Good heavens!
I have just worked through the applications for our post in February. I
well remember in 1995 that an advertisement failed to bring any
applicants, and the Unit subsisted on strings of locums. Of course, things
have changed at Eastbourne in the past 3 years, but this is getting
ridiculous.
I have had two boxes full of applications, and this represents somewhere
around 300 applicants. Yes, three hundred, for four jobs. Apart from the
sheer workload of looking through all these applications (approximately 6
hours; I insist on seeing each one) this surely represents a serious
overprovision. Many of these doctors are from the Asian subcontinent, and
having passed the PLAB are keen to work in the UK. Many from other
countries have seen the advert on the Internet. I would love to employ
more people, but I wonder if we can try and target things a bit better.
For example, the job profile means that with 2 GP trainees in the Unit
already, I would prefer those planning jobs in Hospital medicine. I would
rather people had already done one or two jobs in the UK (or housejobs, of
course) and that they took a little care with their applications. A
hand-filled photocopied letter telling me how esteemed my Hospital is
guarantees rejection. Gross linguistic and spelling errors don't help
either. The CV is the advert; I don't know the doctor and I'm not about to
select one who cares so little that the covering letter is written on a
page torn out of a notebook - or even a drug rep's sticky notelet.
So is there a way legally I can say that I am looking for certain
characteristics? I hasten to point out that I am not racist and the
comments above are intended to show that I am looking for people with
certain attributes; whether they are pink, brown or blue with purple spots
is a matter of complete indifference to me. But we have to do better to
ensure that these young doctors either get a reasonable chance of a job in
the UK or someone has the courage to say that they probably should look
elsewhere.
I would be very interested to hear what you think.
Best wishes,
Rowley Cottingham
[log in to unmask]
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|