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Training usually starts with a five year first degree in medicine. You’ll then complete two years of foundation training and either two years of core medical training, or three years' acute care common stem (ACCS), or two years' core psychiatry training, or two years core training in anaestetics, radiology or paediatrics, or three years' general practice training, or phase 1 of the faculty of public health training, followed by four years of specialty training (ST3-6). This period of training will include your royal college exams. Length of training can vary according to your circumstances.

Doctors may work up to 48 hours a week. The working hours may sometimes extend beyond the normal working day to include early mornings and evenings. The basic salary ranges from £29,384 to £34,012. Once you start your specialty training as a doctor in occupational medicine employed by the NHS, you can expect to earn a salary of at least £40,257, which can increase to between £84,559 and £114,003 as a consultant. Remuneration and other benefits can be greater outside of the NHS, especially for accredited specialists.

You'll need excellent communication skills to manage a wide range of relationships with colleagues, and patients and their families. You'll be emotionally resilient, have excellent problem-solving and diagnostic skills and work well in teams and under pressure. You'll also be very organised for the benefit of patients.

There are approximately 53 occupational medicine consultants working in the NHS in England. In 2020 there were 35 applications for 12 specialty training places. You could specialise or conduct research in areas such as aviation medicine, radiation medicine, infection control, public health or occupational dermatology. You could also teach medical or postgraduate students.