The importance of an address

Same thing happened to me, application was tossed because of my location 1.5 hrs away from the hospital I now currently work at (yay!) but I totally agree. Put a local address if you can!

"When I told her I would be moving to Rochester, she wanted to know when (which was awkward, since my answer was basically, "when you hire me...")"

That's frustrating because I, for one, would be willing to relocate - if I got hired - so I applied to out-of-state facilities and upstate NY (live downstate). I did have a phone interview at a facility 3.5 hrs away but I think that was partly because I made the effort to job shadow over there for 2 days and meet with HR as well which I mentioned in the cover letter.

Good to know, thanks!

Did you get the job? Or an interview?

Yes, I believe it can be important for several reasons:

1) The hospital doesn't have to pay relocation expenses on a local candidate (I wish!)

2) The managers are usually familiar with the reputation of your school, local facilities, and surrounding hospitals. I did

a few clinicals in my current hospital system, so I could really talk about my experiences.

3) Logistics are easy to accomplish. Paperwork, pre-employment health stuff, even navigating the hospital, are all easy

when you've been there before.

This is something that could also be explained in a cover letter. Not everyone has a local address that they can use. I suspect in your case, OP, the hospital has had experience with nurses from the city who don't really have any intentions of leaving the city permanently but are just going for any job they can get so they can get the experience necessary to land their dream job IN the city.

Update from the OP (me!): I had my interview yesterday and got an offer!

When I interviewed, I brought up the address thing, apologizing for the confusion. She said that she gets a lot of people who apply via "mass application processes," and select "willing to relocate" without realizing just how far the area is. I'm sure this has happened, but I also like to think people who apply via fax and snail mail (which I did), probably have done a little more homework.

I would listen to KelRN and make it very clear on your cover letter if you don't have an out-of-town address. But if you're ever a Hiring Manager yourself, remember that not everyone with an out-of-town address is clueless as to where they're applying. I felt so terrible when she said she's thrown out so many applications from candidates, possibly great nurses who had to move to the area and just didn't have an address yet!

A nurse recruiter at a local hospital is the wife of my former high school science teacher. She was very clear in that the applicants location was a big factor in who they choose to interview. My most recent job I got was about 5 hours from where I was currently living, but I used my parents address so I looked like a local. Now that my job starts in two weeks, I'm in the process of moving. I'll do a "change of address" later...

Trying to get an interview for a job is so hard. It's even more lame that simply your address is a factor on whether or not they interview you. They are probably passing over a lot of competent nurses that way. But from what I see of today's nursing market, they don't care if you are competent, only if you have x number of years of experience so they don't have to spend as much money training you.