Blog / Writing your application

Areas for development: how to answer without hurting your application

By the Health Job Scout team · 4 min read · Fact-checked 22 October 2026

Some applications ask what your areas for development are. Others ask what you would do differently, or what you have learned from a difficult situation. They are all versions of the same question, and it unsettles a lot of people because it seems to invite you to damage your own application. It doesn't have to. A good answer shows that you can see your own gaps and do something about them, which is what the GMC expects of every doctor.

What the reader wants to see

The reader is looking for four things: that you know yourself, that the area is real, that it will not make you unsafe, and that you are already acting on it. You don't need a dramatic story. You need a clear, honest one.

Choose an area that is real and safe to name

Good examples for an overseas-trained doctor are things that come with a new system, not with poor practice:

• Familiarity with UK guidelines, such as NICE, because you trained using different ones.
• Using NHS electronic systems and documentation.
• Audit or quality improvement experience, if you have done little so far.
• Teaching or presenting to a UK audience.

These are our suggestions, not an official list. Pick one that is true for you. Avoid naming something the person specification lists as essential, because a shortlister may take it as read that you can't do it yet. Don't use an area that suggests you are unsafe, such as basic clinical judgement.

A simple structure

1. The area. One plain sentence.
2. Why you know. A real situation or feedback that showed you.
3. What you did. A course, supervised practice, reading, a clinical attachment, asking for feedback.
4. The result. What changed, even if it is small.
5. What next. What you plan to do in the new post.

Here is an example in that order:

I have mostly worked to guidelines used in my home country, so I am less familiar with NICE pathways. After a consultant pointed this out during my clinical attachment, I read the NICE guidance for the conditions I saw most and compared it with what I had done. I now check the pathway before I review a patient. In my next post I want to ask my supervisor to review my plans for the first few weeks.

Keep it about the learning

The reflective practice guidance published by the GMC and partner bodies says reflective notes do not need to capture full factual details of an experience. They should focus on the learning or the actions taken. That works well here, because the reader does not need the full story. Don't include anything that could identify a patient, and keep the case itself to a sentence or two.

What to avoid

• Disguised strengths. "I care too much" and "I work too hard" tell the reader nothing.
• Blaming others. Don't describe a weakness as someone else's fault.
• No action. An area with nothing done about it reads as a problem, not a development area.
• Invented examples. If a shortlister asks you about it at a later stage, you'll need to talk about it. See why honesty matters on NHS applications.
• AI filler. Generic reflective answers are one of the things employers say they see too much of. Our guide to using AI for applications explains why.

Before you submit

Read it once more and ask: is this true, is it specific, and is there an action in it? If all three are yes, it is ready. The rest of the form needs the same checks, which our pre-submission checklist covers.

Health Job Scout emails you NHS junior doctor jobs as they are published. Start your free 3-day trial, no card needed.