Recruitment in to psychiatry is a long-standing concern in many countries, with low proportions of medical graduates choosing it as a specialty and ongoing stigma from within the medical profession. In other countries, the reverse problem is the case, with too many doctors wishing to enter psychiatry and insufficient training places available.

To understand the current situation within Europe with regards to recruitment in to psychiatry and to identify existing initiatives designed to boost recruitment.

The European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees conducts an annual survey of all member organizations. This is purposive sampling via an online, semi-structured survey, which is completed by country representatives. The survey asks respondents to identify if their country has a problem with recruitment and if so whether there were too many or too few applicants for training places. Those countries identifying recruitment initiatives were asked to provide further details.

Data will be presented from the past three years (2014–2016). Around half of all countries have stated that recruitment is a concern in the EFPT country survey. Many report that the number of new psychiatrists is too low and vacancies are not being filled. A small number reported that the number of new psychiatrists is too high and there are not enough vacancies. Of those countries reporting problems with recruitment around half describe initiatives to improve recruitment, which include financial incentives, careers fairs, mentoring schemes and a whole host of other projects.

Recruitment in to psychiatry remains a serious problem in many European countries, but there are a wide range of initiatives, which aim to combat this shortfall.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.