like London KSS and all of that. Um So in the end, the job became more important than the location for me. And so that's like about looking into it and just balancing, you know, what did you want? Because those other dean I just mentioned, didn't offer that. Um I think for me, um one thing is the PD cert. So some do you need to specify which PD cert you have to do, which is linked to the university? Um What I quite liked was some of the medical education jobs that you could actually choose your provider. And for me, that's great because I do the healthcare Leadership Academy, Medical Academy. I want to do that PD Cert because it integrates um leadership and technology into my PD cert as well, which is great. Um We have a question. So since E PM is removed, do medical school grades not matter at all? Um Even later on, do they check a grade? Do they not tell you, Jack? You want to answer? So I was actually going to just answer it now. So it depends on the deaneries. Some deaneries like Oxford do not tell you how they should this whatsoever. They just tell you, oh, publication by whatever and E PM. So I would say at the meantime, you need to look at those deanery websites in detail and see if they actually tell you if they don't. And because of the UK FPO removing E PM, it's very much up in the air. Um But at this moment in time just I would say just make sure your EP MS OK, just make sure just as a backup because you never know, there might be too many applications and then they have to use it again. You, you, you never know. So I would say just keep it in the back of your mind. Cool. And we got a question about leadership. Um So, and I think we can also just apply this generically about pros and cons but um pros and cons of going from a dedicated block to sort of half days, full days. Um Frank, I was just wondering actually from your research was based on leadership program dedic dedicated rotation. So I thought the majority of them were like that, but you can comment on that. Yeah, so most of the leadership ones are 14 month block. Um I think the pros and cons of that are, I mean, the pro is that when you, when you in that four months, you got all that time to sort of go on it. But you really got to do the prep before that you want to hit the ground running for those four months. So actually, it's in the time before it, I'm gonna have to do a fair bit of work so that, you know, things like any approvals finding your, you know, going and experience and going to that and, and getting permission and things like that. So, and that's certainly something that you need to think about. And also like how like Rusty maybe be in your clinical when you go back after the four months. I know that just encourage you to do, I encourage that basically make you do. But like one and three weekends in A&E during that keep up your clinical um competencies. Um The one day a week is sounds good on page, but I don't, I don't know, in reality, well, you'd end up really getting much traction as if you just in one day a week. Um So yeah, I firstly think the four month block is quite nice. Yeah, I was initially like, oh, Monday a week is nice that I get a break. But actually one of the most common interview questions is actually is like, how are you going to balance your time academically and clinically? And for me, you know, I will be doing one day a week clinical and four days academic. But there actually may be times where the ward is so on the staff. Do you, do you choose prioritizing healthy board cover or do you choose, you know, sticking to the teaching that you're meant to be doing as well? And actually, I think it'd be a lot easier to get drawn into doing more clinical stuff than, although they're meant to protect your academic time. I feel like they could get away with, like, actually the ward needs help you, You can't do it actually with the four months, they can't argue because that is your four months. So I would think about doing that. Um So Jack's responding to lesson full time. I'm as I'm aware, I don't get as many which are less than full time, which are specialized on age programs, but I could be wrong. Um Satisfaction tables. No, this is why you need to speak to people. Um So I'm Jack is probably king of linkedin. Actually, I love link link as well. Use your linkedin, use your Twitter. Like don't be afraid to just say no, I'm very much like, oh I'm a bit annoying. I'm like, hey, my Twitter is there anyone who has done sop in this region? I'd love to please reach out. People will retweet it and people will help, help you find the people you need if you're willing to put yourself out there and people want to help, although Twitter can be toxic, but people actually will help linkedin, like just get connected with people. People will respond to your questions. Um I mean, I had um I, I remember a couple of Oxford Sfps, a couple of Yorkshire have Seps and I think I had Ollie Burton also the youtuber also. Do my um have a look at my, my wife face questions. So please just message it the best thing and even after like helped me as well and they're like amazing and famous, but even the famous people will help you. Like we have Jack and Frank and on the and on the um SFP when like you're looking at them, they should have like a contact on there. And um you know, it's a bit, you know, you feel a little bit dodgy sometimes emailing them. But if you email them, they can give you some more information and equally, they can also give you the emails, the people on the already from the previous years. So then you can find them on linkedin or give them an email again. It just shows that you're going a bit above and beyond and you know, you can send interview I talk to. So and so, and you know, this really helps. Yeah, it is really important. I did that for one of the areas that I applied to because I just couldn't find enough information. And because I knew that I, you know, I want to do anatomy demonstration I wanted to find out is that a possibility I could get involved with. I wanted to find out is, you know, could I actually get involved with the curriculum and it sometimes they have to be generic and very unspecific. Um So just ask questions, go in a bit deeper. Um I want us all to comment actually on um what is a good portfolio um for me, leadership. Um I don't know, maybe it's a commercial. Um So we'll start with Jack but Jack is, can I just say pre order jacket like free of a portfolio but Jack, please start, right? Ok. Number one. No, no, no, no, no, no, I don't believe in all this coma, right? Ok, fine. So portfolio for me five things. So as I said, you know, qualifications, so extra things, whatever talk about your uh you know, prizes, whatever through medical school, et cetera and extra degrees, presentations, publications prizes though. That's like the Holy Triad because it reflects a lot of the short listing for later on and phd S and gone as well. And then the extra things such as you know, your leadership teaching um extra exams, you have to sit like the Mr CS or something like that. That's what I would say. So the big three for me, which I've tried to expand on is purely publications prizes presentation because at the end of the day in portfolios and research is components, a lot of these short list applications, they are like virtual currency in how you apply yourself. And when you for shortlisting, it's all about meritocracy sometimes. So a bit like G CS ES and A levels and you cat for medical school, it's the same principle when it comes on to later on. So I would say that is your like form of currency to get into an interview and then everything such as your leadership and all that that is later on. When you get to that interview, it depends on what job you go in for. But I would say the big three for me is publications, presents and prizes. And I do not, I mean, this is when it gets all toxic when it comes to research because you should do research because you want to do research. It shouldn't be the other way round just to get a Pubmed ID because trust me, it's a nightmare. E and you will hate sitting there and doing a systematic review just for one tiny little pub med ID number. It's honesty, it's toxic and it brings up the worst in people as well. Get, yeah, when, when it comes to research. So I would say do it because you want to do it. But also bear in mind, you have to play the game, you have to play the system and link. I, I honestly, I should be a spokesperson for linkedin. Linkedin is number one, I have got a lot of my publications and stuff through linkedin. So please just get on it and start connecting and like me and Allen did the HL A very, very good. I mean, Allen is a spokesperson for the H A so she can talk about age. A but again, it's all about who, you know, in this world. I don't come from anything like nothing and it was a nightmare. But once you build that network, it's absolutely fine and you can get swimming with it. So Ellen go on, just talk about a medical education. Teaching is really important. I think making sure that you're saving, your feedback is really important. Saving forms. I think people forget that people just think you need certificate, but you need to actually make sure you get a copy of the feedback forms on the event you're doing and try and do. Although it's great to do ad hoc teaching just to show commitment to teaching throughout if you can do a dedicated teaching program, which is, you know, easy if you're part of societies or part of collaborative, you know, we're doing a teaching program now making sure that you do at least four sessions, which is great for your portfolio, open it up, you know, widely like we're doing now, it gives you more points as well. You have to think smartly um presentations wise. I think people forget that presentations. Like you can easily get a presentation just from a feedback form but making sure that, you know, your feedback form is well, structured out. Um, make, make the most of everything you're doing to make it into at least a poster. But ideally oral, like I did my first oral presentation this year. Um, I've done quite a few posted, I've done quite a few kind of sport talks as well. Um, and I think medical education as well, if you're making sure that you're part of the, of the members of organizations, I think is the only thing we haven't really spoken touched on today is like if you're interested in surgery, like get an O A affiliate membership, do you know what I mean? Or your medical education? Get an ask me membership. I know it's expensive. They won't necessarily show evidence that you remember, but actually, it might be something that'll come up later on and be quite useful and it's easy also if you're a member to get access to these conferences as well. Um Frank, can you comment on what makes a good leadership a can you actually talk a bit about your a and as things really, very, very brief? Uh Yeah. So, so technology is a medical technology company set up with a few other medical students. Um And it's sort of like focusing on digital solutions for the N so we work on something for uh iag at the moment. I think I'm probably a bit lazier than, than, and, and Jack, when it comes to the, I'm more about like efficiency doing the minimum amount possible to get the maximum of points. Um So for things like, I mean, there's not a really specific leadership portfolio if you're talking about short listing to get an interview, like I said, it's mainly your um prizes and presentations, student society ones don't count to, don't bother, go, like, in my opinion, don't bother going to the, do you know what I mean? It, if they only, they're not gonna count them, then what's the point? So I think just really value your own time and put in an abstract for an oral presentation at a big keep going until you get accepted and you should um eventually do that stuff like um like, yeah, is a weird one because it sounds good to set up like a business, but it's really hard to get that to take off any of the points from portfolio. So you've done all of that and it's like, oh, well, what actually got me in terms of portfolio, but in terms of the interview for SSP, they ask me a lot about that and there was like, it was like a couple of questions in short space of time. They were really interested about that and what we've done and we got funding et cetera. Um So those interesting stuff uh that interesting stuff is good for like when you're actually at interview and making stuff interesting and different people. Unfortunately, a lot of people will have publications. It's nice um different like that. So, and another question for you, Frank is um in terms of leader management, could you still talk about non medical related but large scale leaderships position class projects you done in the white question? I know my will be. Yes. But what was your thought that? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And they'll, they'll love that sort of thing, you know, anything that's um I, I really think um that like a big part of face is just being a little bit different. You know, you've only got 200 words. Um, so many medical students have done similar things that if you've got something, I don't know what that is, that sort of non medical leadership thing. Um, but if you've got that then that is absolutely fantastic. I definitely talk about that. So. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Well, um, I think we've answered most. Um, Jack, is there any point in including publications if you're not first offer or would include anyway, my answer to that is as long as it's me ID, I would include it, but obviously first offer is better. Um, is there anything else? I echo that, um, any publication, even if I'm not gonna lie, even if you don't think it's on pep Me, just put it on it. If you've got nothing else, just put it on be cheeky because it does, it doesn't, you, you never know. You might count it. They might count it. So I go through the application. I'm very, I'm a very big pessimist. So I literally will if there's something I doubt I don't include it in my own thought processes for, for processing of my short listing. So for example, if I thought of it wasn't permit ID, I'd discount it anyway. But still it, but in my mind I'd be like, OK, it, it doesn't count. So just add something else. So just put everything you can on there. You don't have to be first off for, for everything later on in speciality, maybe that's a bit different. But for now if you think so or whatever, even an abstract which is published in a journal which may not on per just put it on, just put it on doesn't matter. Yeah, do that. I, I had um yeah, two Abrus I think one of them, a med ed, one was in the clinical teaching. Um I can't remember which one was the other journal, but I still brought them in as well. Just, just to make it look bulky, to be honest. Um we have a few minutes to go before we get to wrap this up. So please ask any more questions. Um Now um I'm just gonna ask er, Jack and Frank. Um looking back to this time last year when we were starting to think about this, is there anything that you wish you had done to prepare yourself? Um before you started getting all of the process go on Frank. You go first. Mm. That's a good question. I think we were lucky that we had that group that and, and that was really good, wasn't it? And like, and a lot of, um, interview prep, um, I'd start, I think I only started interview prep once I knew I had one and I think maybe I should be a bit more optimistic and maybe just started on the interview prep. And what you can do now is, is like really revise your like acute medicine and emergency prioritizing because even if you don't get an interview as a doctor, it's quite good to know that. But then you can guarantee in almost every interview, they will ask you some sort of clinical question because remember you're losing a clinical rotation. So you've got to show that you are sounds a bit harsh but better than maybe or clinically than you know, other people so that you can, you can cope with losing one of those rotations. That's what I say, I think just to sorry, Jo if you want me just um commenting on that. So actually, yeah, it's quite nervous when you're waiting to hear if you got an interview. Um Some people don't literally literally find out like a week before they have an interview. And if you haven't been like preparing anyway, then you can't really kind of squash that interview prep. It needs to be a gradual process. So honestly, regardless if you don't hear anything from like mid October cos I don't think I heard till the end of October you by, by October time you just need to just, even if it's just a few hours a week, it's just gonna help you prepare on the long term. Um Yeah, Jacks go for it. I would say so I didn't hear back from my interview until like a week before the interview itself. So interview private number one because that will make it or break it for, you know, for Search and Deanery Yorkshire and Humber. I don't know if it's changed this year. They didn't have interviews, it was all portfolio based and you had to send in your evidence before the deadline of everything. That was a nightmare. So I would say play to your strengths be strategic. If your portfolio is great, you sort of, you can sort of predict whether you're gonna get a job or not. It sounds cocky, but you need to play that game. So hence why I put an application in for you and I need a new job. So that's what I'd say to answer the question about the collaborative research, right? This is contentious. So collaborative ship or whatever it's called. No, it doesn't count. And a lot of the times for speciality applications, it doesn't count either. I think for some it does. But I honestly, unless you really want to do research or be part of an audit hence why some people doing their A rcps, which is what you have to do in foundation have to be part of these things just to get those audit points because you have to get signed off. But for you, I wouldn't waste as much time doing that. You can get an editorial or a letter to the Aitor which probably comes more. I'm being serious. Um And you cannot link SFP applications because of the competitive nature of it. No, it doesn't exist. So you can't. Which is really a shame. Like if you have a partner, like, you know, I've got best friends who are married and stuff and it's like quite ner. So, yeah, you do have to think about that because it's not guaranteed to get the job and sorry, we will talk a bit more about, you know, like job numbers and stuff as well, but it varies. Like, you know, leadership is very far, very few in between. There's not many jobs. Mad Air is a bit more but, you know, for East Midlands. So there's only six for education jobs. It, it's quite hard to get a job. Research does tend to be a lot more. Um But you need to think strategically about the numbers as well of jobs that are available. If you want to increase your chances. I just risked it. And I was like, I want to be close to home. I'm going to give it all I can and, you know, I got it, which was my first choice but I it wasn't guaranteed that day waiting for job offers. I was a, we were all freaking out the day before. Like it's, it's really hard. Um And with more people applying for sop this year just to stress if you do not get an fa P job, it is not the end of the world. Um I know we're, we're talking about, oh Sap and we're great. But actually, like you're still going to get a job in the non foundation program regardless. And if you want something, you will still find those projects outside, like you can still make a pathway for yourself. This just makes it slightly easier and I think that's something to stress um decent number. Um I mean, obviously the more the merrier, really more the merrier, I would say, um there is no cut off. It depends on where you apply. So I know for Oxford, the more the merrier like, and I know this year there was a substantial amount. So I think I'd say if you want to be safe for like the competitive ones, like um the more so like for Oxford, for example, it's research only, that's the thing, there's only research jobs offered. So I'd say for those sort of places, 23 and above is sort of OK, that's what I would say. Case reports, systematic reviews doesn't matter, just has to have that per med ID. Um It again, it depends where you apply. So please, you know, please be strategic. Um Can you get a SFG job with GP primary care rotation? Yeah, of course, you can um you can't pick and choose like the jobs are set and I think that's like important to stress because sometimes you can have a massive list of jobs but it so varies. So you actually need to think about if I actually got this job, would I want to do it? I was kind of, it was actually easier for me having less jobs to write because they're all very similar because most jobs it's like the same job, but three times just in different orders anyway. So just think about if those don't interest, you don't waste your time. Er, last, last question, er, can you apply? It's not that you can't, you can, but it, it's, it's not worth it because just to hammer home again, your white space questions, 200 words is not a lot to try and kind of specify it to me and research. It's very difficult. Of course, there is an overlap with me and research but to really get the job you want and to show your um kind of skills and qualities I really recommend just choosing one, we're going to end the Q and A there. Um So just a summary today, we have covered an overview of the FFP program, um, an insight into all of the tracks we've gone over the timeline, the key components particularly about portfolio and we're going to do an in depth webinar on White Space questions on 10th of August. So please be there, put it in your diaries. Um We've talked a bit about how to actually design a program, what to do from now, which is researching and getting your portfolio ready. Um And I'm from August time sorting about White space questions and we've had an opportunity to chat a bit more about questions and the summary is what I'm doing now. Um I really hope you've enjoyed it today. Um Please do um fill in the feedback form. You should, I'm sorry, I don't know how many like emails they send you, you should automatically get an email anyway, but I, I put a link there. Please do fill out the feedback form. It's useful for us and it means you get an attendance certificate, um which goes straight into your med account and you'll be able to access the recording of this webinar um, as well. I'll upload the slides as well er, to come back to listen to. Um, we, like I said, um we'll be doing workspace questions. We'll be setting up a review service. I can try and get some more dos and involved. We will probably have to limit it because yeah, we can't do everyone white face questions, but I really want to offer that to other people because that was, I really enjoyed to have that for me and we'll do a check in a week before and then in depth interview prep series and just to shout out FSP excellent. Again, I don't know where my resource page is. Um SFP. Excellent. Got webinars and stuff and yeah, just one of them. You'll get all the information. There's loads of webinars going on. Please be on Twitter, be on linkedin, find out about these opportunities. Um And if you do have questions, please do reach out to us on linkedin. If you go to Cardiff, you need, hopefully you'll have me on Facebook. So just drop me a message as well. I'm happy to help. Um I can't help everyone but I can, I'll do as much as I can. We all start off on like next week. Um But thank you so much for coming. Um And yeah, all the best, enjoy this break before you start your five as well. But unfortunately, as a p you have to think earlier than everyone else and this is why we're doing this now so that we can get you ahead of the game and hopefully support you um along your journey. And yeah, thank you for coming. I'll just let you all go before I go off live. No problem. Thank you for coming. Brilliant. I'm going to stop. Uh