Professional Passport: Career Transitions

After completing this course, you will be able to:

• outline strategies and approaches to prepare for and manage key transitions in your career, including acting up, building relationships, and reframing working relationships.
• explore the interpersonal skills and professional behaviours required of early-career consultants, such as dealing with unforeseen challenges, task prioritisation, managing resident doctors, and working with senior colleagues and administrative staff.
• describe the relationship between surgical trainees and educational governance structures in the UK and Ireland.
• explore the impact of change on emotions, health, and wellbeing, and learn how to respond constructively.
• discuss your rights and responsibilities when negotiating a contract and job planning.

This course has been designed as a resource you’ll return to again and again.

It’s structured to feel approachable and reassuring, offering practical guidance and reflective exercises that help you navigate uncertainty with confidence.

Why take this course?

• Gain practical tools for negotiating NHS contracts and creating job plans.
• Acknowledge and address the emotional impact of career change on your wellbeing, with strategies to stay resilient and focused. 
• Take time for you: reflect on your priorities and values with structured, expert-developed resources designed for this exact stage of your career. 
• Take control of your next step with a course that puts everything you need in one place.
• Learn flexibly at your own pace, with resources you can revisit anytime as your career evolves.

Interactive eBook

Dive into William Bridges’ Transition Model to understand the psychological stages of change. This highly reflective resource helps you explore your own responses to transition and includes dedicated sections on:

• Managing boundaries and stress in new roles.
• Strategies for starting an SAS position successfully.
• Practical exercises to clarify your priorities and build resilience.

Video learning

Includes ‘A day in the life of an early career consultant’: Through a series of fly-on-the-wall-style videos, you will observe a new consultant as they navigate a shift laden with challenges and obstacles.

Recorded sessions

Features a session on how to create successful job plans with an accompanying resource to guide you through NHS contract negotiations.

And more

This course is packed with expertly developed materials and curated signposting to further content that supports this critical phase in your career.