CV Review & Next Steps

① The CV is only half the picture

ACE computes a numeric score from structured fields Maria fills in the online application — not from the CV text. Employers see that score, then separately read the CV + cover letter when they shortlist and rank candidates.

The score is built from:

• Academic transcript
• Year 4/5 distinctions & commendations
• Publications & presentations — her research lives here
• Other degrees — her BBiomedSc counts here
• Prizes, awards & scholarships (med-degree only — see note below)
• References

Implication: her research and her science degree only earn score if they're entered in the online Education section with supporting documents uploaded. A polished CV alone won't move the score. This is the single biggest lever and the easiest to miss.

② Completeness beats polish this week

An application missing any required piece — most commonly a reference that hasn't come back — is treated as incomplete and dropped from the match entirely. With ~4 days left, getting every required slot to "complete" matters more than any single sentence in the CV.

References — confirm all three are complete

Three references are required and the application is incomplete without all three returned. They must come from her 2026 TI-year core rotations (not the urology elective), from a vocationally-registered Consultant / SMO / GP who supervised her clinically — ideally including her most recent supervisor.

• The recommended date to have sent these requests was 19 June — already passed. Action today: check the ACE portal shows all three as complete; if any is outstanding, personally chase that referee now (they complete it via a unique ACE link).
• Referees from a mix of settings (e.g. surgery + medicine + GP) reads well.

Make her research & degree actually score

This is her standout asset and the most common thing left uncounted. In the online Education section, enter — and upload a single supporting PDF for:

• Publications & presentations: the POET submitted manuscript + the renal-mass AI/CT project (and any poster or oral presentation of either).
• Other degrees: the BBiomedSc (Functional Human Biology, Otago).
• Year 4/5 distinction / Dean's commendation — if she has an overall clinical distinction or commendation letter, upload it (Auckland: overall distinction only, not end-of-run marks).

ACE is explicit: anything not entered in these fields with evidence attached will not be considered when scoring.

Since it's written, just confirm it's working as hard as it can for Tauranga — the cover letter is the best lever for getting Tauranga to rank her:

• Upload it as a Tauranga employer-specific cover letter (employer-specific supersedes the generic one for that hospital). Select employer preferences first, then attach.
• State plainly if she is committed to / unable to relocate from the Bay of Plenty — ACE recommends saying so; employers weigh it.
• Name the local ties: current Tauranga TI, urology elective at Tauranga, Mount Maunganui base, Under the Stars Tauranga volunteering, research with a BOP supervisor (if applicable).

Rank at least 6 employers

A minimum of 6 ranked employers is mandatory (ACE recommends 10+). Even with Tauranga as the clear first choice, fewer than 6 makes the application incomplete. Ranking more does not reduce her chance at Tauranga — preferences are private and the algorithm always tries her top choice first.

Remove "MBChB" from the post-nominals

The degree isn't conferred yet — she's a current Trainee Intern graduating Dec 2026 — so listing MBChB after her name reads as premature to the consultants ranking her. Referring to it in prose ("completing my MBChB") is fine; the post-nominal is the issue.

Promote & sharpen the Research section

Right now it sits at the very bottom, below the roadside cherry stall, and under-sells what is genuinely rare at this stage. Move it up (see §3) and give each project her role/authorship, status, target journal, and supervisor + institution. If a supervisor is Tauranga/BOP-based, name the institution — it doubles as a localism signal.

Do the same for the AI-based CT interpretation for renal-mass characterisation project (supervisor Wikus Vermeulen) — add her specific role and the institution.

"Personal Assistant, Personal Assistance" reads as a placeholder

The repeated word looks like an unfinished template field. Name the real agency, or rephrase — and lean into it, because in-home elderly care is patient-facing and relevant.

Spelling & consistency pass

• orthopedic → orthopaedic (Starship 2020 entry) — she uses the NZ "Orthopaedics" elsewhere, so it's inconsistent.
• Check hyphenation didn't break: adventure-based, home-away-from-home (look run-together in places).
• Make bullet punctuation consistent — either every bullet ends in a full stop or none do.
• "Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery" in the statement → the formal name is "Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery" (or just "MBChB").

De-duplicate the London selective

The Year 5 paediatric-gastro selective in London appears twice — once under Education & Achievements and again under Clinical Attachment Experience (2025). Keep it once, under Clinical Attachments.

Re-order so her strengths lead

Research currently sits last. Pull it up near the clinical experience so the differentiators land before the teenage achievements and casual jobs.

1. Personal statement
2. Education & qualifications
3. Clinical attachment experience
4. Research & publications — moved up; this is what sets her apart
5. Employment history — trimmed
6. Voluntary work — trimmed
7. Extracurricular interests

Re-weight away from teenage achievements

The 2010–2016 high-school block (Junior School Committee, Scholars Badge, Top of Year 12 Art, football, tennis, Shakespeare Soiree) is 10+ years old and competes for attention with her clinical record. Collapse it to one line — e.g. NCEA Level 3 Endorsed with Excellence; co-leader, Junior School Committee — and drop the rest.

Compress the older, non-clinical jobs

Keep the Fisher & Paykel research internship and the caregiving role prominent (both relevant). Fold the rest into a single line:

Trim the volunteer tail; spotlight the local one

Strong breadth, but it runs back to 2014 (handing out cookies; arts & crafts). Keep the recent, substantive ones and cut or one-line the oldest:

• Keep: Under the Stars Tauranga (2026) local, Rotary Youth Leadership team-leader (2024/25), Rotary Disability Engagement Day (2025), RACS clinical exam (2024), Garden DesignFest charity (2024).
• Cut / compress: Starship (2020), Ronald McDonald House (2015), Elizabeth Knox (2014–15).

Tighten the personal statement & plant the BOP flag

Good cultural framing, but the middle is a little generic ("calm, curious, dependable"). Lead with her current Tauranga TI status and end with an explicit Bay-of-Plenty intent.

Add a short clinical-skills line

If she's comfortable with them, a one-line "Procedural skills" note (e.g. venepuncture, IV cannulation, ECG, catheterisation, basic suturing, verified CPR/NZRC) signals day-one readiness. Many NZ junior-doctor CVs include it. Skip if it would pad rather than add.

Drop the MBChB post-nominal (above). Everything else is good — and keep the Mount Maunganui address: it's quiet evidence she's local to Tauranga. The photo is fine; headshots are normal on NZ medical CVs and not worth fussing over.

Warm and well-pitched for NZ (whānau, Aotearoa, equity). Tighten the generic middle and add an explicit Bay-of-Plenty commitment (rewrite in §3). Save the bigger "why Tauranga" push for the cover letter, where it belongs.

• Consider splitting into Education (degrees) and Awards & scholarships so the merit signals are crisp.
• The Otago scholarships look great to employers — but note they were won during her science degree, so they won't count in ACE's "prizes during the medical degree" scoring bucket. The BBiomedSc itself does score as an "other degree."
• Remove the duplicated London selective; trim the high-school block to one line.

Clear, comprehensive, well-organised by year. The Tauranga urology elective is a real asset — and it links neatly to her renal-mass research, which is worth making visible. Optional: a one-line procedural-skills note. Keep the "Core / Minor attachment" structure consistent across years.

A submitted manuscript with named authorship is genuinely uncommon at PGY1 stage and feeds the scored "publications & presentations" line. Move it up, add authorship/journal/supervisor/institution detail, and — critically — make sure it's entered in the online scoring fields with a supporting PDF (§1), not just on the CV.

Excellent breadth and very on-brand for NZ's community/equity emphasis. Just prune the oldest, lightest entries and spotlight Under the Stars Tauranga as a local, current commitment.

Fix the "Personal Assistance" placeholder and reframe the caregiving role (patient-facing, relevant). Keep Fisher & Paykel prominent; compress retail / library / office-junior / cherry-stall into a single "earlier roles" line.

Personable and humanising ("Results vary"; the very intense game of Articulate) — good for showing balance and wellbeing, which matters for junior doctors. The hiking/outdoors note quietly reinforces the Bay-of-Plenty lifestyle fit. Leave it; trim only if space gets tight after other edits.

• Genuine research record with a submitted manuscript — rare this early and directly scoring.
• Breadth of clinical attachments across the core specialties and two countries.
• A real Tauranga story: current TI there, urology elective there, local address, local volunteering — strong material for the match.
• Bicultural / equity framing that lands well in the NZ health context.
• A personable interests section that reads as a balanced, likeable colleague.