What we are not

Over the years a few people have gained some misapprehensions about what we do. It is therefore perhaps worth saying a few things that Medical Forum does not offer....

1. Not a recruitment firm or agency (no one can get you a job except you)
2. Not an information desk (Need details of GP/surgeon careers? Visit the relevant website)
3. Not where you will be told what to do (you are the person in charge of your career)
4. Not always a first port of call (eg in ill health or stress  - other action may be more apt first)
5. Not somewhere to refer a person to (better for them to reach us under their own steam)
6. Not a quick fix (career concerns take months/years to arise and so won't resolve in hours)

1 Not a recruitment firm or agency

Our sole focus is to provide the individual who contacts us with objective careers support. This does not involve "getting" anyone a job. The only person who can get you a job in the end is you. We may recommend or point out some recruitment agencies and job sources but we are not affiliated in any way to any of them in financial terms.

2 Not an information desk. Medical Forum is not the place to find specific details such as Royal College exam requirements or precise guidelines on flexible training schemes - as this information is always changing and is best obtained directly from the relevant college or postgraduate deanery (see the library for links to these so that you can research such details for yourself).

3 We won't "tell you". No one - including us - should ever make your career decisions for you nor tell you what you "ought" to do. We can encourage, facilitate, coach, mentor and guide - providing the sounding board, information and feedback you need to be able to make better career plans and generally think more clearly and positively about your career plus develop some different attitudes. We can work in equal partnership with you but the responsibility for your career must always remain 100% with you.

4 Not always the first port of call. Although we regularly have people join our programmes who are in some emotional or career difficulty we are not a stress counselling or crisis centre. In such situations our service can still be used but it is best taken in conjunction with some more locally based support or intervention. If you are in doubt as to whether you need to combine any of our services with some further support you might like to try our "beat stress" e-course (see in the Matrix) as this may help you to understand more about stress and career planning.

5 No one can really be "referred" to Medical Forum. You may obtain funding to attend. You can be pointed in our direction. You can be recommended to attend. But over the years we have found that being formally "referred" to us is counterproductive and disempowers the individual attending. It sometimes even leads to a feeling within a person that they have been "sent" to Medical Forum which is totally the wrong standpoint to be seeking career guidance from. You are the person in control of your career and if you want independent career guidance from us - it is important that you are the one who takes action to join our memberships, programmes or workshops totally independently of what anyone else says. It is not them who joins our programme and it is not them who will do the work.

6 Not a quick fix. Career problems and concerns generally arise over months and at times years so they are not going to be sorted within a single phone call or by filling in a questionnaire. Most of our personalised programmes take weeks to complete and then the actions defined and agreed take weeks or months to put into place. Thus if a dilemma arises eg "should I apply for exam A or exam B and I must decide by Friday this week" no one (in our view) can easily advise you what to do at this short notice as what they would do might be very different to what you would like and do well at longer term. The point is that to make good career decisions and similarly to be a holistic advisor - plenty of preparation work has to be done. In crises situations where a decision has to be made within days - we suggest that you simply ask as many people as possible what they would do, make a decision that you feel is best and then perhaps join a career guidance programme to ensure that indecision at the last minute doesn't arise again. Our advice is always and only offered after we have received a fully completed workbook. We do not offer telephone advice for very short term/urgent decision making as without knowing detailed information about you as a person - we would be in danger of "prescribing without first taking a history". The sort of detail referred to here would take several hours to obtain.