"Where do I even look?" is the question underneath most medical career anxiety, and it has a concrete answer that nobody quite writes down: UK doctor jobs live in a small number of channels, each covering a different slice of the market, and matching the channel to the job type is most of the search. Here is the map as it stands in 2026.
Training posts: Oriel
Formal training programmes, foundation, core, specialty, GP training, are recruited almost entirely through Oriel, the national application portal, on national timetables with defined windows. If the job you want is a numbered training post, the search is not really a search; it is a calendar, a competition-ratio spreadsheet and an application strategy, and no jobs board changes that.
NHS non-training posts: NHS Jobs and trust websites
The large and growing world of non-training NHS work, clinical fellow, trust grade, locally employed doctor posts, specialty doctor and SAS roles, lives primarily on NHS Jobs (with many trusts advertising through the Trac platform underneath it), and, importantly, on individual trust careers pages, which sometimes list roles that never reach the national board, or reach it late. For doctors between training stages, this is the main marketplace; our guide to what these job titles actually mean is at /blog/clinical-fellow-vs-trust-grade-vs-locally-employed-doctor.
Consultant and specialist roles
Consultant posts appear on NHS Jobs and are classically advertised through BMJ Careers, which remains the established national shop window for senior roles; specialty society bulletins and word-of-network fill in the rest. For these roles, informal visits and internal intelligence matter as much as the advertisement, which is a polite way of saying the listing is where the process becomes visible, not where it begins.
GP roles: a wider spread than most expect
GP work is the most fragmented market of all. Salaried and partnership vacancies appear on NHS Jobs and BMJ Careers, but a large share of real GP hiring flows through local channels: LMC newsletters and job boards, local GP networks and WhatsApp groups, practices advertising directly on their own sites or approaching known locums, and recruiters for some salaried and portfolio roles. The practical consequence: a GP job search run only on the national boards sees a fraction of the market; the local layer is not optional. Given the current employment climate for sessional GPs, our practical guide at /blog/newly-qualified-gp-cant-find-job-practical-guide covers the full channel-by-channel approach.
Locum work
Hospital locum work flows through agencies and, increasingly, through trusts' internal staff banks, which are worth joining at every hospital you have worked. GP locum work runs through digital platforms such as Lantum, through NASGP's infrastructure for independent locums, through locum chambers, and, again, through local networks and direct practice relationships, which experienced locums consistently describe as their best channel once established.
Teaching and research
Clinical teaching fellow posts are advertised on NHS Jobs by trusts, often in spring and summer cycles, and universities advertise education roles on their own vacancy pages; our honest look at these jobs is at /blog/clinical-teaching-fellow-jobs-worth-doing. Research roles live across NIHR programmes, academic institutions' vacancy pages and advertised clinical research fellowships, with a substantial informal layer: many research posts begin as a conversation with a group you approached, not an advert you answered.
Matching channel to career stage
The foundation doctor heading for training watches Oriel and nothing else matters as much. The post-F2 doctor building an F3 or a portfolio year lives on NHS Jobs, trust pages and the teaching-fellow cycle. The IMG entering the system starts with NHS Jobs' clinical fellow and LED market, where volume is highest. The newly qualified GP works the local layer hardest: LMC, networks, direct approaches, platforms. The senior doctor watches BMJ Careers and the society bulletins, and cultivates the network that hears about posts first. The universal rule across all of them: set up alerts everywhere relevant, because the good posts close fast, and the best channel is the one that tells you rather than the one you remember to check.
Frequently asked questions
Are recruiters worth engaging with?
For locum and some salaried or fellowship work, yes, with eyes open: understand the terms, and never let an agency be your only channel. For training posts they are irrelevant.
How far ahead should I be looking?
Training: a full year, given application windows. Fellowships and teaching posts: three to six months, aligned to August and February start dates. Locum work: continuous, once your profiles and bank registrations exist.
Where do portfolio and industry roles fit in this map?
Largely off it: healthtech, pharma and adjacent roles recruit through LinkedIn, company pages and networks rather than the NHS channels above, which is one reason doctors miss them. The career map for that territory is at /blog/careers-for-doctors-outside-traditional-nhs-training.