[RN*mommy]

Hello,
I am new to the board and this is my first post...hope I don't screw it up!

I've been a nurse for 5 years now and basically only worked in pediatrics...for a health department and a doctor's office. I feel as though I've really let myself grow stale.

Anyway, now that I'm done having kids and want to work more hours I'd like to persue my passion of OB/GYN nursing. I have a particular hospital in mind where I would LOVE to work. There are a couple problems though. First of all their website isn't showing any current openings. To me that's not a big deal. This hospital is well-known for their LD and baby services so I think they probably have a few openings that get snatched up by current employees of the system.

I feel I often get "left behind" from the jobs I want because of my life complexities. My husband is a full-time firefighter and we have 3 children...thus making the every other weekend and training full-time on nights or even 2nd shift difficult. In interviews with HR I feel that I am almost looked upon as being lazy when I say I cannot commit to every other weekend due to my husbands job. I've tried telling them that if my husband is working 3 weeks in row on Sunday I will gladly work 3 weeks in a row on Saturday but it really seems to fall on deaf ears.

So what I'm thinking about doing is cold-contacting the nurse manager at the hospital I'd like to work for and doing my best to explain my situation to her in a letter and then a follow-up phone call. I've never cold-contacted anyone for a job, especially not a nursing position so I was wondering if this is frowned upon. The other part of this is I had a baby 2 months ago at this hospital and would like to work that into the letter somehow. I had a great experience with the nursing staff and even wrote some of the nurses name's down to give kudos to. Is it too unprofessional if I start the letter out complimenting the staff and then go into my own request? I figured I could work it in that seeing her staff in action and how wonderful they were to me and my baby made me want to work with her professional team even more (or something of the like).

Lastly, how long can this letter be?

I think that covers all my questions...

Thanks for any help!

[RN*mommy]

Ok...the edit button didn't work.

I should add that I did already submit my application to the HR department for an OR position I thought would work great with my family commitments. I interviewed with HR for the position last week and in 15 minutes both the HR and I determined that I wouldn't be able to do the 6-9 months of training because of the on-call hours. Couldn't be on-call with hubby gone and 3 kiddos sleepin away...

So they do already have a copy of my application..

Thanks for advice!

[RN*mommy]

Bump!

[caliotter3]

I think that your unique scheduling requirements would make it important for you to talk to someone first. Your idea about cold calling nurse managers is not a bad idea, it is often recommended in employment advice. The worst that can happen is that you aren't successful in obtaining what you need. Just get yourself ready for these encounters and go for it. Good luck.