Navigating the Allocation & Placement Service (APS)

PMCV provides transparent, streamlined, and effective recruitment for current and future medical practitioners, nurses and midwives looking to work in Victorian health services through the Match process. This is an exciting time for all parties as it signals the start of new careers and opportunities for medical, nursing and midwifery graduates.

This year's Matches are already or will soon be underway. If you are interested in applying for a Match, you must become familiar with the Allocation and Placement Service (APS).

This edition of PMCV Insights will outline all you need to know about how the APS works and the roles of PMCV and health services in the Match process.

How does the APS work?

The APS matches candidates to health services through an algorithm.

PMCV administers the APS to Victorian health services that offer Intern, Graduate Nursing and Midwifery, BPT1, BPT2, BPT3, Psychiatry, Haematology, Orthopaedics, PGY2, Radiology, Rural Generalist Advanced and RACP Specialty positions, and to the candidates applying for these posts.

This process is done in 3 Steps:

Candidates will first register an account with PMCV to begin the placement process. Our registration system makes it easy for candidates to register through mobile-friendly pages and easy-to-understand forms.

When registering candidates need to select their profession from doctor, medical student or nursing and midwifery student. Please note that nursing and midwifery students will need to register through the GNMP website and other candidates will need to register through the PMCV website.

The registration process will be a little different for each role type and may include extra steps or screening questions but generally candidates will need to provide their name and contact details.

Once they have registered and the Match is open, candidates can begin the Match application process. There is a visual checklist of the steps you need to take to complete your application which include submitting your declaration, nominating your referees, and providing supporting documents.

Candidates will also need to preference health services they wish to be considered for, in order of their preference. The number of health service positions that you can preference depends on the Match.

You can add new preferences up until the Match closes and re-order or remove preferences until a specified date that will be in the specific Match schedule of dates.

Remember the only way that you can give yourself the best chance of getting matched with your first preference is by listing it first.

For some Matches you may also need to apply directly to health services and complete a PMCV video interview or health service interview. Please ensure that you check the Match rules to see if these are required for the Match you are applying for.

Once the time to preference has closed, health services can view, assess, and rank applicants for employment. When health service rankings have been submitted, the matching process begins.

The matching algorithm is an impartial and transparent mathematical process that allocates candidates to the best available health service positions based on the number of available positions in addition to the preferences expressed by both candidates and health services. The algorithm prioritises candidate's preferences over that of health services where possible.

Please note that the actual selection and ranking of candidates are the sole responsibility of the employing health service. PMCV cannot assist candidates in selecting streams or specialties.

What PMCV does:

• We approve eligible candidates to enter the Match by conducting initial checks to ensure that they meet the eligibility criteria to participate in the Match, and in some Matches, we check that candidates have selected the correct eligibility criterion
• We coordinate the centralised recruitment process and collect applications, as well as running the algorithm to Match candidates to positions based on the preferences and rankings of the two parties
• We support health services and candidates participating in the processes

What the health services do:

• Health services review approved candidates’ applications to determine whether they are prepared to employ them and, if so, how highly they would rank applicants for employment compared to other applicants
• In some specialty training Matches, a committee or panel may assess a candidate's suitability to enter the training program, prior to health services determining their final rankings

To learn more about the APS please head to: https://www.pmcv.com.au/medical-workforce/allocation-placement-service/

If you have any enquiries, please contact us via [email protected]