Post by Deborah Udy Okusaga Akanne (@deborah_udy_okusaga)

NHS INTERVIEW MASTERCLASS — WEEK 2, DAY 1.

Dedicated to all my Doctors | AHPs | Physiotherapists | Pharmacists | HCAs.

I see you all and I've got you covered this week. Thanks for all your messages, this is for you.

Stay with me- 7am, 9am,11a,,2pm an 5pm all through this week.

Cheers to your success.

You Passed PLAB. You Have GMC Registration. So Why Are You Still Not Getting Interviews?

I need to say something this morning that nobody in your network is saying directly to you.

You did everything right.

You sat PLAB 1. You sat PLAB 2. You passed both. You completed the GMC application. You submitted every document they asked for. You waited. And then the letter came — GMC registration confirmed.

You celebrated. Because that registration is the result of years of work, sacrifice, and relentless commitment.

And then you started applying for NHS jobs.

And the rejections started arriving.

Not interview feedback. Not a polite decline after a conversation. Just silence. Application submitted. Application unsuccessful. No explanation. No guidance. No indication of what went wrong or what to change.

So you applied again. And again. And again.

And here you are — GMC registered, clinically experienced, genuinely committed to NHS practice — and you have not had a single interview.

I want to tell you exactly why this is happening. Not in general terms. Specifically.

The NHS does not shortlist on GMC registration alone.

GMC registration is the entry requirement. It is the gate. It is not the differentiator. Every other IMG sitting in your specialty applying to the same Trust Grade SHO or Clinical Fellow post is also GMC registered.

The registration does not separate you — your documents do. And most IMGs are submitting documents that were built for a different healthcare system, a different application culture, and a different shortlisting process than the one they are now competing in.

NHS Trust Grade and Clinical Fellow applications are processed through TRAC — an automated shortlisting system that scores your application against the essential and desirable criteria on the person specification before a human being ever reads your name.

If your CV and supporting statement do not contain the exact language of those criteria — GMC Good Medical Practice domain language, NHS clinical governance frameworks, NICE guideline alignment, audit and QIP evidence, UK clinical attachment evidence — the system scores you below threshold and you never reach a shortlister.

Your clinical experience is real. Your commitment is genuine. But the system cannot see any of it if your documents are not built to show it.

This week I am opening up everything I know about NHS interview preparation for doctors, AHPs, physiotherapists, pharmacists, and HCAs.

Not the general advice you can find on any website. The specific, verified, NHS-insider knowledge that changes application outcomes.

Today is Day 1. And it starts with the question that is costing you interviews before the panel ever meets you.

Stay with me all week. Every post matters.

📩 If you are a doctor, AHP, physiotherapist, pharmacist, or HCA who is applying for NHS roles right now and not getting interviews — DM me "NHS" today.

I will tell you the specific reason your application is failing — and exactly what to do about it.

Post 2 drops at 9:00 AM — and it covers the one document that NHS shortlisting panels read before your CV. Most IMGs do not know it exists.

The ones who do and still submit it wrong are losing interviews they have already technically qualified for.

#NHSJobs2026 #IMGDoctor #GMCRegistered #PLAB #TrustGradeSHO #ClinicalFellow #NHSInterview2026 #InternationalMedicalGraduate #NHSRecruitment #SovereignHealthcareAdvisoryGroup #NHSApplication #MedicalCareers #DoctorUK #NHSShortlisting #TRACApplication

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