Advice on reapplying to hospital after previously declining job offer

[RNillini14]

Back in December I interviewed at a hospital for a staff nurse position on unit. At the same time my potential dream job fell out of the sky. I was called by an IT recruiter that saw my resume on Monster. She was looking for nurses interested in getting into healthcare informatics for a big hospital system that was going to be going live in the next year with Epic. They were going to certify me to be an Epic trainer. It sounded like a great opportunity to get my foot in the door in informatics.

I made the hard decision to turn down the hospital offer. If this other job had not come up I certainly would have taken the offer as it was also a great opportunity. In the end though, the IT recruiter strung me along, lead me on with false information, and kept delaying for almost 2 months. Long story short, the informatics job did not pan out as they decided only to use in-house nurses. I was upset to say the least. It was a hard life but valuable lesson.

Today I noticed the original hospital was hiring for positions I would be interested in. I would like to apply but was wondering if first I should write an email to the HR manager I interviewed with apologizing for previously declining and let them know I would still be interested in working for them? Is there an etiquette for this sort of thing? I just don't want my application immediately trashed though maybe I deserve that for turning them down. At the time I declined I did say I would be taking another offer.

[caliotter3]

I would just apply for the jobs and take my chances. I would not make any effort to "explain" away anything. I believe this action would probably do more harm than good. I also would not hold my breath over getting hired there. If they choose you again and you get a job, great, if not, at least you tried. Best wishes.

[Biffbradford]

Agreed. Burn that bridge if and when you come to it. GOOD LUCK!

[RNillini14]

Thanks for the replies. It just makes me nervous since it was so recently. If this was years down the road, that would be another issue. I really wasn't emailing with the intention of explaining anything away but I understand what you're saying. It was more I made a hard decision, the other offer was not as I was informed, and I still believe I could be a good fit for for the hospital if given another opportunity to apply. I wouldn't mention more than that about the other job.

I just don't want to seem sneaky and dishonest, along the lines of thinking I could apply without them noticing. Surely they write these things in our application files?