Welcome to Messly's

F3 Hub

Taking an F3 Year is an exciting but daunting proposition for many F2 Doctors.

There are lots of reasons why someone might want to take an F3 Year, and your motivations will be unique to you. The key to making your time out of training successful is to understand what brings you fulfilment, what the options are available to you and the steps you need to take to make this happen.

In this Hub, you can find the resources and information that you need to make confident and informed decisions about your F3 Year. Our guides, workbooks and videos were researched and designed by doctors to provide with the best advice and support possible. We hope you find this useful!

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5,000+ doctors have used these resources

❓ Should I take an F3 Year?

Understand whether an F3 Year is the right decision for you, by understanding yourself and your motivations more deeply.

Taking time to reflect on what you need from an F3 year will help you point your compass in the right direction.

ARTICLE
❓ To F3 or not to F3?

Understand what an F3 Year is, why people choose to do an F3 Year, and how to decide if an F3 Year is right for you.
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ARTICLE
❓ Should I do an F3 Year?

Explore the reasons that doctors choose an F3 Year in more detail, including the pros and cons of an F3 Year.
Read Here

WORKBOOK
📄  F3 Workbook

Work through our especially-designed exercises and questions to understand how an F3 Year might help you feel more fulfilled, and to identify what type of F3 Year would suit you best.
Download Here

📈 What are my options?

Use these resources to learn about the most common options for F3 and explore the breath of opportunities available to you out of training.

Read summaries and explanations of common F3 roles and their pros and cons, join our interactive webinar, and watch a video on which options is the best.

Article
💡  Your F3 Options Explained

One of our most read articles ever! Read about the most common types of F3 roles and the pros and cons for each, plus next steps to start your search.
Read Here

Article
💡  What Is A Locum Doctor

A detailed guide to working as a locum doctor, including why locums are needed, where they work, how to become one, and much they can earn.
Read Here

Article
💡  What Is A Clinical Fellow

A detailed guide to working as a clinical fellow, including why clinical fellows are needed, where they work, how to become one, and how much they earn.
Read Here

Article
💡  Clinical Fellow vs Trust Grade Doctor?

The similarities between trust grade roles and clinical fellowships can be confusing, so we have teased apart exactly what makes these two jobs so different.
Read Here

Article
💰 Salary Comparison: GPST1 vs F3 Locum Doctor

The decision to pursue a training role vs a non-training role after F2 may have significant financial implications. So we did a comparison of two hypothetical doctors; a GPST1 and an F3 locum doctor.
Read Here

Video
📹  The BEST F3 Options for Junior Doctors 💫

We deep-dive with Dr Evey Clay into your F3 options: locuming, trust grade and clinical fellowships and working abroad.
Watch on YouTube

🎤  F3 Planning Workshop

We held an interactive workshop for current F2s, working through our F3 Workbook and curated exercises to help them kick-start their F3 Planning.
Watch Recording Here

ARTICLE
🧐  Locum or Clinical Fellow?

For many F3 Doctors, their main choice is between doing locum work and applying for a fellowship. Here we debate the benefits of each to help you decide which path to take.
Read Here

Article
🌎  Alternative F3 Opportunities

An exploration of the more unusual opportunities that are possible in your F3 Year, like working in tech to volunteering overseas.
Read Here

🔍 How can I start planning my F3?

Once you've examined your motivations and considered your options, it's time to start planning!

Article
📆  Planning Your F3 Year: A Timeline

A detailed guide to planning your F3 Year, with a month-by-month breakdown to the key actions to take.
Read Here

Article
📝 Personal Development Plans for F3 Locum Doctors

Find out why we think you should set yourself a PDP as an F3 locum doctor, even though you aren’t required to.
Read Here

WOrkbook
📄  F3 Workbook

Back to the Workbook! We have a template timeline for your F2 year to print and complete, helping you to feel organised and confident ahead of August.
Download Here

Community
📄  Facebook Group

The Foundation Year 3 group on Facebook has over 6,000 members, and is a great place to get advice on your options and start the research process. It's moderated by the Messly team.
Open Facebook

Article
📄  How to Write the Perfect F3 CV

Regardless of which path you take, your CV will be a critical document to help you secure the work you want. This article helps your understand what an F3 CV should include, and how to tailor it to the jobs your applying for.
Read Here

💰 How can I learn about locuming as an F3?

Locum work is the most popular option of all for F3 Doctors. But it's perhaps the one that comes with the most uncertainty for doctors.

We also run the most popular service for F2s to find locum work, helping you to find your perfect F3 locums by the best locum agencies pitch you with the work they can get you. Find out more here.

We've written over 100 articles for doctors new to locums, covering pay, banks, choosing agencies, finances, registration and more. Find these in our Locum Doctor Hub, here.

Article
💭 Is Locuming Right For Me?

A great place to start. An exploration of whether working as a locum might be a good fit for you based on your personal goals and professional needs.
Read Here

Tool
💰 Locum Salary Calculator

We've crunched the numbers on 45,000 jobs added to our locum-finding service, to help you understand the rates you can expect for your specialty and region, and how much you could earn in a year as a locum
Open Calculator

Tool
💰 Pros and Cons of Locuming

Discover the main pros and cons of locuming and consider whether the locum life is right for you.
Read Here

ARticle
🚀 A New Way to Find Locum Work

A breakdown of how Messly's locum-finding service works, and how we've helped over 10,000 doctors find their dream locum work quickly and without hassle.
Read Here

Article
🧭  Preparing for a year as an F3 Locum

A checklist of actions for F2s who are preparing to locum in their F3 Year, to help you get organised and be well-placed to get best access to work.
Coming Soon

article
❌  The 23 Biggest Myths For New Locum Doctors

Over the years, we've heard some crazy myths and misconceptions about locum work. Some of them are funny, others could seriously hold you back. We break them down here.
Read Here

resource
🎯  Locum Academy

We've condensed the most popular questions covered in our library of articles into a Q&A service we call the Academy. Search a question and get an answer instantly.
Open Academy