
	Sonia training French GPs in UK interview skills

Hi - my name is Sonia Hutton-Taylor - that's me on the right spouting forth on some career topic or other.

In the late 80's I stumbled into an early mid career crisis. Despite an apparently focused career on paper (well I was doing ophthalmology - if you will forgive the pun!) I felt as if I was the only doctor on the planet with a medical career not on track. As I struggled to deal with this I started to look in detail at why I had ended up somewhere that did not feel quite right. The more I researched this the more I learned about career guidance and the more I realised that .... horror of horrors.. I'd never had any - not a dickybird! Yes I had been given some "advice" along the way with plenty of opinions and a smattering of information. But nothing in the spirit of what truly makes up "career guidance".

Something told me this dearth was very wrong and I found it hard to believe that I was the only doctor in this predicament. So I took a huge gamble in my own career and set up Medical Forum in 1990 - as a facility for doctors (a year or two later followed by dentists too - and I refer to dentists when I mention "doctor") of all ages and grades to examine their career needs and dreams. In fact the Forum's approach and facilities can be used by non medics too. Such is the "generic" nature of applying good career guidance principles.


Hurry up with that flash - I can't keep this smile up forever!

The most common phrase I heard when I explained what I had just done was.... "but surely doctors don't need career guidance" and many thought I had lost the plot completely. Well now the tide has thankfully turned and the phrase "career guidance" is rarely left out of any medical human resources plan or medical education document. Although this doesn't yet mean career guidance is easily accessible or well provided - it does represent a paradigm shift in thinking within the clinical professions.

Medical Forum is not the only source of career support - but we do have many years of experience solely working in the field of medical career development.We have been providing consistent career planning support to the profession longer than any other organisation.

Our facilities aim to assist three main groups -

those providing career support to others (we call these "career tutors")
those who seek greater progression or fulfillment from their own career (whether this is clinical or non clinical)
organisations who have responsibility for delivering career guidance.

We have a membership category for each of these. Some of the resources are only available via individual membership and some via organisational membership. So if you want your organisation to subscribe send us an email using the feedback form below.

Many of those who approach us are quite upbeat about their career challenges but others are negative and definitely on a downer due to career concerns. But both groups truly value our strengths of providing a neutral yet constructive sounding board or an objective yet supportive mentor if such resources are not available to them at work.

Occasionally it is right for a doctor to look at non clinical career options - either temporarily, part time bolt on to a clinical career or permanently. But whenever I hear the phrase "leaving medicine" - I always say - "you can take the doctor out of medicine but you can't take medicine out of the doctor". If I find anyone being too dogmatic about how they think a medical career pathway "should" look I try to explain “there are many ways of being a doctor - you just have to find your way”

If you like the sound of this philosophy and find our holistic approach to career planning refreshing - you’ll enjoy browsing this site. Not only that - you will gain a lot from our various services and resources. Please let us have your feedback via the membership registration form.

And thanks for visiting!

Yours

Sonia Hutton-Taylor MBBS FRCS FRCOphth DO

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