A job has opened up at a local hospital which is a 100% fit for what my husband does. I’ve helped him by doing the application through the careers section of this hospital’s website, and also sent a “snail mail” letter and resume to their HR department in case of screw-ups.
A recent post by a Doper said that his corporation’s HR department was too moronic to know how to even access the database that stored up applications and resumes. This alarms me; we really need this job and I’d hate that no one of importance at the hospital was ever aware of my husband’s job application.
Would it be wise if we sent a cc of the cover letter and resume to the VP in charge of the department in question? Or would it queer the process by being too pushy?
If the VP has a direct hiring responsibility beyond simple approval of someone else’s decision (a direct say in hiring management positions, for example), it’s appropriate.
Otherwise, find and target the manager and his/her boss who are directly responsible for the position; identical resume and cover letter to HR at the same time.
My take on it is follow the directions that are given for how to apply. I would think it was inappropriate to receive materials that are supposed to go elsewhere. As long as you have clearly identified which job you are applying for, HR will forward the materials to whomever is reviewing them and conducting the search. I think you’ve done enough in applying to the right place through electronic and paper means.
I think it depends on a few things.
[ul]
[li]Do you know the VP personally, or are you acquainted at all?[/li][li]How many employees in the hospital? Department? Team that has the opening?[/li][li]How did you get the VP’s contact information?[/li][/ul]
If you know the VP personally, or if the VP’s contact information was supplied in the job posting, I would say yes. A VP at a not-really-small company (200+), or who is responsible for more than 30 or so people would probably just forward the information to HR. At a smaller company or a smaller department, it might catch their notice, but like gigi said, it may seem inappropriate.
Also, I wouldn’t be too worried that their HR department is incompetent based on message board testimony from a stranger that a completely unrelated organization’s HR department is incompetent. Follow the process and, if your husband is as perfect for the position as you say, and his resume/cover letter accurately portray that, you’ve done what you can.
It probably also depends on the job. It might not be too pushy to hit the VP with a resume for a sales job (its your job to be pushy) or for a high level position.
Its probably inappropriate to hit the VP for a job if your husband is a lab tech. That leaves a VP thinking “gah! don’t want to hire this idiot, he’ll call me everytime his boss asks him to work through lunch!”
Around here, we toss any resumes we receive in our office … we figure that HR has them anyway, and is processing them so we will see them eventually OR that the applicant didn’t read the submission information properly and so we don’t want that person working here.
Another vote for what Delphica said. When I’ve chaired search committees and someone has managed to ferret that information out and send me a resume directly, I assume he or she can’t follow directions.
