Mailing resumes instead of taking them personally?

noahsmama · Oct 5, 2010

It's ok to mail them, but if it's possible to take them in person and hand them to a person who is actually in a position to hire you, then it may be worth the drive. If it's a question of driving an hour to hand them to an HR person who has no power to hire you, I would save myself the drive and mail it.

rainbowbrite85 · Oct 5, 2010

My opinion would be to hand them in personally. If they are too far for you to drop off a resume, why would you want to drive there every day for work? If it's too far to hand in it in, then that would tell me that it's too far for you to come in in general.

wifeandmomoftwo · Oct 5, 2010

My opinion would be to hand them in personally. If they are too far for you to drop off a resume, why would you want to drive there every day for work? If it's too far to hand in it in, then that would tell me that it's too far for you to come in in general.

It wouldn't be too far for me to drive if I knew there was an opening or even the remote possibility of a position. However, right now we have a very limited income and I can't keep driving all over without knowing when or even if I'll see a paycheck. I'm not even turning on the heat in our house right now to save money. Hope that makes sense :)

headinsandRN · Oct 5, 2010

My opinion would be to hand them in personally. If they are too far for you to drop off a resume, why would you want to drive there every day for work? If it's too far to hand in it in, then that would tell me that it's too far for you to come in in general.

I agree totally with the above.

It may pan out to be a complete waste of time.

However, if you make the right contacts while you are there, you may get satisfaction in knowing that you made a solid effort to get your resume in the right hands to get noticed by the right people. In this rough job climate, a little positive spotlight on your application/resume may bode in your favor.

If you do go, to maximize your time/efforts I would like to suggest that beforehand you try to find out who initiates the interviews for potential candidates for employment and who is directly involved with the hiring ( DON,CON, nurse manager, etc). When you get there, make a beeline for their desk if possible. Walk away with their card in tow when you leave so you can have their contact info.

best of luck :)

RNOTODAY, BSN, RN · Oct 5, 2010

completely acceptable now, and most places prefer it

headinsandRN · Oct 5, 2010

It wouldn't be too far for me to drive if I knew there was an opening or even the remote possibility of a position. However, right now we have a very limited income and I can't keep driving all over without knowing when or even if I'll see a paycheck. I'm not even turning on the heat in our house right now to save money. Hope that makes sense :)

Hope the tides turn soon for you!

I would like to add that I got an interview for a position that was not advertised on the website for the hospital. This was after I hand delivered my resume and went to the floors I wanted to work on to meet the nurse managers.

I took my drug test last week; HR called me less than 5 minutes ago to make me an offer;)

cost of resume paper : $3/pack

cost of roundtrip commute to th facility:

getting an offer to work at my dream hospital that is tough to even get an interview at: priceless

littlemammanurse, BSN, RN · Oct 5, 2010

I mailed in a lot of my resumes or emailed them in.It was easier than driving them in, paying for the parking to go into the hospital and hand the resume in!And cheaper for me too!

himilayaneyes · Oct 5, 2010

I personally emailed all of my resumes...and then proceeded to harass the recruiters on the telephone....it worked. Perhaps it can work for you. However, if the hospital is far...you probably don't want to drive there all the time..but I know a job is a job...only take it if you know the recruiter is there..if not..mail it, then follow up after a week.

Lizzie21 · Oct 6, 2010

What I did was personally hand delivered my resumes and cover letters to the hospitals. then i would email the recruiters to bug them about positions and if they sent my resumes to hiring managers on the floor.

noahsmama · Oct 6, 2010

I personally emailed all of my resumes...and then proceeded to harass the recruiters on the telephone....it worked. Perhaps it can work for you. However, if the hospital is far...you probably don't want to drive there all the time..but I know a job is a job...only take it if you know the recruiter is there..if not..mail it, then follow up after a week.

Your experience with nurse recruiters must have been different than mine. When looking for a job as a new grad, I found them to be utterly useless, more of a roadblock than a help to trying to get a job. I had much better luck going directly to the nurse managers -- in person if possible, or at least on the phone.

elkpark · Oct 6, 2010

I would caution you to check with the facility and make sure mailing a packet is okay before you do so -- my current employer no longer accepts paper applications or resumés and the HR people have been instructed to just put them in the "round file." I applied for three positions within this organization by mailing in resumés and letters (the website job postings said that one could apply either by mailing in a resumé or by completing the on-line application), and heard nothing back from them, before I applied for a fourth position and was contacted by the HR person for that department, who called to tell me that the department was really interested in me but she had been told to disregard any paper applications and she needed me to re-apply via the on-line application process (I really appreciated that she made the extra effort to do that -- I guess my other applications had just been trashed).