Navigating through life as a final year student has had its fair share of obstacles and I have been so busy that writing a personal statement wasn’t really a main priority but something simmering in the back of my mind that I should get round to. Well thank goodness for my department having mock interviews complete with a mock application to begin the process. Two weeks ago I finally completed THE PERSONAL STATEMENT and apparently it wasn’t too shabby! The good thing is that now I have a decent one I will just have to tweek it for each specific department’s job description when jobs come up. Some really good advice was to ensure that every point listed on the person specification of the job advertised has been covered and that I included some information about the department and why I want to begin my career there. I also tried to link my personality traits to the core values of the NHS.

I have also got myself on the NHS jobs website to alert me to radiotherapy jobs within the UK. I know most people from my degree will want to stay in London so I figure, although it would be nice to stay in London with my life already set here, realistically to get a job straight after graduating I need to cast the net just that little bit further. I forgot things after 6 weeks not being in a department nevermind a few months. I really don’t want to hang around, so for me the logical decision is to move out of London as hard as it may be to leave behind friends. I have worked hard these past 3 years, I am ready to start the next chapter with my new career!

With the last 3 months of uni to go assignments and assessments are also looming and like normal I have left things a little last minute, my clinical assessment is this week, as is a meeting for my final literature review. I believe it’s time for my infamous time planning complete with wall chart just so I am aware of deadlines. But that will have to wait as like I said I have my clinical assessment this week and I need to be on the ball. A little bit of advice for all you prospective students and 1st and 2nd years… be on the ball with your anatomy, chemo regimes and tolerance doses! Believe me you will love yourself a little bit when it comes down to the wire. Don’t be like me struggling to cram it all in last minute! I have faith in myself that I am a caring individual and that I have the knowledge base but like the feedback from my mock interview reiterated I need to use more specific radiotherapy terminology in answers and I feel this would come with better knowledge around key concepts. So that is what I am focusing on and will have to keep focusing on until I get a job, but realistically throughout my career.