New Grad: How to you approach a potential employer who isn't advertising

Nurses General Nursing

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for open positions? There is a hospital in my area where I really, really, REALLY want to work. It's a huge teaching hospital, and I actually have a B.A. from the university that it's affiliated with (I graduated 13 years ago with a B.A., finising my AAS in Nursing next week! :D) II don't know anyone employed there. When I go to their website, it just says "Apply in Person". Does that mean that I should dress up & go take my resume in? Should I call HR first? I just want to do this right...my main career goal right now is to get my foot in the door at this hospital.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

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Are there any open positions on their website?

If there are, then you will go to HR to apply. Dress up. Bring your resume.

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Specializes in Telemetry, EKG interpretation, ICU/CCU.

i've walked in to a number of places in a nice pant suit, a resume, and cover letter without calling first, because most will say 'apply in person', although i have walked in to HRs for hospitals that weren't hiring at all. remember, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. keep walking in to places, calling HR to follow up, keep at it until you get a job offer. what have you got to lose?!?!?!

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Specializes in Critical Care.

amen!

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When I was looking for employment as an RN, I Googled potential employees in the area and then prepared a cover letter specific to each employee which I mailed with my resume. Wherever possible, I applied via email but backed up my application with a hard copy. I also followed up with a phone call a couple of weeks later.

Even if a facility isn't obviously advertising for RNs, it doesn't mean they are not hiring. Sometimes, I think they are just waiting for a motivated RN...

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It doesn't matter whether or not a hospital is advertising open positions or not. In this job market, they don't need to. Definitely, dress nicely, bring your resumes with a cover letter, and go directly to the nursing units where you want to work. Then, find the nurse manager, introduce yourself and talk with him/her about working there. If you "get lucky" and are told there might be openings, then you can complete an application and ask the nurse manager to route it to HR.

In my experience, going through HR cold, often results in your application being filed in the circular file (aka trashcan).

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