Asking for letters of recommendation...advice please!

[peachy11]

I called one of my former professors twice, but I have not been able to get a hold of her. I am calling to ask her if I can set an appointment to meet with her to talk about possibly writing a letter of recommendation. I want to talk to her in person and give her all the resume, cover letter, positions i am applying for, envelope and stamps, etc. She does not have an office at the school. She only does clinicals. She is a nurse manager at the hospital where we did clinicals. I could probably meet with her there if she is okay with that at an okay time. I did not leave messages when I called. I know she is a busy lady, so I wouldn't expect her to call me back. Anyways, the question is...

Is it okay to send an email to ask her if I can meet with her sometime about this? Or, is an email not polite/professional?

(I had her for clinical aug-oct for med-surg. During my eval, she gave me an extremely positive review and offered to write me letters of recommendation, etc. Also, I am applying for externships/student tech positions. I graduate december 2011)

Thanks for the help!

[SnowStar4]

It sucks that you cannot get a hold of her; I know how frustrating that can be. I would absolutely email her- there's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes people are much quicker with the email response than they are calling people back. What do you have to lose?

[caliotter3]

Nothing wrong with emailing her if that is what it takes to get hold of her. This is a good example of why it is a good practice to make the first mention of getting letters while you are still in contact with people.

[peachy11]

Thanks! I am going to go ahead and email her.

This is a good example of why it is a good practice to make the first mention of getting letters while you are still in contact with people.

I agree with you! We talked about it and what type of positions I would be applying for, etc. But, I did not have a resume, cover letter, specifics etc to give to her at the time to help her write the letters. I have all of that now! In the future, I will definitely be prepared when talking to instructors/preceptors/nurses. That way I don't run in to this problem of trying to conact them later on.

[peachy11]

I know, I really wanted to talk to her over the phone and then meet in person. I didn't think I should leave a message just because I am asking her a favor, so i wouldn't expect her to have to return my call. Does that make sense? But, your advice does make sense, also. I think I will make another attempt to call, if not I will write an email.

Re: the envelope/stamps

I had no idea. This is my first time doing this and my research from the internet suggested it was more thoughtful/organized to provide stamps/envelope. But, I like your idea better. I will definitely tell her I would like to pick them up, if that is okay with her.

Thanks so much for the thoughtful response! It is much appreciated.

[noahsmama]

I would call and leave a message first and ask her to call you back. If you're going to ask her for enough of her time to meet with you, asking her for enough of her time for a call back seems trivial in comparison. I would give her my cell phone number and then make sure I had my cell phone with me at all times, so as not to miss her call.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

I would email. Also, for the benefit of other new grads reading this thread, ask for letters while you are still interacting with that individual (like clinical time). So much easier for instructors to remember you and say positive things.

[peachy11]

Thanks everyone! I called and left a message. She called back and left me a message (I was trying to not miss her call, but I had my puppy at the vet and couldn't anwser) and told me that she would love to write me a letter of recommendation! And to call her on Monday because she was not working today. Yay!