Medical training is no guarantee you’ll get a job as a doctor. It’s time we said so

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By Dr Ollie Burton

Medicine is becoming more like law, and medical school and foundation training simply the prerequisites of a possible career as a doctor – not the promise of one.

When I applied to medical school, a line I heard often was some version of, "well, at least you'll never be out of a job”. The training would be long and the hours brutal, but the reward was security. You put in the years, and the system found a place for you, somewhere.

The fact is, a medical degree no longer guarantees what it used to – if it ever truly did

Now picture a doctor in the spring of their second year of foundation training (FY2). Good scores, a couple of audits, a poster at a national meeting. They applied for their first-choice specialty and two backups and have just found out they haven't been offered anything. They'll probably take a trust-grade post and try again next year, with a slightly better portfolio and a lot less optimism.