How to adapt a clinical CV for health-tech roles

Most clinicians apply for their first health-tech job with a lightly edited version of their NHS CV. It's an understandable mistake, and it's the most common reason good candidates never get a call back.

A clinical CV is built to prove you're safe, trained and progressing through a structured pathway. An industry CV has a completely different job: to convince a busy hiring manager, in about thirty seconds, that you can solve the problems their company has right now. Same person, different document.

Here's how to rebuild yours.

Start again, don't edit

Open a blank document. If you start from your NHS CV, you'll end up keeping things out of habit: every rotation, every course certificate, every poster. In industry, length isn't evidence of quality. One page is ideal for most early career moves, two at most.

Before you write anything, decide which role you're applying for. A CV for a clinical product role and a CV for a Clinical Safety Officer role should look noticeably different. If you're not sure yet, read Health-tech careers for doctors: understanding your options first.

Use a structure industry recognises

A simple structure that works well:

1. Name and links: email, phone, location (city is enough) and your LinkedIn URL. Add a portfolio link if you have one.
2. Profile: three or four lines on who you are, what you bring and the role you want.
3. Experience: reverse chronological, with achievement bullets rather than duties.
4. Projects or portfolio: relevant work outside your day job, such as product teardowns, research or side projects.
5. Skills and tools: the specific skills the role asks for, plus any tools you actually use.
6. Education and registration: degree, key qualifications and professional registration, kept brief.

Notice what's gone: the rotation-by-rotation history, the long list of courses, the audit table and the referees section.

Write a profile that answers "why you?"

Your profile is the first thing read and often the only thing. Make it specific.

Weak: "Enthusiastic and hardworking doctor with a passion for digital health, seeking a new challenge."

Stronger: "NHS doctor with five years' experience in acute medicine, now moving into clinical product roles. I've led two digital improvement projects that reduced delays in discharge and handover, and I bring first-hand understanding of clinical workflows, patient safety and NHS adoption."

The second version names the target role, shows evidence and hints at the value you'd add. It also contains words a hiring manager is scanning for.

Turn duties into achievements

This is where most of the work happens. For every role, ask: what did I change, improve or deliver, and what was the result? The PAR framework helps: Problem, Action, Result.

• Instead of: "Responsible for ward patients and on-call duties."
• Try: "Managed a caseload of up to 30 acute patients daily, coordinating across nursing, therapy and specialty teams to prioritise discharges."

• Instead of: "Completed audit on VTE prophylaxis."
• Try: "Audited VTE risk assessment compliance, introduced a prompt in the admission workflow and re-audited, improving completion rates across the unit."

• Instead of: "Taught medical students."
• Try: "Designed and ran a weekly teaching programme for final-year students, gathering feedback after each session and iterating the format."

Only use numbers you can stand behind in an interview. "Improved completion rates" is fine; an invented percentage is not. If you want a deeper method for this, see Translating clinical skills into commercial experience.

Speak the company's language

Read the job advert line by line and highlight the skills and phrases it uses: stakeholder management, user research, prioritisation, clinical risk, data, cross-functional working. Then make sure your CV uses the same words where they're honestly true.

Many companies use applicant tracking systems or quick keyword scans. Even when a human reads it, matching language makes it easy for them to see the fit. A quick way to check: if someone read only your profile and your first three bullets, could they tell which job you applied for?

Avoid clinical jargon and acronyms that don't travel. "SHO", "take", "TTOs" and "MDT" may need translating or explaining in plain English.

Show proof beyond your day job

A projects section is one of the most powerful things you can add, especially if your clinical role doesn't offer obvious product or commercial wins. It might include:

• a written teardown of a health app;
• a clinical safety hazard log for a product idea;
• an article or LinkedIn series on a problem you've seen in practice;
• a short advisory project with a startup.

Link to them. A hiring manager clicking through to real work is worth more than any adjective. Building a portfolio while working clinically covers how to create these alongside your shifts.

Keep registration and qualifications in proportion

Your medical degree, registration and relevant postgraduate qualifications matter, but they don't need half a page. One line each is enough. If a qualification is directly relevant, such as Clinical Safety Officer training, a data course or a product management certificate, list it near the top of this section.

Tailor every application

Keep a master CV with everything, then cut a tailored version for each role. Change the profile, reorder bullets so the most relevant come first, and swap projects in and out. It takes twenty minutes per application and makes a noticeable difference to your response rate.

Match your LinkedIn and cover letter

Hiring managers will look you up. Make sure your LinkedIn headline and About section tell the same story as your CV: a clinician moving into a specific kind of role, with evidence. If a cover letter is requested, keep it to three short paragraphs: why this company, why this role, and the one or two pieces of evidence that make you a strong fit.

A quick checklist before you hit send

• One or two pages, clean layout, readable font.
• A profile that names the role you want.
• Achievement bullets with honest results.
• Keywords from the advert, used naturally.
• No unexplained clinical jargon.
• A projects section with links.
• Spelling and formatting checked twice.

Next steps

A strong CV gets you into the conversation; the interview gets you the job. Once yours is ready, read Preparing for a health-tech interview.

The A–Z HealthTech Career Guide includes a full chapter on CVs and cover letters for clinicians, with templates and worked examples. Get the guide if you'd like the complete playbook.