Intro Vascular surgery (VS) services are facing rising pressure for an increasing number and complexity of procedures, while facing a predicted shortage and risk of burnout amongst surgeons. Attracting early-career doctors to VS is critical to a sustainable workforce, though this can be challenging within a highly competitive workforce environment. Therefore, this paper is aimed to understand the perceptions towards VS as a career for pre-vocational doctors to inform future recruitment efforts. Methods A survey based observational cross-sectional study was conducted between August 2022 and August 2023 in two major tertiary centres. The Consensus-Based Checklist for Reporting of Survey Studies (CROSS) was utilised in the design. Participants were included if they had graduated from medical school within 24 months of the study date, were non-incentivised and participated voluntarily. The survey tool with 28 items was developed in an iterative process. Results Of 49 respondents (24% response rate), half were considering a career in surgery, though only 2 (4%) were interested in VS. The majority agreed that vascular surgery had an impact on patient lives (92%), had good earning potential (82%) and was technologically advanced (76%). but disagreed that there was good work-life balance (96%) and had a gender balanced specialist population (92%). The main deterrent for choosing VS was a poor work-life balance, high stress and a difficult training programme. The majority had no exposure to VS in medical school (65%) or as a graduate doctor (78%), and many (84%) thought it would be difficult to find a mentor in VS. Conclusion There was low interest in a career in vascular surgery in this cohort of pre-vocational doctors with deterrents including work-life balance, gender balance and a difficult training programme. Recruitment efforts should focus on early exposure to the VS specialty, mentorship opportunities and education around available flexible training opportunities.